Firecracker vs. Osmosis

[Low Flow]

I'm more fond of Osmosis based on first impressions--haven't actually used either one. I like the integration it has with SketchyMicro and seems really user-friendly. But, Firecracker has been around longer, so I'm thinking they may have already attenuated the initial kinks that come with a new program.

Anyone have experience with both? I'm thinking of using it during first year as a supplement.

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[JustaDO]

Firecracker for sure, I feel leary about products that are spammed on my class facebook page by shills.

 

[YankeeCandle1141]

Osmosis is awful.

 

[masaraksh]

I signed up for firecracker free trial at the start of M1. Didn't buy. I dont know how people keep up with it. It's comprehensive but seems horribly inefficient.

 

[Low Flow]

Firecracker for sure, I feel leary about products that are spammed on my class facebook page by shills.

How do you think people found out about Firecracker?

Osmosis is awful.

What didn't you like about it?

I signed up for firecracker free trial at the start of M1. Didn't buy. I dont know how people keep up with it. It's comprehensive but seems horribly inefficient.

Yeah I was planning on using those trials before buying either one. It does seem like it would be a significant amount of extra effort to keep up with everything.

 

[MDwannabe7]

So I looked at both firecracker and osmosis and osmosis was way easier to use and more intuitive. I've been using it for much of the year now and have found it helps me with my coursework. The features to upload your own notes/powerpoints from lectures and then take notes right next to them are really cool. It's also nice to be able to write your own questions without having to tab to a different window (like anki). When you tie that in with the ability to collaborate with your classmates - so they can help with question writing - and the mobile apps that remind you to go through questions, I find it a very useful tool and worth looking at. Every program/app/person has to start somewhere and I think Osmosis deserves their fair shot - I've certainly been impressed!

 

[sliceofbread136]

Both crap, just read first aid

 

[The_Sunny_Doc]

I'm liking firecracker so far, but it's hard to find time for it.

 

[Rekt]

Firecracker seemed like such a time sink for so little yield when I used it.

You're better off just learning the material from class as well as possible. Follow along in first aid and make sure they're not deviating too much.

 

[Low Flow]

Yeah I'll follow up for those reading this in the future, seeing as how I made this post before M1 started.

Osmosis
Never bothered to give it a try. Although I do have some classmates that sing its praises.

Firecracker
Tried a free trial on multiple occasions throughout first semester of M1. The first time it was while we were still doing basic sciences. It was hard to find the material that we were covering in class (without there being too much extra info in FC to make it a time drain). Abandoned it after a few weeks.

I tried it again when we started systems (about the 12th week of our first semester), and I still didn't like it. I felt like I just didn't have enough of a background to be able to use all the information in FC. The program seems to do a decent job of tying everything together, but when you're only a semester in, you haven't been exposed to a lot of it yet. I can see it being useful once I'm closer to boards (having the text to read and questions to do), but this early in my education, I felt bogged down by a lot of the information in FC. I decided to just focus on the class material instead, using Anki along the way (which has worked out swimmingly).

Focusing on class material, using Pathoma, FA, Rapid Review Pathology, and Anki has been more than sufficient to excel first year and I'm not convinced that FC/Osmosis would have added much additional benefit.

 

[asdf123g]

Yeah I'll follow up for those reading this in the future, seeing as how I made this post before M1 started.

Osmosis
Never bothered to give it a try. Although I do have some classmates that sing its praises.

Firecracker
Tried a free trial on multiple occasions throughout first semester of M1. The first time it was while we were still doing basic sciences. It was hard to find the material that we were covering in class (without there being too much extra info in FC to make it a time drain). Abandoned it after a few weeks.

I tried it again when we started systems (about the 12th week of our first semester), and I still didn't like it. I felt like I just didn't have enough of a background to be able to use all the information in FC. The program seems to do a decent job of tying everything together, but when you're only a semester in, you haven't been exposed to a lot of it yet. I can see it being useful once I'm closer to boards (having the text to read and questions to do), but this early in my education, I felt bogged down by a lot of the information in FC. I decided to just focus on the class material instead, using Anki along the way (which has worked out swimmingly).

Focusing on class material, using Pathoma, FA, Rapid Review Pathology, and Anki has been more than sufficient to excel first year and I'm not convinced that FC/Osmosis would have added much additional benefit.

about how much time do you dedicate to each of those resources a week??

 

[Low Flow]

about how much time do you dedicate to each of those resources a week??

Eh, it just depends on which resource is most helpful given the material we're covering in class. When we're doing path, I'll start off by watching Pathoma. Then either read the respective sections out of Robbins/lecture materials (lately it's been just right to Robbins, as it's so much easier to just read that than some of our PPTs), and make my Anki cards while doing this. Do Anki cards every morning before class. Then as the test gets closer either flip through FA/RR Path as a nice summary/make sure I'm not missing anything. Has been working out so far so I don't anticipate changing much.

