Studying without First Aid?

[babycapybara]

It seems like everyone uses FA. Has anyone not used it to prepare for Step 1? If not, why and what did you use instead?

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[WildTumor]

It seems like everyone uses FA. Has anyone not used it to prepare for Step 1? If not, why and what did you use instead?

A Book Called "How To Fail The USMLE Step 1 for dummies"

 

[harrisonIM]

Kaplan Home Study Books or Kaplan Lecture Notes are popular. Some high scorers on this forum used exclusively Kaplan materials.

 

[kdburton]

It seems like everyone uses FA. Has anyone not used it to prepare for Step 1? If not, why and what did you use instead?

I know several people who have used MedEssentials instead (one scored >250 last year). I also knwo a girl who just graduated last year that didnt use FA or MedEssentials. She just read the review books for each pertinent subject when she took the boards. I don't know how well she did, but she matched into Optho at a reputable east coast program and she wasn't some ridiculously top-of-the-class girl in med school either. I personlly used FA while studying for the basic science stuff and whenever I'm doing USMLE World questions I put some nots in there, but I havent even looked at it for any of the organ systems so far. I read BRS Physio cover to cover and took about 30 pages of typed notes which I separated into systems and put into my 3-ring bound copy of FA which I will study from in my last couple weeks. I'm doing the same with BRS Path/Goljan audio as we speak. FA will be my "checklist" for the organ systems once I get done studying the real meat in the review books. I'm doing fine on USMLE World questions and on the NBME I took, so I'm not worried about failing the test by any means as a previous poster stated. Maybe it will come back bit me in the butt later, but honestly I keep talking to people at my school who are sooooo concerned about "ANNOTATING" first aid with everything that they're probably spending 25% of their time flipping back and forth trying to figure out whats in there and whats not, and I seem to think thats very inefficient. Of course there are those who find success with this, but I'd rather just sit down and read a book straight through, take notes on what I don't know (or what I think I'll forget) and then check it all off my list (First Aid) when I'm in the last couple weeks leading up to the exam.

 

[pseudoknot]

kdburton, I'm using the same approach. I have barely touched FA so far. I do plan to use it a lot in the last week or so, but I think almost all of the information in it is also in the other review books, and those are better to go through the first time. I agree that you'd be in trouble if you were unfamiliar with a lot of the info in FA, but if you read RR Path (for example) it's going to cover all the path in FA and more.

FA seems useful as a checklist like you said, and I think it's a good resource for stuff I keep forgetting, but I don't find it useful as a learning tool.

 

[sendwich]

some people seem to prefer Stepup to FA (better flow, more explainations; everything grouped by systems).

 

[tomorrowgirl99]

I had a friend, now graduating and going to great program, who absolutely hated first aid. She couldn't learn from it because of the style of the book. Used Kaplan and did well. I like First Aid because everything is condensed into one book. She had several books. To each their own I guess.