USMLERx Flash Facts?

[rdunba]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Does anyone have experience with these? I've heard that as they are right now, you can't "hide" easy cards, and you have to go back through these every time in order to get to the more helpful ones. So, that's a dealbreaker for me - considering you can't narrow down the 14000 cards to the ones that suit your needs the most.
However, I emailed them about it and they said this will be fixed in the new 2010 version which is due to be released in a matter of days.
Regardless, what has everyone heard about these? Thanks in advance!

 

[HTxFrog]

I've used them a fair amount and you're right about not being able to sort the cards you miss. Basically all it is is a bunch of flash cards in order covering every little section of FA. Each little blocked off item in the book has a few questions, and it would be great if it had more features but as of right now its not that great. The only way you can sort the cards is by little block so for example you could do all the questions about testicular germ cell tumors (pg 494) at once, but they will be in order so it will ask you 3 questions about a seminoma then 3 about embryonal carcinoma then 3 about yold sac tumors. That kind of ruins it b/c a lot of times its asking like what tumor has this characteristic and you already know the answer b/c the last three questions were about the same one. If you could randomize the questions, mark missed and correct and sort them somehow it would be great. It'd be reallllly great if they made it into an advanced flash card program with a spaced repetition algorithm like supermemo, but anyways thats not going to happen. Hope that helps

 

[username456789]

I've used them a fair amount and you're right about not being able to sort the cards you miss. Basically all it is is a bunch of flash cards in order covering every little section of FA. Each little blocked off item in the book has a few questions, and it would be great if it had more features but as of right now its not that great. The only way you can sort the cards is by little block so for example you could do all the questions about testicular germ cell tumors (pg 494) at once, but they will be in order so it will ask you 3 questions about a seminoma then 3 about embryonal carcinoma then 3 about yold sac tumors. That kind of ruins it b/c a lot of times its asking like what tumor has this characteristic and you already know the answer b/c the last three questions were about the same one. If you could randomize the questions, mark missed and correct and sort them somehow it would be great. It'd be reallllly great if they made it into an advanced flash card program with a spaced repetition algorithm like supermemo, but anyways thats not going to happen. Hope that helps

That sucks. The iphone flashcards aren't too bad, and they're randomized. You can select up to 200 cards per deck to study, and you can narrow it down by subject (only micro, only biochem, only path and micro together) depending on what decks you buy (you have to buy each individually, which gets expensive), or you can narrow it down within a subejct (only viruses within micro, only glycogen metabolism in biochem). But as far as I can tell, they're still in random order regardless.

My only complaint is that it's a little glitchy at time. For a while it appeared as though every deck I made/saved got lost after I closed the program (including the 100 cards I used to make that deck . . . it suddenly just showed that my total available cards for studying was 100 fewer than last time), but then suddenly yesterday they were all back again.

Either way, it might be a decent alternative. As I understand, they're the same exact cards as from FlashFacts, but with an added ability to randomize.

 

[HTxFrog]

I had no idea there was an iPhone app for it. Why did I spend 50 bucks on stupid flash facts, damnit oh well I'm gonna check it out
Edit: Ok so the first like five reviews say that they bought some of the decks and then they just disappeared so I'm kind of worried about buying it now...

 

[username456789]

Ha yeah that's what I was talking about. Like I said, they "returned" for me, it was just some glitch. And it was never a full purchased deck disappearing, just one of the mini decks you create.

The free path ones you can download never did that though. Get them, try them out, and if you like them, give another individual deck a shot if it's a specific subject you want. Worst case scenario, you waste $3-13.

 

[rdunba]

I've used them a fair amount and you're right about not being able to sort the cards you miss. Basically all it is is a bunch of flash cards in order covering every little section of FA. Each little blocked off item in the book has a few questions, and it would be great if it had more features but as of right now its not that great. The only way you can sort the cards is by little block so for example you could do all the questions about testicular germ cell tumors (pg 494) at once, but they will be in order so it will ask you 3 questions about a seminoma then 3 about embryonal carcinoma then 3 about yold sac tumors. That kind of ruins it b/c a lot of times its asking like what tumor has this characteristic and you already know the answer b/c the last three questions were about the same one. If you could randomize the questions, mark missed and correct and sort them somehow it would be great. It'd be reallllly great if they made it into an advanced flash card program with a spaced repetition algorithm like supermemo, but anyways thats not going to happen. Hope that helps

hey, that clears it up, while unfortunately confirming my suspicions.. i might hold off until they add those extra features. again, they said it'd be in the very near future. also, i don't know if this would apply to you, but in their response to my question they said there is a 5-day money back guarantee. i'm likely to make the purchase and employ the money-back option if the upgrades don't cover all these issues. thanks for the help!

 

[kissmyasthma99]

What's the name of the iPhone app?

 

[rdunba]

What's the name of the iPhone app?

Search "usmlerx flash facts"

 

[PokerDoc]

I got the iphone app.. hated it.. better off making your own flashcards, (which I did and use them constantly between sets at the gym, great if you ask me)