Firecracker

[JackShephard MD]

med.firecracker.me

New medical education website rooted in an adaptive learning platform. Looks impressive, check it out.

Cheers.

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[nlemme10]

can anyone comment on how they incorporated FC into their dedicated step 1 study period. Any help or sample schedule would be much appreciated

 

[ATypicalLymphocyte]

can anyone comment on how they incorporated FC into their dedicated step 1 study period. Any help or sample schedule would be much appreciated

I haven't had the time to post my experience yet but I might as well say that I used FC during dedicated "sparingly". I usually did 2 Pomodoros daily (50 minutes) at a "faster-than-usual pace" in order to review things randomly (vs reading through FA). My dedicated time was ~3 weeks and I skipped this for 2 days (one day I was sick and the day before the test).

 

[Ophthoseidon]

I haven't had the time to post my experience yet but I might as well say that I used FC during dedicated "sparingly". I usually did 2 Pomodoros daily (50 minutes) at a "faster-than-usual pace" in order to review things randomly (vs reading through FA). My dedicated time was ~3 weeks and I skipped this for 2 days (one day I was sick and the day before the test).

*anxiously waiting*

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Another question, did anyone flag any step 2 content for step 1 exam? There are topics in UWorld that are covered (osgood-schlatters, syncope, etc.) that don't have any cards for step 1.

 

[mcloaf]

@mcloaf do you mind sharing your post-step experience, and the role of FC?

To be honest I haven't logged into to FC since the day before I took Step 1 nearly a year ago. With the day to day requirements and unpredictability of M3 I just didn't feel like I'd be able to dedicate the regular time to daily FC in the way that I could during M1 and M2. For M3 I've really focused on using whatever the popular M3 review books are (Casefiles, etc) and getting through UWorld. At least in my experience there is a fair amount of rotation-specific knowledge that you will be picking up for patient care and the shelf exam and then forgetting again throughout the year, though hopefully retaining a good number of things as you go. As an example I've forgotten plenty of OB and psychiatry since I rotated off of those services months ago. I've moved on to learning neurology, surgery, etc. I found I had plenty of information to try to keep up with just by focusing on rotation-specific information; it would have been hard to justify spending extra time retaining stuff from other rotations. The nature of M3 rotations doesn't quite lend itself as well to constantly hitting the same body of knowledge and facts in the same way that you can for Step 1.

That being said I've heard some good things about FC's Step 2 content, and I know they put a lot of effort into strengthening that aspect of their product. I'm sure there are more motivated posters out there who have managed to keep up with FC through M3 and will have stronger Step 2 scores because of it. In my case I'm not particularly focused on killing Step 2 in the same I was on Step 1 (based on Step 1 I essentially am shooting to just not drop my score by 40 points), so I haven't worried about it that much. I may consider incorporating some FC into the weeks I spend studying for Step 2, but mostly I'm planning on doing as much UWorld as possible. If you're looking to go wild on Step 2 and/or your clinical curriculum affords you the time to get in FC then I don't doubt it would be a helpful addition.

I will say using FC for Step 1 and trying to build long-term retention has definitely been beneficial as an M3. I still find myself remembering things that I'd never have retained if I hadn't seen them 45 times in FC last year. Overall I think my fund of knowledge to start M3 was strong which helped to lower stress and make the transition a bit more manageable. Though there's still a **** ton of stuff you don't learn in M1/M2 that you will look stupid for not knowing once M3 starts. Just gotta roll with the punches and be positive.

 

[Daitong]

To be honest I haven't logged into to FC since the day before I took Step 1 nearly a year ago. With the day to day requirements and unpredictability of M3 I just didn't feel like I'd be able to dedicate the regular time to daily FC in the way that I could during M1 and M2. For M3 I've really focused on using whatever the popular M3 review books are (Casefiles, etc) and getting through UWorld. At least in my experience there is a fair amount of rotation-specific knowledge that you will be picking up for patient care and the shelf exam and then forgetting again throughout the year, though hopefully retaining a good number of things as you go. As an example I've forgotten plenty of OB and psychiatry since I rotated off of those services months ago. I've moved on to learning neurology, surgery, etc. I found I had plenty of information to try to keep up with just by focusing on rotation-specific information; it would have been hard to justify spending extra time retaining stuff from other rotations. The nature of M3 rotations doesn't quite lend itself as well to constantly hitting the same body of knowledge and facts in the same way that you can for Step 1.

