Using FA during first year alongside classes?

[YLFounder]

When I studied for the MCAT in undergrad, I realized that a lot of the information I was finding in my books was relevant to stuff I learned in class. More so, it seemed to condense and help me understand the material so much easier than some of my professors, especially the organic chemistry portions.

Now with medical school, I'm wondering if it's feasible for me to use FA or stuff like SketchyMicro/Pharm to help me along with classes during first year rather than waiting until second year. What do you guys think? Is it possible to use the "Biochemistry" section along with my biochem block in school or will it be a complete waste of time? If you do think it's possible, how would you say is the best way to incorporate these materials first year?

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[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Sure, look at FA to remind yourself and use it to review for finals. Not good for "learning" though.

Sketchy is great at all times


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[ifnotnowwren]

I'm currently doing it to review for exams because it is full of useful mnemonics, tables, easy way to remember things, diagrams, etc. It's nice to have some study materials that are pre-made.

 

[Redpancreas]

When I studied for the MCAT in undergrad, I realized that a lot of the information I was finding in my books was relevant to stuff I learned in class. More so, it seemed to condense and help me understand the material so much easier than some of my professors, especially the organic chemistry portions.

Now with medical school, I'm wondering if it's feasible for me to use FA or stuff like SketchyMicro/Pharm to help me along with classes during first year rather than waiting until second year. What do you guys think? Is it possible to use the "Biochemistry" section along with my biochem block in school or will it be a complete waste of time? If you do think it's possible, how would you say is the best way to incorporate these materials first year?

Don't do it. You can and it may help here and there but it takes more time than it's worth when you should be spending your time learning. FA is a gigantic abbreviated study guide made for after you learn the material. Material in there outlines relationships and concepts in the form of tables and lists with minimal prose. It's not much of use as a primary source. When you're in second year, First Aid will serve to reinforce what you learn from first and second year/UWorld.

If you want to have it open that's great so you can have an idea of what's important and what not and sometimes since it's so succinct and to the point may be useful when a particularly poor professor fails to drill home a key definition.

I would not suggest reading it consistently (it'll slow you down more than it's worth) and don't try to memorize anything. Use it mainly as a reference if you get stuck.




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[AlbinoHawk DO]

I studied with flash cards and make my cards reflective of lecture. However, at the bottom of add anything in FA that was missing, but didn't stress too memorize it.

 

[Mad Jack]

Sure, look at FA to remind yourself and use it to review for finals. Not good for "learning" though.

Sketchy is great at all times


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I thought First Aid was pretty good for certain concepts.

 

[Azete]

The only reason I would open FA in M1 is to review topics you've already completed so you're not starting from the beginning when you study for boards.

And even that I wouldn't recommend doing without a beer in hand.

 

[YLFounder]

@ifnotnowwren Do you use it right before tests or just as you finish a lecture and are doing your usual amt. of studying?

 

[Azete]

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[Pepe18]

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[FourniersGreenGang]

It's worth looking through FA for your tests and especially to see what you need to retain for boards. Don't make it a primary resource for your in-class tests though. Sketchy is a huuuuuge heck yeah. Use the crap out of it for your exams.

 

[sholamd]

Pasting an excerpt from my podcast here, because of the comments about writing notes in FA:

"A word to the wise - resist the urge to transfer class notes to your First Aid. I mean, just think about it. People always want to annotate the margins. You are basically writing low-yield content into the industry standard for high-yield content! If a fact is truly high-yield, and it's not in First Aid somewhere, it’s because it is a concept you will know by Step 1 anyway, so you don’t need to write it in. Don’t take notes in there. The only exception is if you have a very clever mnemonic that you will use again in the future, this is a great place to store them. Otherwise, remember that the point of using First Aid is to reduce volume, so don’t water it down with extra material."

 

[TaroBubbleTea]

It's worth looking through FA for your tests and especially to see what you need to retain for boards. Don't make it a primary resource for your in-class tests though. Sketchy is a huuuuuge heck yeah. Use the crap out of it for your exams.

Also, don't forget Pathoma!

 

[FourniersGreenGang]

Also, don't forget Pathoma!

