Microbiology study question

[hrain]

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Hey all, quick question about studying for step 1 microbiology...

I've been working through CMBMRS and really like it. However, my original plan was to basically annotate FA directly from MRS and then study just from FA for the rest of my study time. I'm finding that I don't quite know where to stop annotating and am probably putting way too much into FA to memorize later...for anyone who has taken the test, was memorizing all the microbiology info in FA enough, or do you think additional info from CMBMRS is necessary? What I'm considering now is basically reading through CMBMRS for big picture and then just memorizing FA, but taking into account that I probably wouldn't remember very many small details from MRS, will that be enough?

Any opinions or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[qmcat]

I didn't read CMMRS... but for micro I just did UWorld questions and annotated the micro stuff into FA when I got questions wrong. I think reading CMMRS is fine and if you like it and it helps you remember stuff then that's good. I think annotating should only be done when you have an important fact that you have trouble memorizing rather than writing everything in your FA. From what I remember, most of the micro on my actual test was in FA, but they tend to pick out small details like having to know how toxin A and toxin B works in diphtheria or knowing how salmonella spreads in your gi tract.

 

[hrain]

Thanks for the response! I really appreciate it, and I think you make a good point about limiting the annotation into First Aid. I think my problem is that everything I read (about specific proteins in bacteria and their actions, etc) always seems important enough to annotate. Guess I better get better at narrowing that down.

Does anyone who's read CMMRS have any feedback? Thanks to all!

 

[medstud87]

i only use CMMRS for understanding high yield bugs and or clarification about obscure critters/concepts. IMO the Mirco Cards are better as a quick reference if you want something that is a medium between the shotgun approach of FA and the much more indepth CMMRS.

I also agree with above poster that Qbank has some great stuff in its explanations for the micro section that may be annotation worthy.

My 2cents.

 

[hrain]

Okay, great. Thanks so much for the tips! I actually just got the micro cards a couple days ago, so that's perfect. Take care