Memorize First Aid or More Questions

[Kluver_Bucy]

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Why do people say if they had to do it all over. They would have done more questions? I'm confused because I'm spending all my time trying to memorize First Aid because it is high yield, and people that I talk to say just do questions.

Am I missing something?

 

[omarsaleh66]

I think questions are important cuz they get u in the mindset of problem solving and reasoning. It shows u where u are weak, and forces u to learn things that u normally wouldnt learn due to the whole process of missing questions and reading the explanations. U see why u are getting things wrong and u get to read explanations for the other choices.

But at the same time, USMLE covers so much, that u gotta go thru everything atleast once. Just for recall. Becuase no matter how many questions u do, they dont cover all the things u need to know.

 

[xaelia]

First Aid doesn't cover everything you need to know, either; it's impossible to know everything. I prefer questions and getting used to situations where you're not sure and practicing synthesizing concepts together to come up with the answer.

 

[Doc Ivy]

I think FA is great, but it's like espresso-- very potent. Everything in there is gold but you could take an open book test with FA and still not get 100%.

A lot of times you have to be able to integrate on the test, a lot of the questions I had required several facts to get to the answer. Of course there are some straight memorization questions like "what branchial arch gives rise to the thymus?" although come to think of it they described a kid with infections and you had to come up with DiGeorge

I think questions are awesome help you "diagnose" your weak points--1) areas that you thought you'd memorized but really hadn't, or 2)concepts you thought you understood but really had in reverse or 3) help you synthesize the random factoids in FA.
When I get something wrong on Qbank I never forget it!

 

[Pox in a box]

"...what branchial arch gives rise to the thymus?"

Please say you mean pouch...

 

[Doc Ivy]

Please say you mean pouch...

Yes freakshow groove ecto, pouch endo, arch meso

my brain is tired 😛

 

[p53]

p53's exclusive mnemonic for Pharngeal Apparatus. Once it is in First Aid you will remember this post.

If a guy is lucky on his first date he might go into the GAP. Notice the order of the letters from entrance.

Groove - inVaginations of Ectoderm
Arch - Mesoderm (Muscle) -CN V, CN VII, CN IX, CN X) easy once you memorize the CN innervation of muscles. Only tricky one is IX - stylopharngeous
Pouch - Endoderm (Diverticular) - 1, 2, 3, 4 - only tricky one is thymus and inferior parathyroid gland is 3 (counterintuitive if you think about it since 4 is superior parathyroid gland)

 

[Long Dong]

When I get something wrong on Qbank I never forget it!

Me too. When i do the ones i got wrong again, i remember that i got it wrong, but not what the correct answer is.
😱