Med school studying reflections-need some help!

[658809]

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I have started my first year of med school and am reflecting on how I could have better used some resources. If you have some advice/suggestions for my questions below, I would sincerely appreciate your honest input!

1. I resisted using an Anki approach because I thought it was too cumbersome. However, it seems like Anki is the best way to do self-assessment/ repetition. Is this true, or are there other strategies? How would Firecracker fit into this?
   
   
2. Is spaced-repetition really ALL THAT important?
   
   
3. Memorizing some of the basic science and biochemistry was challenging. Going forward in med school, how important is it to know this material inside out? Should I keep going back to periodically review the basic science and biochemistry? Will a lot of this stuff relate to Step One material?
   
   
4. Is it okay to start using BRS materials now as a first-year? Is there such a thing as having used Board review materials too much before actually needing to take a Board exam, that I will have run out of fresh practice questions?
   
   
5. I have been advised to annotate First Aid as I go along. However, I have also heard that I should buy the most recent First Aid (meaning I’ll have to upgrade next year, anyway) and that reading/studying annotations becomes less useful once I have a grip of the material. What does that exactly mean with regard to the extent that I’ll annotate?
   
   
6. How should I be using First Aid? Am I supposed to periodically take out my First Aid and flip through to keep past material somewhat fresh in my mind?
   

 

[moisne]

I honestly like brainscape better than anki - just easier to work with and learn.
I am using firecracker and I like it - but I'm not very consistent with this.

Space repetition is important for the long run - for now and craming, just use brainscape or review your notes.

You won't know everything. it's ok. Forget the "I'll learn 99% of the material". I have an exam tomorrow... I usually aim to know about 80% - because they tend to test more of the "important" things - and I'll take a hit/guess through the nonsense ones.

I'd use First aid over BRS

I don't see to much difference between the years of Firstaid. I currently have the 2013 and may buy a 2016 next year - when I prep for step 1 so I can have a clean book.

Yeah basically - you look through first aid and add in cool things you have learned in school and you are "suppose" to review a few minutes every day of past material - I totally don't and will probably pay for it later on.

Good luck - again, check out brainscape if you want to make your own flashcards.

 

[Glandzburg]

The thing about Anki is that making flashcards sucks and is very cumbersome, but once you make the cards it can be very helpful in structuring your studying. If you keep up with it, you will have to do less "cramming" of details right before the exam (because you have been memorizing them as you study your cards). I also reference First Aid and tag the cards that will be important for later; the rest of them containing course-specific details I delete at the end of the block.

EDIT: Your mileage may vary, but I find the active recall involved in studying my deck is much more helpful than passively reading over my notes a million times.

 

[658809]

Thanks!

You bring up an interesting point about flashcards, with Brainscape vs. Anki...I did check out Brainscape. Just with a quick overview of it, I like its set up. But before I dive in to use it, I'm just curious about what especially clicks with you with Brainscape that Anki doesn't provide. Is there anything specific?

Also, since Firecracker does cost money and you're not very consistent, how do you keep up and make sure you're getting your money's worth of review?

And again, thanks for explaining your strategies. Very helpful 🙂

I honestly like brainscape better than anki - just easier to work with and learn.
I am using firecracker and I like it - but I'm not very consistent with this.

Space repetition is important for the long run - for now and craming, just use brainscape or review your notes.

You won't know everything. it's ok. Forget the "I'll learn 99% of the material". I have an exam tomorrow... I usually aim to know about 80% - because they tend to test more of the "important" things - and I'll take a hit/guess through the nonsense ones.

I'd use First aid over BRS

I don't see to much difference between the years of Firstaid. I currently have the 2013 and may buy a 2016 next year - when I prep for step 1 so I can have a clean book.

Yeah basically - you look through first aid and add in cool things you have learned in school and you are "suppose" to review a few minutes every day of past material - I totally don't and will probably pay for it later on.

Good luck - again, check out brainscape if you want to make your own flashcards.

 

[moisne]

Thanks!

You bring up an interesting point about flashcards, with Brainscape vs. Anki...I did check out Brainscape. Just with a quick overview of it, I like its set up. But before I dive in to use it, I'm just curious about what especially clicks with you with Brainscape that Anki doesn't provide. Is there anything specific?

Also, since Firecracker does cost money and you're not very consistent, how do you keep up and make sure you're getting your money's worth of review?

And again, thanks for explaining your strategies. Very helpful 🙂

Im not as familiar with anki - I think the layout discouraged me more. So be ware some of my Anki comments may be wrong,

Brainscape is super easy to sync between your phone and the computer. It's a lot more easier to make cards. But brainscape don't have the algorithm to do timed quizzing. (It kind of does by pulling up your lower scored cards first - but some cards I get to know like the back of my hand and I don't want to ever see it again).

Timed mode practice is for sure good. You need to see the concepts you struggle more often and reinforce them.

Firecracker is like anki and brainscape put together. Saves me time. But it does cost money. I use it to supplement - not my main source for class exams (my school has its own things they emphasize). It has the timing, layout, multidevice/wifi sync, etc.

I did firecracker for renal over the summer as my review - I looked at my old exam and I'm thinking "how did I miss that? It's so obvious". But it's time consuming.

You can sign up for a free month - no credit card or info needed. You could just sign up every month but the time intervals wouldn't be tracked.

Try it out. If you want to get it - will you let me know? I bought it but I got one month short of my step 1 lol - referring someone gives me one more month.

I think you also get an extra month and a bit of discount.

 

[Dr. America]

+1 for Anki. Learn it, use it, love it. It's been extremely helpful for me.

