[indian]

Guys, I noticed that everybody is talking about First Aid in this website and in other forums

I did not read First Aid and I got 93 in STep 1

So don't bother yourself about it

 

[Sabio]

Can you tell us what did you read then?

 

[indian]

Pathology - Goljan book and Audio
Physiology - BRS
Microbiology - made rediculously simple
Immunology, Molecular, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Behavior, Pharmacology - Kaplan lecture notes

 

[indian]

Finally, I found someone who shares my opinion

First Aid is just a collection of notes, tables, lists, and charts. It has no background and it does not tell us how the information came, no concepts.
It is difficult to memorize and horrible when you want to remember the page in the exam.
It's not reliable also, it's confusing and I don't know how it gained such a popularity.
Also, if you want to master it, don't think it's just a single book that you can finish from cover to cover in one or two weeks. It needs more time than all of the Kaplan lecture notes combined!

 

[Betro Sadek]

really ???

guys .. please tell me is that true ??!!

i did all from kaplan notes and added UW and KAPLAN QBANK to the Lectures note of kaplan

i did nothing from FA

my Exam is less than 4 weeks to go

I'm afraid that i haven't much time for FA .. can i Ignore it .. i need really a high score ( I'm IMG)

 

[indian]

guys .. please tell me is that true ??!!

i did all from kaplan notes and added UW and KAPLAN QBANK to the Lectures note of kaplan

i did nothing from FA

my Exam is less than 4 weeks to go

I'm afraid that i haven't much time for FA .. can i Ignore it .. i need really a high score ( I'm IMG)

I did not visit this website since I posted the post above
by now, I know three people
friend A, did FA got 93
friend B, did FA got 83
friend C, did not do FA got 98

I know them all, and they all come from similar backgrounds and all were good students in school

 

[lee-usmle]

I added a poll to this thread so that we can see what's going on

There's a similar poll about First Aid for Step 2 CK here
http://www.usmle-forums.com/usmle-step-2-ck-forum/395-first-aid-step-2-ck.html

 

[Betro Sadek]

I did not visit this website since I posted the post above
by now, I know three people
friend A, did FA got 93
friend B, did FA got 83
friend C, did not do FA got 98

I know them all, and they all come from similar backgrounds and all were good students in school

thats calming .. sure we both talk about step 1 ha?

 

[indian]

thats calming .. sure we both talk about step 1 ha?

Yes, am talking about Step 1
by the way you can double check yourself
Do qbanks, NBME, ...etc and see where you stand before opening any page of First Aid

 

[jessp687]

why do you have to do NBME

Yes, am talking about Step 1
by the way you can double check yourself
Do qbanks, NBME, ...etc and see where you stand before opening any page of First Aid

i would like to know why you advised to do nbme first then first aid is it becausee first aid is too confusing or what?

 

[Nsonowa]

this is really good news
I am going to throw FA aside

 

[Dr.Sidd]

First aid is an extremely useful book for revision and helps to organize ur knowledge and reinforce ur concepts and informaiotn! I think its a must read!

 

[whocares13]

First aid is a must.

 

[drarnab]

my take

Just my 2 cents : I think FA is a "speed review" a book filled with alll the essential "must know" info bang right after the other - my advice would be to "Read through FA" not try to memorize FA because when you read through.. it basically reinforces whatever you learnt (value for time) - but if you try to memorize all the new stuff you wont remember because they are not in concept form.. just details.

 

[heights]

Guys, I noticed that everybody is talking about First Aid in this website and in other forums

I did not read First Aid and I got 93 in STep 1

So don't bother yourself about it

This type of advice is dangerous. That's great that this person managed to get a great score even without FA. However, we don't know their study strategies or their background coming in to this exam. While some students will be able to do well without ever looking at FA, the fact is that most students who do well use FA and that's the reason it's so highly recommended. It's up to you to decide if you want to take the advice of the few people or couple anecdotes of people who did not use FA, or if you want to take the advice of thousands who did use it. It's up to you to decide if your future is worth the risk.