most efficient way to annotate first aid

[automaton]

i plan to read the high yield series and other books and go through qbank, and annotate things that aren't in first aid, so that i can run through first aid several times a week before my exam. now onto the question. what is the most efficient way of annotating first aid? i've found that flipping through FA to see if something was mentioned or not would take a long time. i'd spend a lot of time using the index and flipping pages instead of memorizing or writing material. so i just wanted to see if anyone had a good and efficient way to determine if something isn't mentioned, and a quick way of transferring that info to FA's pages. right now it takes me about an hour per 10 questions to compare sources and annotate appropriately, and was just wondering if there's a better way.

thank you.

 

[klubguts]

I also had this problem and found it annoying, esp. early in my studying. When i was studying a particular subject, i would learn the material in FA and then review my secondary source (if i had one) shortly thereafter...this made taking notes much easier for me. If you want to jot something down from qbank, you can use scrap paper and add it later (the more times i wrote it the more likely i was to remember it) or just flip thru the index. I really didn't use my qbank much until i had finished reviewing FA for the first time (total did it 3x). Trust me, once you've looked thru FA a few times you get a sense of its sections and content, thus making your note taking much more efficient. IMHO, it is not necessary to take copious notes, as FA is fairly complete. That being said, i did jot some things down, esp. if i saw them multiple times (in other sources or qbank) or felt they were important enough. I usually wrote notes on the side of the "box" related to the specific material. Probably not very helpful advice, but my 0.02...best of luck.

 

[carrigallen]

I try to always write something in first aid, for which ever subject I am reading on. This way, I know that I have covered that subject.

For example, if I am reading Robbins, I will keep FA open to GI/Path, and after I understand the subject, I will write a note in the specific box, or (if the subject is not included in FA) I will write a blurb about it in the footnote margin towards the bottom of the most related page.

For example, p238:
Menetrier disease: enlarged rugae, assoc w/ CMV infection in kids, TGF alpha in adults. Causes protein loss.
Diversion colitis: ileostomy or surgical diverstion delpetes short-chain fatty acids.

I don't use time figuring out if the disease is located elsewhere - if it is a GI disease and it is not in the path section, it is faster just to jot it down.