Picmonic - score on step 1 just by memorizing Picmonic

[angrygunner]

The Picmonic founder talked at my school and he said Picmonic covers about 35-40% of First Aid. So if you memorize all of Picmonic and do a little extra stuff are you guaranteed to pass Step 1?

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[HoboCommander]

Not necessarily, because Step 1 isn't about memorizing first aid. More than half the exam is about knowing how to reason about the pathophysiology.

 

[survivordo]

Memorization plays a role in a good portion of step I, for all those genetic disorders etc you just gotta come up with ways to get it in your head, if picmonic can help you with that then great. However, like hobo said, there is a significant amount of applying information and pathophys on Step I, I don't think you are going to get around this with picmonic. There are tons of tried and true ways that people have had success posted all over these forums, I suggest you stick with one of them and don't be a guinea pig.

Survivor DO

 

[GTstormin]

I've been using Picmonic for months as a supplement to FA and Pathoma, and my test is next week. Most of them are pretty great at remembering small facts, especially for micro, antibiotics, and biochem conditions. I'll post after my test how much I think I recalled mainly from Picmonic over other sources.

Ultimately, if you use Picmonic, use it as a supplement to whatever your STEP 1 plan is and not as a primary source.

 

[blaqmamba]

LOL tell him to memorize just picmonic and take the test and see where it gets him. Are you really willing to risk a score by following a salesman's advice?

 

[John Lannister]

This reminds me of get fit fast exercise fads. "8 min abs!"

The formula to doing well physically is a great diet and excellent workout routine. The formula for doing well on the boards has some combination of FA + Uworld. Add all the gimmicks you want to the essentials, but you can't skip the essentials.

 

[BooRadley85]

I'm pretty sure Picmonic never claimed "only use us and you'll do great". No one that is really trying to do well would actually do that, not even the founders of the company. However, if you can use Picmonic throughout first and second year (which none of us could seeing that it's brand new) and review them before you start your "dedicated board study time", you will be very much ahead of the game. And about being a "guinea pig", it's not like this is Pathoma coming out the first year and you have to decide between it and Goljan. That would have been tough choice and I would have stuck with Goljan. But Picmonic is a new way to memorize facts that simply have to be memorized. I guess some people can understand the pathophys behind why leptomeningiomas are associated with Sturge-Weber; however, I'm not one of those. I've done many Uworld and NBME questions where extremely vague descriptions are given and a random picture pops into my head (ie a picture of a brain in a left toe=leptomeningioma) and I get the question right. We'll see how it affects me on the real-steel-deal Thursday.

 

[Etorphine]

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[jayareus]

So I'm curious, how does everyone use picmonic? Someone said it takes 15min+ to learn a topic. I just got access to some cards via a friend and I'm not sure what the study strategy is... I've just been listening to the "classic" and "creative" descriptions and staring at the pictures. Whats the method to actually making these things stick? Repeat viewings?

 

[WilliamsEph]

I'm going hardcore with it now. It suits my learning style perfectly, but it takes a while to burn into your head. As someone else said, once it is burned in it stays in. I actually went out and bough a color inkjet to print out each card since I learn better by also writing down. I annotate each card. Once I'm done with my preliminary review I plan to quickly review about 60 cards a day. It takes me roughly a minute to review each card. As for learning the card itself, it takes me about 20 minutes. There are 360 cards total and it has been very useful to learn micro and pharm.

 

[paul411]

So I'm curious, how does everyone use picmonic? Someone said it takes 15min+ to learn a topic. I just got access to some cards via a friend and I'm not sure what the study strategy is... I've just been listening to the "classic" and "creative" descriptions and staring at the pictures. Whats the method to actually making these things stick? Repeat viewings?

Be able to recreate the Picmonic entirely from memory. I used the creative stories to help cue me in when I couldn't remember the images outright.

I'm going hardcore with it now. It suits my learning style perfectly, but it takes a while to burn into your head. As someone else said, once it is burned in it stays in. I actually went out and bough a color inkjet to print out each card since I learn better by also writing down. I annotate each card. Once I'm done with my preliminary review I plan to quickly review about 60 cards a day. It takes me roughly a minute to review each card. As for learning the card itself, it takes me about 20 minutes. There are 360 cards total and it has been very useful to learn micro and pharm.

I did the same thing and it really helped me out. I went through all of Picmonic 5+ times with a study partner. I ended up doing really well and I attribute a lot of it to Picmonic. I got "higher performance" on all the sections that were covered in Picmonic.

Beyond Step 1, it's been really useful when I get pimped on the wards.

 

[DrDoogie]

Does anyone have a coupon code to use?

 

[001100010010011]

Picmonic is worth it's weight in gold. I'm pretty pumped to use it with my M2 courses. It's great for all of the ridiculous enzyme deficiencies in biochemistry.

 

[CassidyEdard]

That would have been tough choice and I would have stuck with Goljan. But Picmonic is a new way to memorize facts that simply have to be memorized.

 

[Brain Bucket]

Does anyone have a pirated version of this lol

-_- get it for a month and do it really quickly? 30-35 cards a day should get you through it thrice in a month.

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[Elshadai27]

I'm going hardcore with it now. It suits my learning style perfectly, but it takes a while to burn into your head. As someone else said, once it is burned in it stays in. I actually went out and bough a color inkjet to print out each card since I learn better by also writing down. I annotate each card. Once I'm done with my preliminary review I plan to quickly review about 60 cards a day. It takes me roughly a minute to review each card. As for learning the card itself, it takes me about 20 minutes. There are 360 cards total and it has been very useful to learn micro and pharm.

Hi, can you please tell me did you print them out as a flashcard size? If so, how did you do that?

 

[seminoma]

LOL tell him to memorize just picmonic and take the test and see where it gets him. Are you really willing to risk a score by following a salesman's advice?

The picmonic founder told OP that picmonic covers 35-40% of FA, not that picmonic was enough to pass step 1. OP is asking if picmonic + a little extra work means he can pass.

Anyway I'm not a fan of picmonic, but I don't think it's that farfetched to think that memorizing picmonic + "a little extra work" is enough to pass step 1. How many people take an NBME at the start of their dedicated time and get a passing score? Probably many, if not most. Like med school, I doubt step 1 is a difficult exam to pass.