That's it! Someone settle this once and for all! Re: First Aid

[Knicks]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Ok here's the deal:

I've heard from a lot of people "yeah man, just memorize FA and you should be fine".


I've ALSO heard from a lot of people "Those people who say 'just memorize FA' are completely wrong. FA is just the bare-minimum recipe-type check list of the things you need to know and understand, not just 'memorize'".


So how should I go about using FA?

I'm using Kaplan books as my #1 main source.

Thanks.

 

[JonnyG]

Ok here's the deal:

I've heard from a lot of people "yeah man, just memorize FA and you should be fine".


I've ALSO heard from a lot of people "Those people who say 'just memorize FA' are completely wrong. FA is just the bare-minimum recipe-type check list of the things you need to know and understand, not just 'memorize'".


So how should I go about using FA?

I'm using Kaplan books as my #1 main source.

Thanks.

It all depends on your background. If you were a good student everything should fall together with First Aid. Youdefintely will do well if you know and UNDERSTAND it. Like looking up the graph without explanations. The pharmacology is more than enough in first aid. I Felt the only thing really lacking was radiology. I got hit with a bunch of that.

 

[Knicks]

Thanx.

Ok and can someone tell me for which subjects will the FA "suffice" and which subjects I should stick with Kaplan? (of course Goljan for path).

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Depends which subjects you are strong in. I would not count on FA only for any of the major pathophysiology sections (respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, etc). For things like biochem and anatomy, FA is probably enough for a lot of people, especially considering those subjects are not heavily tested.

There is a wealth of information in FA, but the problem is that it is in such abbreviated form that it is difficult to put it in context. For most topics, a review book that gives a little more detail will be necessary because you need to know not just that "nugget" of information, but how it fits into the bigger picture.

 

[Knicks]

Depends which subjects you are strong in. I would not count on FA only for any of the major pathophysiology sections (respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, etc). For things like biochem and anatomy, FA is probably enough for a lot of people, especially considering those subjects are not heavily tested.

There is a wealth of information in FA, but the problem is that it is in such abbreviated form that it is difficult to put it in context. For most topics, a review book that gives a little more detail will be necessary because you need to know not just that "nugget" of information, but how it fits into the bigger picture.

Agreed. And that's why I'm using Kaplan.

 

[78222]

FA is definitely a little weak in regards to Molecular bio. Of course for Path you need to use RR or BRS as your primary source but that goes without saying as it would be impossible to fit path into FA without tripling the size.

 

[dilated]

It's like one of those nomograms with different variables for "existing knowledge of material", "test taking skill" and "desired score". It's different for everyone.

I think FA's suitability for covering all of a given topic is overrated by a lot of people who are really using what they learned in 2nd year and just re-memorizing HY stuff via FA.

 

[Law2Doc]

I think FA's suitability for covering all of a given topic is overrated by a lot of people who are really using what they learned in 2nd year and just re-memorizing HY stuff via FA.

Agreed. FA is adequate if you don't really need it. It is not adequate if you are lacking in one or more subjects. Thus I would treat it as an initial supplement to what you've already got, but add additional resources for the high yield material or things you are weak at.

The AVERAGE person coming out of med school would not do particularly well on the Step using just FA as a study resource. A TOP student coming out of med school possibly would. But even this latter person would benefit from an additional resource in whatever s/he was weaker in.

Use FA as a skeleton, on which you will need to add some additional meat.

 

[78222]

The thing I don't particularly like about first aid is that it just gives you facts - no background at all. I have to use it as more of a refresher/index of things I need to know. If I see a factoid listed in FA that I don't recognize, I'll have to look it up.

 

[USArmyDoc]

This is unbelievable.....There have been SO many posts that say just memorize FA and you are golden. Now there are posts saying otherwise....wierd....I am not using it as my only source by any means so I don't fall into that category, but I tend to agree.....its a good review but more detail would be needed.

 

[QofQuimica]

The authors wrote this sentence in the book's Forward:

"First Aid....is not designed to be a comprehensive text or the sole study source for the USMLE Step 1; it is meant as a guide to one's preparation for USMLE Step 1."

