Started first pass of first aid and it seems like gibbrish

[rodmichael82]

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I take my exam in about roughly 2 and half months. I started first pass of first aid from page 1. Technically it's not first pass for everything because I have been using first aid through out second year only.
I'm reading the first year stuff like Biochemistry, Immunology and it's honestly hell. I just don't know if I'm really learning the material from first aid because first aid just throws a bunch of written diarrhea. Should I just keep pushing forward and hope to finally get it on the 3rd-4th pass? or should I really slow down and spend tons of time trying to memorize this endless junk that seems to strictly require rote memorization?
By the way I'm also doing 20 randomized, timed Uworld questions a night on top of this too so my prep is not restricted to first aid.

I guess to get to the point what is the purpose of first pass? Is it to just get a feel of things and move on or to really sit down and memorize everything?

 

[Ismet]

I guess to get to the point what is the purpose of first pass? Is it to just get a feel of things and move on or to really sit down and memorize everything?

I think it depends. In talking to some of my classmates about their study schedules, we all have a slightly different approach. I finished my first pass a few days ago, and it took me about 3 weeks. Some people do more of a "skim" as their first pass, some people are taking 4+ weeks for their first pass and really trying to understand/memorize everything in one go. I wasn't focused on memorizing everything with the first pass, just wanted to see what I could remember from classes and what I'll have to devote more time to. I did Pathoma with most of my courses, so I would annotate relevant stuff from Pathoma into FA. For the things that I vaguely remembered learning once, I would spend a little more time reviewing that so that I could better solidify my memory. For the things that I still have trouble understanding (*#$^%!* adrenergic pharmacology) I put a flag on the page saying that I need to devote more time to those things. I made flashcards for things that you just have to suck up and memorize, like tumor markers and all that jazz.

The "basic science" sections at the beginning took the longest. I took 3 full days for micro and 2 days for biochem (they were also my weakest subjects in MS1 so I figured I needed extra review time). Once I got into the organ systems, I could do about a system/day and a block of Rx questions at night. I think you just need to get over the hump of that first section, and since you used FA during MS2, you might find that the organ systems go smoother.

 

[rodmichael82]

Thanks!

 

[caffeinemia]

Wait till you begin your first pass of UWorld. 60% is gonna make you cry, till you realize it's equivalent to a baseline of 220 or whatever. Obviously retreiving distant knowledge will be harder. Just stick with it. There's always that hill to climb and re-orient yourself atop the mountain of crap that is x pathway.

 

[Ionian]

It is gibbrish, memorize it anyway.