 

[Rekt]

...
Firecracker
Tried a free trial on multiple occasions throughout first semester of M1. The first time it was while we were still doing basic sciences. It was hard to find the material that we were covering in class (without there being too much extra info in FC to make it a time drain). Abandoned it after a few weeks.
...

This is the exact same reasoning I had. It's just reality that your school will not cover everything or might cover something different. So now your "reviewing" (learning) stuff you haven't seen yet while trying to juggle lectures already. You're better off making your Anki deck tailored to what you're learning. Tag it really well so you can use it later for boards if you need to review certain things.

 

[JavaLatette]

Yeah I'll follow up for those reading this in the future, seeing as how I made this post before M1 started.

Osmosis
Never bothered to give it a try. Although I do have some classmates that sing its praises.

Firecracker
Tried a free trial on multiple occasions throughout first semester of M1. The first time it was while we were still doing basic sciences. It was hard to find the material that we were covering in class (without there being too much extra info in FC to make it a time drain). Abandoned it after a few weeks.

I tried it again when we started systems (about the 12th week of our first semester), and I still didn't like it. I felt like I just didn't have enough of a background to be able to use all the information in FC. The program seems to do a decent job of tying everything together, but when you're only a semester in, you haven't been exposed to a lot of it yet. I can see it being useful once I'm closer to boards (having the text to read and questions to do), but this early in my education, I felt bogged down by a lot of the information in FC. I decided to just focus on the class material instead, using Anki along the way (which has worked out swimmingly).

Focusing on class material, using Pathoma, FA, Rapid Review Pathology, and Anki has been more than sufficient to excel first year and I'm not convinced that FC/Osmosis would have added much additional benefit.

the

Eh, it just depends on which resource is most helpful given the material we're covering in class. When we're doing path, I'll start off by watching Pathoma. Then either read the respective sections out of Robbins/lecture materials (lately it's been just right to Robbins, as it's so much easier to just read that than some of our PPTs), and make my Anki cards while doing this. Do Anki cards every morning before class. Then as the test gets closer either flip through FA/RR Path as a nice summary/make sure I'm not missing anything. Has been working out so far so I don't anticipate changing much.

When you mentioned do Anki cards every morning before class, you mean make them or review them?

 

[Dr. Janitor]

My school purchased Firecracker for us and makes us take weekly quizzes as it is supposed to follow our material on a week to week basis. I usually just do the mandatory quizzes and refer to it for some of the concepts I find obtuse if I'm running low on time. However, no matter how hard I try, I can't keep up with the daily flash cards + daily reading that is required to get the most of FC. Not to mention, I find the majority of the flash cards/questions are often too ambiguous for me to use effectively. However, I do have some classmates who love it and advocate for it but I've never been much of a flash card learner.

Summary: I only do FC when my school says I have to. I prefer Osmosis youtube vids, Pathoma, First Aid, & Sketchy.

 

[Flexatron]

i love firecracker! i find keeping up with it easy if you set the timer to about 25-30sec per question. I usually bang out FC while i'm eating breakfast and don't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. However, i do neglect it a few days at a time when i have exams coming up and simply cannot dedicate 30-45min to FC

 

[jcorpsmanMD]

For those of you say that Firecracker doesn't follow along well with what you're learning in class, are your tests NBME? My schools exams are NBME and we don't have exams like every 2 weeks or anything like that, first semester is basic sciences, 3 exams, and quizzes every week. I heard Firecracker is amazing when your exams are NBME, opinions?

 

[Flexatron]

For those of you say that Firecracker doesn't follow along well with what you're learning in class, are your tests NBME? My schools exams are NBME and we don't have exams like every 2 weeks or anything like that, first semester is basic sciences, 3 exams, and quizzes every week. I heard Firecracker is amazing when your exams are NBME, opinions?

This. My school has 2-3 exams for the class throughout the semester with the final being the NBME

 

[Low Flow]

the



When you mentioned do Anki cards every morning before class, you mean make them or review them?

Review them.

 

[TheOneAndOnlyJamesFranco]

Would it be ill advised to try to use both? I was thinking of using FC as more of a QBank and Osmosis as a lecture organizer..


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[JavaLatette]

Would it be ill advised to try to use both? I was thinking of using FC as more of a QBank and Osmosis as a lecture organizer..


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Sounds expensive to me. Just pick one. Haven't heard of anyone in my class using FC. A few are working together making flashcards on Osmosis. I am too cheap, so I use Anki