That being said I've heard some good things about FC's Step 2 content, and I know they put a lot of effort into strengthening that aspect of their product. I'm sure there are more motivated posters out there who have managed to keep up with FC through M3 and will have stronger Step 2 scores because of it. In my case I'm not particularly focused on killing Step 2 in the same I was on Step 1 (based on Step 1 I essentially am shooting to just not drop my score by 40 points), so I haven't worried about it that much. I may consider incorporating some FC into the weeks I spend studying for Step 2, but mostly I'm planning on doing as much UWorld as possible. If you're looking to go wild on Step 2 and/or your clinical curriculum affords you the time to get in FC then I don't doubt it would be a helpful addition.

I will say using FC for Step 1 and trying to build long-term retention has definitely been beneficial as an M3. I still find myself remembering things that I'd never have retained if I hadn't seen them 45 times in FC last year. Overall I think my fund of knowledge to start M3 was strong which helped to lower stress and make the transition a bit more manageable. Though there's still a **** ton of stuff you don't learn in M1/M2 that you will look stupid for not knowing once M3 starts. Just gotta roll with the punches and be positive.

Thank you so much!

Actually I meant to ask if you wouldn't mind, in retrospect (post-Step, hence the misunderstanding) sharing how well you thought FC prepped you FOR Step 1? I think I read that you used it pretty religiously, and I wonder if that was a good decision for you, or if you wished you maybe incorporated another resource, or could've spent that time on something else, etc.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Thank you so much!

Actually I meant to ask if you wouldn't mind, in retrospect (post-Step, hence the misunderstanding) sharing how well you thought FC prepped you FOR Step 1? I think I read that you used it pretty religiously, and I wonder if that was a good decision for you, or if you wished you maybe incorporated another resource, or could've spent that time on something else, etc.

His experience is buried somewhere in the depths of this forum multiple times and last years step forum, but it's hard to find. TL;DR He/She dominated and recommends fc from the beginning. Work hard during m1/m2 and make sure you do UFAP during dedicated and bask in the glory of your amazing score. Did I miss anything?

 

[mcloaf]

Thank you so much!

Actually I meant to ask if you wouldn't mind, in retrospect (post-Step, hence the misunderstanding) sharing how well you thought FC prepped you FOR Step 1? I think I read that you used it pretty religiously, and I wonder if that was a good decision for you, or if you wished you maybe incorporated another resource, or could've spent that time on something else, etc.

Oh heh, my bad. I'll quote below my original Step 1 experiences post from last year which gives I think a good idea of the approach I took. In answer to your question, based on my results I don't really regret anything except for maybe using a few unnecessary resources as noted in the post, but certainly don't regret using FC as much as I did. Happy to answer any other questions.

Score came back Wednesday: mid 260's. Pretty happy with this, keeps all my options open.

Rough time line of my studying:
Beginning of M1: start Firecracker, did it religiously up to test day. I also annotated in things from Pathoma and QBanks during M2 so that I could see them again.
M1 along with classes: BRS physio, SketchyMicro, Picmonic
M2 summer: some review of M1 stuff in Kaplan (anatomy, physiology, neuroanatomy, immunology [not sure that any of this was that helpful outside maybe immuno since I didn't have a great handle on that]), try to flag stuff in FC that we had mentioned in M1 but was more M2 material (75% flagged by the start of M2).
M2 first semester: USMLERx by system along with classes, Kaplan pharm, Pathoma and RR Path along with classes, would also read FA chapters along with class but not annotating anything yet or spending much time there.
M2 winter break: preread coming semester systems in Pathoma and finish flagging FC
M2 2nd semester: essentially the same as first semester M2 except I also completed Kaplan QBank on timed random and made a first pass from beginning to end of first aid (tried to read around 25 pages before bed each night, would annotate some things from this into Firecracker). This got to be a bit of a grind towards the end because I miscalculated and got a little behind on Kaplan, so some days I had to do up to 3 blocks. My grades really took a hit here (though we're true P/F so it's not super concerning, just not ideal).
Dedicated 5 weeks: UWorld timed random (88% first pass average), 2 passes of first aid, pathoma (read the book because I didn't feel like I had time to watch the vids, which was not ideal since I think that's the best part of pathoma), BRS physio, Kaplan Ethics, HY neuroanatomy, blue boxes in Moore's. All additional things from UWorld/Pathoma were annotated by hand into first aid (which I'd highly recommend getting hole punched at put into a binder).

