USMLE Mistake to Not Use FirstAid?

[deleted407021]

Hey y'all,

My Step 1 is 3 weeks out. I've been doing UWorld, 120 timed a day, 56% at 65% through the Qbank. I've also been going back through SketchyMicro/Pharm as I review my sets as well as Pathoma.

The thing is, I don't really use FA that much. Seeing some opinions online, I'm beginning to worry that if I don't go through FA I'll somehow be setting myself up for disaster. Is UW enough to review everything or am I shooting myself in the foot?

Thanks!

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[ciestar]

Ive gone through FA and feel as though UWorld covers it all and more. I really don’t care for FA. Bad med student. Lol

 

[deleted407021]

Ive gone through FA and feel as though UWorld covers it all and more. I really don’t care for FA. Bad med student. Lol

This is how I feel. I’d rather have discrete questions with specific explanations that lead me to google up more info, rather than some overblown set of tables or graphics.

I’m worried however that I’ll be missing out on some minutiae that everyone who uses FA will somehow be aware of.

 

[dushash]

Your UW 65% score should be enough to pass already, not to mention you still have 3 more weeks. The question is what score are you aiming at? The thing is that at this point imho it's too late to do a 180 turn and change your study style - this may hurt you more than help. IMHO just keep going and increasing UW score. If you get into 70-75% on UW - that will be a lot more useful rather than start dissecting FA and waste a lot of time on it. Just my opinion

 

[deleted407021]

Your UW 65% score should be enough to pass already, not to mention you still have 3 more weeks. The question is what score are you aiming at? The thing is that at this point imho it's too late to do a 180 turn and change your study style - this may hurt you more than help. IMHO just keep going and increasing UW score. If you get into 70-75% on UW - that will be a lot more useful rather than start dissecting FA and waste a lot of time on it. Just my opinion

It’s 65% done at 56% scoring, sorry for the confusion.

I’d be happy with a 220 tbh

 

[HybridEarth]

If you know Uworld alone inside and out you can probably push a 240+ (perfect world). The details in first aid are commonly what push people over into the 250s and up from what it looks like. If you’re happy with a 220+ just stick with Uworld and ignore your percent right - focus on learning each question and the answer choices that were wrong as well. You should be fine with that

 

[deleted407021]

If you know Uworld alone inside and out you can probably push a 240+ (perfect world). The details in first aid are commonly what push people over into the 250s and up from what it looks like. If you’re happy with a 220+ just stick with Uworld and ignore your percent right - focus on learning each question and the answer choices that were wrong as well. You should be fine with that

Pretty much what I’ve been doing. Also did well on a NBME today so I figure it’s working. Thanks!

 

[Lnsean]

How do people even go through FA? It's just a bunch of tables and charts. I can't fathom reading this for the life of me.

 

[073116]

How do people even go through FA? It's just a bunch of tables and charts. I can't fathom reading this for the life of me.

Best approach is to divide it by sections/organ systems and read one section/organ system per week. First read should be just to get main concepts and familiarize yourself. Second read will go easier and you can start remembering details. The thing is if 60% UW score (first pass) gets you a pass on step 1, then if you know 1/3 of FA material - that should be about passing score give or take. Rarely anyone knows 100% of FA - there are so much details that maybe only 1-2% of students can memorize and know cold close to 99% of FA.

Those with good memory are in better starting point. It's those of us who are average who struggle. But main motivator is that we have no choice - alternative is to apply for McDonalds - I'm sure you can shine there and serve community

 

[deleted407021]

Also considering stopping FA as it's draining my soul. Mind if I ask which nbme you took and what you mean by "well"? We have similar uworld %s. Thanks friend

Hey, np. It was NBME 15 with 210+ at ~80% correct. By well, I mean about 2.5 weeks out and a big improvement from another NBME a week ago.

I'm aiming for a 220 on the real deal.

 

[darknecrosforte]

Took Level 1 on Friday after getting 211 on CBSSA 15, 16, and 18 last week. Then read 1/2 of FA casually over 2 days while doing a few COMQUEST blocks on my weakest relevant areas I noticed during Level 1.

Today got 232 on NBME 17 even though I'm working less intensely than earlier. I'm looking at the 26 mistakes I made on #17, and either they were really dumb mistakes or something that I switched from due to self-doubt. I think the speed reading FA helped to fill cracks in the factoids I know since I have a hard time rote memorizing more than 2 drugs from a drug class at a time.

 

[darknecrosforte]

Wow that's quite the jump! I got a pretty similar score to you on 15/16. What did you think of 17/18 compared to 15/16?

Also, mind if I ask what % you get on comquest? Thank you

They're a bit harder because they're less direct overall. I'm treating the Q's like UWorld minus having convenient explanations.

For COMQUEST I was getting 65-70% before level 1 and finished all the biostats, OMM, psych, and public health Qs. Now I'm getting 75-85% correct on the remaining Qs since I'm only halfway done with it. The explanations are nice and it's hard to read more than an hour of FA at a time. I'm just speeding through it and highlighting maybe 3 words/page at most. I think doing whatever it takes to maintain work flow whilst avoiding burnout (even borderline getting lazy periodically) is important to avoid stagnation. I think I'll be able to have 240 in reach for Step 1 Friday unless something weird happens.

 

[darknecrosforte]

I got you dude. So would you say that comquest has helped you for nbme Qs? I think I'm in the minority but I find uworld makes me make bad choices on the nbmes because I overthink, which is necessary in uworld but often isn't needed for the nbmes.

I agree. I always dedicate a few seconds to consider the most likely "level" of question I am being asked so that I control that impulse. COMQUEST has helped me make sure I know a concept forward and backward because the explanations do actually go a tiny bit overboard. I think for people who want to squeeze as many points possible during crunch time, this is good. It's apparently working for me.

An important thing to consider is that the NBME and (probably) Step 1 focusing on "single-best" answer means you must embrace the stereotypes and "racism" to the fullest. Every 35 Yo black woman has sarcoidosis, lupus, etc. I have done EVERY NBME except 19 (even offline ones) and have seen what their "prioritization" rules are for picking "best answer" and have seen how the repeated questions have evolved over time. I've been tracking my "guessing" stats and I'm at > 75% correct when I eliminate down to 2 choices simply when I narrow down the Q level, the system, and the "learning objective/competency". I just have to slow down when there are double negatives (stopping the inhibition of the negative feedback).

 

[deleted407021]

I think we are twins . I did awful on 13 then around your score on 15 this past weekend! What's your game plan? I think I'm gonna take 17/18 and uwsa2. If I get 210+ on the nbmes and 220+ on uwsa2 I'm gonna take the usmle

Pretty much the same!

 

[drkube]

I only use First Aid as a reference when I miss a question on UWorld. I tried reading FA but I had almost no retention.