They then go on for the the rest of the paragrah to discourage you from simply memorizing every fact in First Aid instead of understanding the material. That seems pretty clear-cut to me. If you believe the authors who actually wrote the book, they explicitly tell you that First Aid is meant to be an outline, not a stand-alone source.

 

[Moniker]

well I mean does anyone really need a 100% of medical school & boards comprehensive source? you don't. you need a reasonably good review text to refresh your memory on the things you forgot, neatly summarize high yield points, and focus your studying. it comes back surprisingly fast - you should not be learning very much "for the first time". the conventional wisdom is that FA is the best concise comprehensive review, but if you're weak in an area, you'd better get a dedicated text (HY or BRS). additionally, if you want to cover your bases, you may want to get several of the good dedicated texts on a variety of subjects. I don't know anything about Kaplan.

once you start going through Qbank questions, i think you start to get a feel for what depth of understanding you're going to need to have to answer step I questions. that helps guide your mindset when you're studying. you start thinking of things in question or vignette format.

 

[lilnoelle]

Well, I'm just at the very beginning of my journey studying for Step I and I've found First Aid to be cryptic at best in areas that I have not reviewed in more detail. I decided to tape myself reading the first section of First Aid (Behavioral Science) as the first step in my studies with First Aid. I remembered very little about stats and stuttered through it as I read, understanding very little of it as I went through it. Then I listened to the Kaplan lecture and read through the lecture notes, making small notes in First Aid as I read. I was surprised to find that first Aid was rather complete, and al lot of the info was there if I just understood what I was reading. It was obvious to me that First Aid was not enough alone, since I didn't really understand it in the first place. With a few notes added to first aid to remind me what its talking about, I think I will be able to use First Aid as a template to study from.

What I'm not sure about.... is how much detail should I be adding to First Aid. If I add nearly all of the notes in Kaplan lecture notes and Goljan's RR, I just as well be using them as my major source, and ignoring first aid.

 

[DragonWell]

I've basically been following the general idea of the "Taus plan" 😉; specifically:

1) Consolidate all books into FA (except Goljans Rapid Review Path and HY Molecular will be used throughout and in full)

As I go through each review book and UWorld, I'm annotating details into FA that either 1)are not there or 2)are helpful to me in making connections and fully understanding FA. I've even downloaded a few pictures, diagrams, etc and taped them into FA.

Once I get everything consolidated into FA, my goal is to spend the last 3 weeks or so doing questions and reviewing only my souped-up FA, Goljan RR, and HY MB.

 

[Knicks]

Well, I'm just at the very beginning of my journey studying for Step I and I've found First Aid to be cryptic at best in areas that I have not reviewed in more detail. I decided to tape myself reading the first section of First Aid (Behavioral Science) as the first step in my studies with First Aid. I remembered very little about stats and stuttered through it as I read, understanding very little of it as I went through it. Then I listened to the Kaplan lecture and read through the lecture notes, making small notes in First Aid as I read. I was surprised to find that first Aid was rather complete, and al lot of the info was there if I just understood what I was reading. It was obvious to me that First Aid was not enough alone, since I didn't really understand it in the first place. With a few notes added to first aid to remind me what its talking about, I think I will be able to use First Aid as a template to study from.

What I'm not sure about.... is how much detail should I be adding to First Aid. If I add nearly all of the notes in Kaplan lecture notes and Goljan's RR, I just as well be using them as my major source, and ignoring first aid.

Exactly, that's what I'm doing.

 

[InternationlDoc]

After reading a review book on a subject or RR path or kaplan or whatever, I really do not have the energy to go back and read or annotate FA.

