Step I pharm: FA vs Qbank

[baya]

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Okay, so pharm's always been a big weak point for me (like most people, I suppose).
So I've been really trying to memorize FA pharm.

Yesterday I took an all-pharm QBank to see if my studying was paying off.
Got a 56%. Now mind you, that's better than I had been doing prior to attempting to insert FA pharm into my hippocampus, but still not so hot.

Then I read through the answers, and I was like "wow, I never even heard of cisapride before, let alone knew about it's side effects that happen specifically with CYT-P450 3A4 inhibitors like erythromycin" and "wow, metaprolol (but none of the other b-blockers) causes dyslipidemia? I didn't see that in FA..."

So I went through and counted what score I would have gotten if I threw out the questions that required knowing something that wasn't in FA (including one that I got right by guessing), and got a 75%, which I like better.

Question: Which set of information (FA or QBank) is more representative of the pharm on the real deal?

Thank you!

 

[keeping-it-real]

Okay, so pharm's always been a big weak point for me (like most people, I suppose).
So I've been really trying to memorize FA pharm.

Yesterday I took an all-pharm QBank to see if my studying was paying off.
Got a 56%. Now mind you, that's better than I had been doing prior to attempting to insert FA pharm into my hippocampus, but still not so hot.

Then I read through the answers, and I was like "wow, I never even heard of cisapride before, let alone knew about it's side effects that happen specifically with CYT-P450 3A4 inhibitors like erythromycin" and "wow, metaprolol (but none of the other b-blockers) causes dyslipidemia? I didn't see that in FA..."

So I went through and counted what score I would have gotten if I threw out the questions that required knowing something that wasn't in FA (including one that I got right by guessing), and got a 75%, which I like better.

Question: Which set of information (FA or QBank) is more representative of the pharm on the real deal?

Thank you!

okay, here's what i have to say... but take it with a grain of salt because i've never taken the USMLE. My comments instead deal with the pharm shelf and the practice NBME i took (which i can only assume will be similar in nature to the step exam)

I 'memorized' FA for the shelf and thought that many of the questions on the shelf could have been answered with just that knowledge. What i felt really gave me the extra edge, however, was Pre-Test Pharm; it seemed to put things in different ways and gets you to think a bit more "itegratively" which is how some questions on the shelf were.

Commenting on what i've seen with Qbank, and given that i did very well on the Pharm shelf, i'm inclined to agree with you that Obank might be a little overboard with their stuff.

According to gotmedbooks.com, memorizing FA Pharm should be the way to go for the USMLE -- and i believe it. This is what i did for the Shelf exam and it worked; hence, this is what i'l be doing for the Step1. If i could give my recommendation it would be to memorize First Aid (and i mean this literally b/c everything in there is fair game) and then use Pre-Test Pharm to really solidfy any weak areas and see the types of 'integrative' questions to expect.

just my two lincolns

-kir

 

[baya]

Thanks, kir

I guess I should have mentioned that I'm taking the monster on monday, so I'm probably not going to go buy Pre-Test Pharm and try to learn it this weekend. I'll keep it in mind for future pharm studying, for sure. Right now, I'm going to take your words of encouragment and keep going with FA.

okay, here's what i have to say... but take it with a grain of salt because i've never taken the USMLE. My comments instead deal with the pharm shelf and the practice NBME i took (which i can only assume will be similar in nature to the step exam)

I 'memorized' FA for the shelf and thought that many of the questions on the shelf could have been answered with just that knowledge. What i felt really gave me the extra edge, however, was Pre-Test Pharm; it seemed to put things in different ways and gets you to think a bit more "itegratively" which is how some questions on the shelf were.

Commenting on what i've seen with Qbank, and given that i did very well on the Pharm shelf, i'm inclined to agree with you that Obank might be a little overboard with their stuff.

According to gotmedbooks.com, memorizing FA Pharm should be the way to go for the USMLE -- and i believe it. This is what i did for the Shelf exam and it worked; hence, this is what i'l be doing for the Step1. If i could give my recommendation it would be to memorize First Aid (and i mean this literally b/c everything in there is fair game) and then use Pre-Test Pharm to really solidfy any weak areas and see the types of 'integrative' questions to expect.

just my two lincolns

-kir

 

[thackl]

I'm doing PreTest pharm right now. It defitely has some over the top Q's, but much better than Q-bank IMHO.

 

[viper]

Agree with keeping it real - memorize FA. There are a few pharm questions on the real test that may not be in FA, but who knows where those will come from anyways. I would say 95%+ is in there. The facts in a flash software on gotmedbooks.com follows FA pretty well for pharm and will help memorize it down solid. I would study a section from FA and then do that in facts in a flash and do the ones you get incorrect over and over and over. Just keep marking them as incorrect the second time around and it will let you generate the same test of incorrects when you choose incorrect (does that make sense??).

 

[CalBeE]

I use a small book for pharm, Pharm for Boards and Wards...it has some drugs that are probably not covered in FA and it's a relatively short read...things like Cisapride-liver reaction and Warfarin-induced skin necrosis are good b/c I don't think FA went into details on those.

I think I did get a few questions in the actual Step 1 test on material not covered by FA but in the Pharm for Boards and Wards book. But then again, if you don't have enough time, focus on FA (Which still has a lot of drugs to remember)

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Took the Boards on June 1st... just got back from vacation today...

Out of the 350 questions, 8 of them were pharm for me (all of which were answerable with FA.

2 of the pharm dealt directly with what medication you use to treat pin worm.

Approximately 80% of the 342 rest were Cardiovascular Heme Lymph Pathology/Physiology.

Insane/unique mixture of topics. The test gives you that weird feeling like you keep answering the same question over and over, and your not sure if it is that deep or that simple. I guess I'll find out in 5 weeks.?.?.