Memorize FA or RR Path?

[creamyBokah]

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Hey guys,

I don't post very much here but I do read a lot of the posts. I have a question but first a little background. Just finished my first year and I stopped going to lecture very early on (like the first week) and have never looked back. Basically, I just use my time to learn and then memorize review books. Many probably wouldn't agree with my methods but they have worked for me.

I had the highest score in my class on both micro and neuroscience shelves (99th percentile) by basically memorizing CMMRS and BRS Neuroanatomy respectively. Usually by the end of a course, I would have gone through the book around 20x. Before exams I just skim the class notes for a day and because I already know most of the stuff, I only have to memorize a couple of things. I've honored a couple of classes but mostly score around an 85% in most classes. I don't care much about honoring though.

Now to my question. I'm planning to memorize either FA or RR Path 3rd edition during my second year (Of course I will supplement with other sources to understand what I'm memorizing). I've skimmed the entirety of both books and it seems that RR Path is a lot more dense. I'm having trouble deciding which one to memorize. I've compared several diseases from both books and it seems that FA will have two lines on the disease and RR Path will have a whole paragraph or like half a page sometimes. FA also has a few things that RR Path doesn't though.

I'm conflicted because I don't want to miss any important details, which leads me towards RR Path, but sometimes I think the high yield lines in FA will serve me better. My plan right now is to memorize RR Path and then skim the FA path section for things not mentioned. Which one would you choose to have in your memory if you had the choice?

I ask because once I commit to a book I don't want to have any regrets and end up switching to another book. It is obviously a time consuming process and for the neuroscience shelf, I spent about a week memorizing HY Neuro only to find out (after doing some practice questions) that it wasn't detailed enough for the shelf, so I switched to BRS Neuro but wasted a week on HY Neuro.

Sorry if I sound gunnerish but class IMO is a waste of time and the structure of class notes is horrible at my school (powerpoints). I want to score 260+ and I live with my GF and have a dog and I need to use my time wisely (not at lecture). Any constructive advice is appreciated.

 

[Waysensei]

As someone who is about to take his USMLE in a month and is scoring 250 on practice NBME's, I would say that if you are going to MEMORIZE one book, it should be FA. RR is too dense to memorize, but is definitely worth knowing and reading through a couple of times.

Hey guys,

I don't post very much here but I do read a lot of the posts. I have a question but first a little background. Just finished my first year and I stopped going to lecture very early on (like the first week) and have never looked back. Basically, I just use my time to learn and then memorize review books. Many probably wouldn't agree with my methods but they have worked for me.

I had the highest score in my class on both micro and neuroscience shelves (99th percentile) by basically memorizing CMMRS and BRS Neuroanatomy respectively. Usually by the end of a course, I would have gone through the book around 20x. Before exams I just skim the class notes for a day and because I already know most of the stuff, I only have to memorize a couple of things. I've honored a couple of classes but mostly score around an 85% in most classes. I don't care much about honoring though.

Now to my question. I'm planning to memorize either FA or RR Path 3rd edition during my second year (Of course I will supplement with other sources to understand what I'm memorizing). I've skimmed the entirety of both books and it seems that RR Path is a lot more dense. I'm having trouble deciding which one to memorize. I've compared several diseases from both books and it seems that FA will have two lines on the disease and RR Path will have a whole paragraph or like half a page sometimes. FA also has a few things that RR Path doesn't though.

I'm conflicted because I don't want to miss any important details, which leads me towards RR Path, but sometimes I think the high yield lines in FA will serve me better. My plan right now is to memorize RR Path and then skim the FA path section for things not mentioned. Which one would you choose to have in your memory if you had the choice?

I ask because once I commit to a book I don't want to have any regrets and end up switching to another book. It is obviously a time consuming process and for the neuroscience shelf, I spent about a week memorizing HY Neuro only to find out (after doing some practice questions) that it wasn't detailed enough for the shelf, so I switched to BRS Neuro but wasted a week on HY Neuro.

Sorry if I sound gunnerish but class IMO is a waste of time and the structure of class notes is horrible at my school (powerpoints). I want to score 260+ and I live with my GF and have a dog and I need to use my time wisely (not at lecture). Any constructive advice is appreciated.

 

[HTxFrog]

You should read both for sure. I am the same way about classes and just finished my second year and feel really good about what I did. I never went to or watched a single class, I just read RR and FA and listened to Goljan for whatever systems we were doing that test block then studied for the tests the week before and I think it worked great. You have a whole year and you are going to need to know the stuff from both of them eventually anyways so you should just read the section you are studying in class as many times as you can. If you do it that way you are killing two birds with one stone b/c you will end up probably doing well on the class tests without much work. By the end of the year you will have read all of Goljan and the FA Organ Systems chapters at least a few times each and you will be wayy ahead of everyone who spent hours and hours sitting listening to some guy lecture about his research interests or whatever people that go to class do. RR really doesn't need much more context than Goljan audio to make complete sense I don't think so I wouldn't waste a bunch of time trying to go through Robbins or something. Depending on what other classes you have second year there are high yield books for every subject that you can go through once or twice, Lange Review of Micro/Immuno by Levinson (Immuno sxn only) and RR Biochem come to mind. Look up the Taus method, it'll give you a ton of stuff to read.