FA looks like a nice list that needs to be memorized, but seriously, I've found questions on Qbank that are NOT in FA (specifically the "we are collecting more info on these new questions" ones)

Taus's plan is excellent, but you need some serious hard work to implement the "consolidation in FA"

No moxie here 😴

 

[mudphudwannabe]

Bearing in mind that I had a shorter timeline (3 weeks) and thus less time to look back and review notes, I only took notes in FA here and there. I only bothered to make a note if I found something that seemed particularly helpful and was either absent or unclear (to me) in FA. After going through 50% of USMLE world, BRS Path, and BRS Phys, I ended up with only a few notes in FA -- probably much less than 1 note per page. If you have enough time that you're afraid that you might start forgetting things, I can see how filling FA with notes would be helpful, but if that's not your style or if it's taking too much time, I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[InternationlDoc]

Bearing in mind that I had a shorter timeline (3 weeks) and thus less time to look back and review notes, I only took notes in FA here and there. I only bothered to make a note if I found something that seemed particularly helpful and was either absent or unclear (to me) in FA. After going through 50% of USMLE world, BRS Path, and BRS Phys, I ended up with only a few notes in FA -- probably much less than 1 note per page. If you have enough time that you're afraid that you might start forgetting things, I can see how filling FA with notes would be helpful, but if that's not your style or if it's taking too much time, I wouldn't sweat it.

word. thats me right there

 

[78222]

I've basically been following the general idea of the "Taus plan" 😉; specifically:

As I go through each review book and UWorld, I'm annotating details into FA that either 1)are not there or 2)are helpful to me in making connections and fully understanding FA. I've even downloaded a few pictures, diagrams, etc and taped them into FA.

Once I get everything consolidated into FA, my goal is to spend the last 3 weeks or so doing questions and reviewing only my souped-up FA, Goljan RR, and HY MB.

This is what I'm doing as well. In fact, I gave Taus plan to all my friends. Taus's da man

 

[DragonWell]

Past discussions have shown a lot of opinions on whether or not to annotate FA. I'm definitely not adding every detail of the review books to FA, usually as I am reading a review book, I just follow along with the pertinent section of FA and make a couple notes or connections. As I review Uworld, if I'm unsure about an answer and want to study it further, I look up the section in FA and make sure it's in there. If it's not, I add it.

The big advantage I see to annotating is that at the end, with one condensed source you will (hopefully) have time to revisit all those high yield facts a couple more times before the test. Slogging through the review books multiple times just seems more tedious to me and less likely to happen. There have been many posts from students who wished after the test that they had just gone through FA more times - they knew the answer was in there but just couldn't recall the detail they needed. I'm pretty dense, so I know I need the repetition.

I guess in the end you just need to find the system that works for how you study and hope for the best...

 

[InternationlDoc]

Past discussions have shown a lot of opinions on whether or not to annotate FA. I'm definitely not adding every detail of the review books to FA, usually as I am reading a review book, I just follow along with the pertinent section of FA and make a couple notes or connections. As I review Uworld, if I'm unsure about an answer and want to study it further, I look up the section in FA and make sure it's in there. If it's not, I add it.

The big advantage I see to annotating is that at the end, with one condensed source you will (hopefully) have time to revisit all those high yield facts a couple more times before the test. Slogging through the review books multiple times just seems more tedious to me and less likely to happen. There have been many posts from students who wished after the test that they had just gone through FA more times - they knew the answer was in there but just couldn't recall the detail they needed. I'm pretty dense, so I know I need the repetition.

I guess in the end you just need to find the system that works for how you study and hope for the best...

well said. But as I posted, doing what you just said takes dedication. When I'm reading a review book, I really don't want to then read FA to correlate (may be the review book organized material differently and I don't feel like sifting through FA to match information the way Taus did). From Qbank to FA is a more manageable task. But then again, I usually zoom through 50 questions and rarely take notes; most of the times its like "oh yea, idiot! should've remembered that" I think i'll begin annotating questions I got wrong or make a word file or something. I just can't get over the insanely hair splitting detail that kaplan throws at you and thus, choose to ignore it.

As you mentioned though, good scorers have emphasized to memorize first aid as much as possible (PinkerTinkle comes to mind). But to me FA alone is a pretty thick book / challange to memorize it all in its bare form without any annotations. but hey, Taus consolidated, read, rocked - so yea...definitely the way to go Dragonwell and others 👍