LITERALLY memorizing First Aid

[strongboy2005]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I'm wondering if it's possible, given about 10 months of study, to literally memorize, verbatim, all of First Aid.

My thought is this: I wouldn't need to memorize it in order or by page number. That would be ridiculous. But if you say "Kreb's cycle" or some other bolded title of a First Aid fact, I would be able to reproduce any diagram on a white board and say any of the relevant mnemonics or other information in the fact box. How hard would this be? Would I be able to memorize a few a day and have the whole thing memorized in time for the test?

 

[golfman]

So I'm wondering if it's possible, given about 10 months of study, to literally memorize, verbatim, all of First Aid.

My thought is this: I wouldn't need to memorize it in order or by page number. That would be ridiculous. But if you say "Kreb's cycle" or some other bolded title of a First Aid fact, I would be able to reproduce any diagram on a white board and say any of the relevant mnemonics or other information in the fact box. How hard would this be? Would I be able to memorize a few a day and have the whole thing memorized in time for the test?

It wouldn't be possible for me, but I don't know how good your memory is. My long term memory wouldn't allow that. I can easily memorize a chapter by spending time on it, but the chapter is only about 35 pages or so. When I get done with the other 500 pages or whatever the stuff I had memorized first was long gone.

In my opinion, better to really understand the concepts than just memorize. If you just memorize, if they word it differently on Step 1 (which they will), it could hurt you a bit.

That being said, if you really could memorize FA and you have a great memory, go for it. I just don't think it's really possible, unless you have a photographic memory.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

i just memorized robbins. why mess around?

 

[NoWayOut]

Ok just the mention of 10 months to memorize FA is making me nervous.
I gave myself only 4 weeks and am depending on SHORT-TERM memory to get through memorizing the details...that's all my brain could handle and it can only do so short-term..for the rest ... I am SOOOO depending on just getting concepts down and understanding how it goes rather than actual having to memorize every single word in FA. So in short, if you have concepts collected from X number of sources, then I don't think you will need to resort to memorizing everything in FA.

I see myself reading quickly over some things and not really paying attention to having every word engraved in memory.. like golfman suggested... it can be worded differently so the only thing that will save you is you knowing the big pic and concept. This has been my strategyall along and I hope it is correct or else I am in for a big problem 😱 ok this is me freaking out a bit.

 

[BigRedder]

You could do First Aid pretty thoroughly in 10 days if you applied yourself. Ten months is kind of absurd. In any case, just memorizing First Aid and doing questions is probably sufficient for an average score. You will need to do something else to do better.

"Short term" memory won't do much. That only lasts a few days tops. NoWayOut, your strategy is pretty sound. Go over stuff at a moderate pace multiple times.

Over ten months, you should really just do a tiny bit at a time. Read through Goljan, learn material in class, maybe do some flashcards. You'll burn out otherwise.

 

[footcloud]

Gah I wonder if I have a memory deficit problem. 10 DAYS to get through 500+ pages of an already very condensed and high yield book? There are some things you simply can't work through, like drug names and bacteria names....and I can barely do those. Maybe I do have ADHD lol.

 

[kryptik]

if memorizing is how you've been getting along in school then go for it, by the end of second year you will know about one third of FA without even memorizing anyway, so that will leave you with two thirds to memorize which is doable if you have the capacity

 

[strongboy2005]

Sorry I didn't mean to stress everyone out haha.

Well this seems like something I may try for a week or so and see how it goes. I just like the idea of putting in the effort to put all the concepts into my long term memory. In other words, maybe not knowing it verbatim, but knowing and being able to reproduce on a white board (or verbally) everything First Aid has to say under each category of the book. Thus I would effectively leave no stone uncovered in that book.

Of course I would do the UWORLD/RR Path/Goljan audio to solidify the knowledge in other ways as well.

 

[BigRedder]

Feel free to memorize it. But for anyone else, just know that 4-6 weeks is ample preparation time if you don't screw around.

 

[Green Grass]

i just memorized robbins. why mess around?

Damn, what'd you pull on Step 1 again? haha. Then again, if you took the time to memorize Robbins, maybe you failed the other 15 subjects covered on the exam. 😀

 

[WellWornLad]

First Aid is way overrated. I was shocked and annoyed by the amount of important stuff that's not in there. My notes made up about 40-50% of the content of that book when I was done.

If someone bothered to expand the content in First Aid, I bet it'd take over as the #1 step resource in a few short years, especially as the competition for residency heats up.

 

[strongboy2005]

First Aid is way overrated. I was shocked and annoyed by the amount of important stuff that's not in there. My notes made up about 40-50% of the content of that book when I was done.

If someone bothered to expand the content in First Aid, I bet it'd take over as the #1 step resource in a few short years, especially as the competition for residency heats up.

Yes, but isn't the point of First Aid to be high yield?

 

[badasshairday]

If you read it 3x over the course of the month, you can realistically have most of it 'memorized'.

First pass, read meticulously, highlight/underline/add some notes.

Second pass, use a red pen and start to star things that you will need to look at again to memorize.

Third pass, reread certain sections in detail such as biochem, microbiology, and whatever else that is crammable. Then focus mostly on memorizing the stuff you hit with the red pen from your second pass. Do the third pass within 5 days of your test. I did my third pass in the last two days... it was intense, but doable. And it definitely helped!

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I have yet to read first aid.

I did about 4000 practice questions (Rx and World), annotated FA as I went along, and then hired Brian Jenkins to read FA to me. That strategy is really starting to pay off. DIT is tying it all together.

I will read through FA myself once I've been through all the DIT lectures twice.