 

[Glandzburg]

Im not as familiar with anki - I think the layout discouraged me more. So be ware some of my Anki comments may be wrong,

Brainscape is super easy to sync between your phone and the computer. It's a lot more easier to make cards. But brainscape don't have the algorithm to do timed quizzing. (It kind of does by pulling up your lower scored cards first - but some cards I get to know like the back of my hand and I don't want to ever see it again).

Timed mode practice is for sure good. You need to see the concepts you struggle more often and reinforce them.

Firecracker is like anki and brainscape put together. Saves me time. But it does cost money. I use it to supplement - not my main source for class exams (my school has its own things they emphasize). It has the timing, layout, multidevice/wifi sync, etc.

I did firecracker for renal over the summer as my review - I looked at my old exam and I'm thinking "how did I miss that? It's so obvious". But it's time consuming.

You can sign up for a free month - no credit card or info needed. You could just sign up every month but the time intervals wouldn't be tracked.

Try it out. If you want to get it - will you let me know? I bought it but I got one month short of my step 1 lol - referring someone gives me one more month.

I think you also get an extra month and a bit of discount.

I had not heard of Brainscape, but after quickly perusing their website, it seems like a similar concept to that of Anki (perhaps with a flashier interface). The key to these programs is the spaced repetition they provide. @DoodlethePoodle, it looks like either one could help with your weakness of memorizing details; give them a try this block and tell use how it works for you.

EDIT: the only caveat is that Anki I think is more popular among medical students, so you may be limited in your ability to share cards with your classmates or others if you use Brainscape.

 

[Merely]

Why not gunner training? It is like anki except way less work since all the cards are made for you

 

[Glandzburg]

Why not gunner training? It is like anki except way less work since all the cards are made for you

Gunner training is now called Firecracker, but the reason I don't use it is because as an M1, we are learning a lot of class-specific details that aren't high yield for step 1. Firecracker doesn't have all the cards I need for these details, so I prefer to make my own. I may switch during M2 when a higher percentage of our lecture material aligns with Step 1 material.

 

[moisne]

Gunner training is now called Firecracker, but the reason I don't use it is because as an M1, we are learning a lot of class-specific details that aren't high yield for step 1. Firecracker doesn't have all the cards I need for these details, so I prefer to make my own. I may switch during M2 when a higher percentage of our lecture material aligns with Step 1 material.

Let me just say - study step 1 related to the topic you are doing in class now... just do it... lol

Very true firecracker isn't class specific - but you need to somehow find time to study your class stuff and step 1 (related to the topic).

 

[658809]

Sure, no problem- Good luck with your Step One studying 🙂 And thanks for the insight! Looking at how time-consuming Firecracker is, though, would it realistically become the "main" method of reviewing? When is the best time to start using Firecracker? Summer after M1 or? Since I haven't been too much at ease with flashcards yet, I do a lot of diagrams and concept maps and can't really imagine doing JUST flashcards for studying...

Im not as familiar with anki - I think the layout discouraged me more. So be ware some of my Anki comments may be wrong,

Brainscape is super easy to sync between your phone and the computer. It's a lot more easier to make cards. But brainscape don't have the algorithm to do timed quizzing. (It kind of does by pulling up your lower scored cards first - but some cards I get to know like the back of my hand and I don't want to ever see it again).

Timed mode practice is for sure good. You need to see the concepts you struggle more often and reinforce them.

Firecracker is like anki and brainscape put together. Saves me time. But it does cost money. I use it to supplement - not my main source for class exams (my school has its own things they emphasize). It has the timing, layout, multidevice/wifi sync, etc.

I did firecracker for renal over the summer as my review - I looked at my old exam and I'm thinking "how did I miss that? It's so obvious". But it's time consuming.

You can sign up for a free month - no credit card or info needed. You could just sign up every month but the time intervals wouldn't be tracked.

Try it out. If you want to get it - will you let me know? I bought it but I got one month short of my step 1 lol - referring someone gives me one more month.

I think you also get an extra month and a bit of discount.

 

[Glandzburg]

Let me just say - study step 1 related to the topic you are doing in class now... just do it... lol

Very true firecracker isn't class specific - but you need to somehow find time to study your class stuff and step 1 (related to the topic).

This is true. I actually have a copy of First Aid, and I use tags in Anki to flag Step 1 relevant cards that I want to continue to review throughout M1 and M2. Cards that don't get tagged (i.e. relating to course-specific details) are deleted at the end of each exam block.

 

[658809]

Since Anki has been working well for you, how are you organizing the large volume of decks that you create? Are you making multiple profiles? Or are all cards in just one profile?

This is true. I actually have a copy of First Aid, and I use tags in Anki to flag Step 1 relevant cards that I want to continue to review throughout M1 and M2. Cards that don't get tagged (i.e. relating to course-specific details) are deleted at the end of each exam block.

 

[Glandzburg]

Since Anki has been working well for you, how are you organizing the large volume of decks that you create? Are you making multiple profiles? Or are all cards in just one profile?

I have a separate deck for each class; we have 5 classes spanning one semester, with three total exam blocks. At the end of each exam block, I move the cards I want to keep into my First Aid deck and delete the rest of the cards in each class deck.

So not really too many decks to keep track of (6).

 

[MattSmith45]

The problem I've heard with Anki is that it doesn't help with the big picture. You are basically getting snippets when you study and it is in random order.

 

[Glandzburg]

The problem I've heard with Anki is that it doesn't help with the big picture. You are basically getting snippets when you study and it is in random order.

And you would be correct. This is why you supplement Anki with other methods, such as outlining lectures or doing practice problems. Anki is best for hard and fast memorization of facts, not for helping you see the big picture.