Practice tests:
UWSA1 5wks out/beginning of dedicated: 265
NBME11 3 wks out: 269
UWSA2 2 wks out: 265
I did the last 5 NBME's over 4 days leading into the last week of my prep. I wouldn't recommend this, but it's just kind of what happened and I wanted to make sure I got through them all in case there were any repeats on the real thing.
NBME12: 273
NBME13: 273
NBME15: 262
NBME16: 266
NBME17: 271
Free 150: ~96-7%

Real thing ~265
I already posted about my feelings on test day earlier, but in brief: it sort of sucked. Didn't feel great about it at all, but didn't feel terrible.

Overall I think things turned out great. 2nd semester of M2 really sucked at parts, but I think front loading my work made it a little more low key during my dedicated prep time which was nice. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping to break 270 based on practice test scores (and for bragging rights ), but my final score is pretty in line with my later NBME's and should be more than enough for whatever I end up deciding to do so I am psyched. As an aside, I think it's funny that I was always railing against UWSAs as a predictive tool and ended up scoring very close to them, but I still don't think they're great predictors and their cutoff at 265 made their prediction in my case somewhat coincidental.

Big thanks to all those who've made this forum as helpful as it is. Congrats to those of you who've already taken it, and best of luck to those still preparing. Happy to answer any questions via PM, I'd hoped to do a more thorough write up but M3 has already gotten the better of me and I should get back to studying (it never ends...).

 

[uvrsol]

Oh heh, my bad. I'll quote below my original Step 1 experiences post from last year which gives I think a good idea of the approach I took. In answer to your question, based on my results I don't really regret anything except for maybe using a few unnecessary resources as noted in the post, but certainly don't regret using FC as much as I did. Happy to answer any other questions.

sorry...this is a non-FC related question. its about picmonic. what's your opinion on picmonic? Did you use picmonic for all subjects or only selective subjects? If selective subjects, which subjects did you use it for? Thx!

and btw, your post is very helpful and comprehensive! thanks a lot!

 

[mcloaf]

sorry...this is a non-FC related question. its about picmonic. what's your opinion on picmonic? Did you use picmonic for all subjects or only selective subjects? If selective subjects, which subjects did you use it for? Thx!

and btw, your post is very helpful and comprehensive! thanks a lot!

I used picmonic fairly sparingly, mostly for situations that required memorizing seemingly random groups of side effects or disease associations. Specifically, I used it heavily for lipid storage diseases, viruses, fungi, parasites, and antibiotics. I personally found sketchymicro to be more enjoyable to use based on preferring their style of art, and I also felt that the sketchymicro approach of drawing the picture as it is explained made for better retention than simply looking at the finished product. If I could have gotten away with using only sketchymicro I would have, but when I was studying they only covered bacteria. I believe sketchymicro has expanded their content significantly over the past year, so they may now cover much more of what I had to use picmonic for.

 

[Firefly90]

hey guys, is it possible to complete firecracker in a month?? How many q's and hrs/day would one have to spend to get it done?

 

[AnalisCanalis]

hey guys, is it possible to complete firecracker in a month?? How many q's and hrs/day would one have to spend to get it done?

No

 

[Ophthoseidon]

hey guys, is it possible to complete firecracker in a month?? How many q's and hrs/day would one have to spend to get it done?

Don't even try. It'd hurt you

 

[Daitong]

Anyone see the new update today?