 

[johnbeck]

Read both, but memorize FA. I just posted this in another thread. Maybe is will be useful to you. Do TONS of practice questions. My whole study group (5 guys) is scoring close to or above 250, and we still have a month until we take the exam. Here is what I wrote in the other thread:

i took nbme 3 two months ago and got a 231 (this was before i had studied repro and endocrine)

i took nbme 5 one week ago and got a 251.

for the ensuing week, i read most of first aid and got a 262 on nbme 7 a few days ago. the behavioral sciences questions were tough. the stems were really long as well.

this score seems to be close to what my kaplan score estimator estimates. i am going to take the real thing in four weeks. i saw a huge improvement after reading through first aid. my plan is read first aid one time/week until i take the exam. hopefully i can solidify a score in the 260s.

in prep for boards i have done all of usmlerx, all of usmle world, most of kaplan and plan on doing world one more time. going through all these practice questions has really helped me. in addition to the q banks i've read linda casatnzo's big physiology book (not the brs one) and used the goljan lectures and his rapid review pathology as a resource (i have not read it straight through. i think there is too much information for step one there). i've been through first aid multiple times. i believe reading first aid over and over again has been the highest yield thing i have done in addition to all the practice questions.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Over the course of a year it should be possible to memorize both.

I say this a lot, but look into flashcard programs with smart algorithms (I used Supermemo, I hear Anki is good also).

 

[strongboy2005]

Over the course of a year it should be possible to memorize both.

I say this a lot, but look into flashcard programs with smart algorithms (I used Supermemo, I hear Anki is good also).

This is why I plan on getting Flash Facts and knowing FA cold.

 

[IMGUSMLEStep1]

I can't and won't choose between First Aid and Rapid Review Path! I love them both. Well, ok if I had to choose between them at gunpoint, I would say First Aid becasue it covers all the subjects. RR Path is a fantastic resource and not using it is a crime in my opinion, but it doesn't cover all the subjects.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Why would you want to memorize either of them?

I don't get the whole "just memorize first aid" attitude, what's the point? It might help you go from a 220 to a 240, but at what cost? Yeah, you can spend your time memorizing those 1100 "frequently tested facts and mnemonics", or you could spend the same amount of time learning and understanding the tested concepts and pathology.

Use RR path as and outline and strive to learn over the course of the next year. You'll actually learn something and end up with a higher score to boot.

 

[creamyBokah]

Thanks for the support guys. It seems like the general consensus is to memorize FA cold. I'll probably read RR Path when my courses start but really dedicate time to getting 100% of FA in my head with a fast recall speed too. I'll probably start working on USMLERx qbank in December and hit UWorld right after that.

HTxFrog and johnbeck: Good luck on your upcoming exams, sounds like you guys are gonna rock it.

lord_jeebus: I know you are a 260+ scorer so I appreciate your advice. I'm using Anki right now and it's great. Not sure my brain can handle both books though 🙂 You crazy.

 

[creamyBokah]

Hi turkeyjerky,

I understand your point. I just do all my learning at home on my own with review books as my guide and google or Robbins if needed. So yes, I do agree with you that understanding the concepts is very important. But at some point I feel like having immediate recall of the facts in FA will help my score in addition to learning the material. I feel like there is almost no time for thinking at this level and things need to be almost automatic. I believe only spaced repetition can accomplish this aspect of studying.

Why would you want to memorize either of them?

I don't get the whole "just memorize first aid" attitude, what's the point? It might help you go from a 220 to a 240, but at what cost? Yeah, you can spend your time memorizing those 1100 "frequently tested facts and mnemonics", or you could spend the same amount of time learning and understanding the tested concepts and pathology.

Use RR path as and outline and strive to learn over the course of the next year. You'll actually learn something and end up with a higher score to boot.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Conceptual mastery and a large fund of memorized facts are both essential for 260+.

The foundation for conceptual mastery comes from good medical school lecturers and reading real textbooks. This foundation becomes mastery through thousands of practice questions and asking smart questions in school.

Memorization of facts can only come from repetition. Spaced repetition optimizes the efficiency of this process. Together, First Aid and RR Path probably contain about 4000-5000 facts worth memorizing. With one year to prepare, this is 10-15 new facts/day. Spaced repetition of that burden should require less than 1 hour/day for 95-97% retention of all facts. Having over a year is a huge luxury as the majority of the burden for memorizing something comes in the first month - after that, maintenance requires very few repetitions.

 

[Captopril]

I memorized both, after the 2nd read RR becomes an extremely quick read (by the "memorization" point, I was getting through the entire book in about 8hrs). That being said, if you absolutely must memorize only one...definitely go with FA. RR is important, but FA is vital to your existence.

 

[kryptik]

well said captopril