study advice needed

[Nylund727]

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Hello, I have two questions:

1. I know that a lot of people suggest using one or two sources for study material, instead of using many books. Why is this? Obviously some sources emphasize certain points while others don't, but the material is the same - right? I would think that the same material, presented in different formats would be better. Any opinions/experiences?

2. I have also heard that passing step 1 is much easier if you memorize First Aid. How does one go about memorizing about 400 pages? Flashcards? Reading though it multiple times? I don't really know any other "active" study techniques. All suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!!

 

[trouta]

1. Why use few sources? Because you can never get through much more than that. Although it may not seem that way, your time is limited and you will have a very hard time getting through all of the material. It is much better to know the basic material really well than to know lots of details only kind of well. MEMORIZING FA WILL REALLY BE ENOUGH. If you can do that then move on. It is pointless to bother with more material if you dont have this basic detail down.

2. Just go through it over and over again. Do questions also and when you get one wrong look up the info in FA. If it isnt there, add it in. Try also studying with another person and flipping to random pages and quizzing one another from there. I found this very helpful.

 

[neilc]

it is much, much better to know one good review book perfectly than to know a moderate amount from a bunch of scattered books on each subject. really, the vast majority of the questions are right out of first aid, or pathophys for boards and wards. if you make sure you get these right, you can miss the few questions that require a very in-depth knowledge beyond the review books. trust me, it is better to get all the easy questions right than to get the few really tough ones right and miss a bunch of gimmees...i studied with a bunch of sources for step 1, got a crappy score, with 1 book and practice questions for step 2 and got a fairly decent score.

to "memorize" any of the review books, just read it over and over and over and over and over and over.......before bed, in the bath, on the toilet, eating, on the bus, etc...it will start to stick pretty quickly.