Good point! Pathoma is pure gold.

 

[ridethecliche]

I would annotate FA a bit as you go along if there's a fact not in there that was a breakthrough for you or if there's something that tied together a concept for you. It'll help going through it in the future, or it'll give you a laugh as to what you thought was important a year ago.

 

[musicalfeet]

Only specific to where I go, but with the tiny exception of immuno, FA won't help because it's just literally the bare bones of each subject. If your exams go any more in detail like ours are, you might not even pass your exams....

 

[TaroBubbleTea]

Only specific to where I go, but with the tiny exception of immuno, FA won't help because it's just literally the bare bones of each subject. If your exams go any more in detail like ours are, you might not even pass your exams....

Keep in mind FA is supposed to be a study guide of sorts. It is not the source you go to to learn things the first time around. FA assumes you already know the material. It also helps you separate the insignificant minutiae that may have been emphasized by a lecturer from the details that are helpful for boards.

 

[ridethecliche]

Keep in mind FA is supposed to be a study guide of sorts. It is not the source you go to to learn things the first time around. FA assumes you already know the material. It also helps you separate the insignificant minutiae that may have been emphasized by a lecturer from the details that are helpful for boards.

Which is exactly why annotating it is extremely helpful.

 

[Psai]

Annotating fa is largely a waste of time. The only things you should put in there are from uworld.

 

[TaroBubbleTea]

Which is exactly why annotating it is extremely helpful.

IMO, annotating from lectures is largely unhelpful because it's difficult to differentiate what's actually important and what's not when you learn something the first time around. FA takes the high yield things from the first two years and distills it into a convenient package. Why ruin that with extraneous information?

Annotating fa is largely a waste of time. The only things you should put in there are from uworld.

+1

 

[Willfrye027]

IMHO, the time spent annotating and reading through FA is better spent mastering your current coursework. Echoing what others have said FA is basically a monster study guide that helps remind you of what you already know or have learned in class. You really need to understand the concepts behind the massive list of facts in order to do well long term.

 

[ridethecliche]

I was annotating from q banks, not coursework. That said, if you're using it as a study guide for classwork and annotating it with school info, you should probably get another copy of FA for uworld...

 

[jqueb29]

Pasting an excerpt from my podcast here, because of the comments about writing notes in FA:

"A word to the wise - resist the urge to transfer class notes to your First Aid. I mean, just think about it. People always want to annotate the margins. You are basically writing low-yield content into the industry standard for high-yield content! If a fact is truly high-yield, and it's not in First Aid somewhere, it’s because it is a concept you will know by Step 1 anyway, so you don’t need to write it in. Don’t take notes in there. The only exception is if you have a very clever mnemonic that you will use again in the future, this is a great place to store them. Otherwise, remember that the point of using First Aid is to reduce volume, so don’t water it down with extra material."

I wouldn't put class material in FA, but I put tons of material that was in UWorld but not in FA, and much of that material ended up being on the test. FA is amazing, but it's a bit too condensed.

 

[Psai]

I wouldn't put class material in FA, but I put tons of material that was in UWorld but not in FA, and much of that material ended up being on the test. FA is amazing, but it's a bit too condensed.

FA isn't supposed to be comprehensive, it's a roadmap written by students who have taken the test.

 

[Rekt]

Annotating fa is largely a waste of time. The only things you should put in there are from uworld.

Agree. Most people don't even remember everything from FA anyway, why add more?

You should pretend everything in First Aid is bold and highlighted. As for OP, now that I'm deep into boards study, I wish I looked at it at least once a day. It's tough to do, but it would pay off in the end.

 

[Pepe18]

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[drdking]

I've been using First Aid as a tool in my studying since shortly after our first exam.

It's diagrams, lists, and tables are an immense help. It also serves as a great guide to make my Anki cards.

I feel you just have to only use the parts that are applicable. For example, we're covering renal physio in our current block. 95% of what is in the Renal physio section is the same material that our prof has gone over. He however didn't talk about a lot of the tubular defects (Fanconi, Bartter, etc) so I just ignored and skipped over that section in First Aid.