I was a bit confused as to what it actually entails, but in response to "but we’re open to adding other resources that you find the most valuable. Just reach out and let us know which resource you’d like to see citations for next."

Would it be possible to fully integrate pathoma? It's part of the fabled UFAP combo, and has served students very well in the past

@theKeithF

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Anyone see the new update today?

I was a bit confused as to what it actually entails, but in response to "but we’re open to adding other resources that you find the most valuable. Just reach out and let us know which resource you’d like to see citations for next."

Would it be possible to fully integrate pathoma? It's part of the fabled UFAP combo, and has served students very well in the past

@theKeithF

A lot of pathoma is in firecracker. They don't really have rights to it so I'm sure they can't just upload the content in its entirety. Would be cool though

 

[theKeithF]

Anyone see the new update today?

I was a bit confused as to what it actually entails, but in response to "but we’re open to adding other resources that you find the most valuable. Just reach out and let us know which resource you’d like to see citations for next."

Would it be possible to fully integrate pathoma? It's part of the fabled UFAP combo, and has served students very well in the past

@theKeithF

Hola! Basically, we've gone through and started adding citations all the way down at the concept level. If you go to a topic summary (or while in quizzing) and click the C icon in the margins of the text, you'll see which pages of your favorite resources cover that concept. We started with First Aid 2015 and 2016, but can go through and add citations to any other resource (it does take a bit of time to do it across all of our topics). We'll prioritize resources according to the volume of student requests. So far, Pathoma is the most highly requested.

Later this week, we'll be releasing Anki-esque question snoozing. Within the next two weeks, we're planning to release our Android app (it's in QA now). Then, we're working on two new task types: daily clinical vignettes to get you ready for dedicated and follow up refresh tasks to help you remember the concepts that are tested in the clinical vignette each day.

 

[theKeithF]

hey guys, is it possible to complete firecracker in a month?? How many q's and hrs/day would one have to spend to get it done?

Keith from Firecracker here. As it stands now, most students would heavily caution against using Firecracker for only one month. That said, we are working on a new mode in Firecracker specifically for use during that last bit of time leading up to you boards (i.e. right before and during your dedicated prep); the system will rely on fairly comprehensive diagnostic testing at the beginning of your experience in order to recommend the order in which you need to tackle (in a very short amount of time) all of the content being covered on your exams. Our tentative timeline for this huge update is early April, though, so that may be a bit too late for you. Hope that helps somewhat.

 

[Daitong]

Hola! Basically, we've gone through and started adding citations all the way down at the concept level. If you go to a topic summary (or while in quizzing) and click the C icon in the margins of the text, you'll see which pages of your favorite resources cover that concept. We started with First Aid 2015 and 2016, but can go through and add citations to any other resource (it does take a bit of time to do it across all of our topics). We'll prioritize resources according to the volume of student requests. So far, Pathoma is the most highly requested.

Later this week, we'll be releasing Anki-esque question snoozing. Within the next two weeks, we're planning to release our Android app (it's in QA now). Then, we're working on two new task types: daily clinical vignettes to get you ready for dedicated and follow up refresh tasks to help you remember the concepts that are tested in the clinical vignette each day.

Awesome. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Also, in terms of content, any thoughts on adding in more of the soft sciences (PDSA cycle, healthcare delivery, etc?) Most importantly methods of sanitization? I believe there was a post (anecdotal) by a guy that got a 260+ and he just recalls getting hammered by cleaning and sterilization techniques.

P.S. Since I'm in the respiratory block, I noticed that there is a new page (FA 2016 P.606) on respiratory embryology that isn't covered- do you mind telling the content team to add that page?

Best,

 

[theKeithF]

Awesome. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Also, in terms of content, any thoughts on adding in more of the soft sciences (PDSA cycle, healthcare delivery, etc?) Most importantly methods of sanitization? I believe there was a post (anecdotal) by a guy that got a 260+ and he just recalls getting hammered by cleaning and sterilization techniques.

P.S. Since I'm in the respiratory block, I noticed that there is a new page (FA 2016 P.606) on respiratory embryology that isn't covered- do you mind telling the content team to add that page?

Best,

I just let them know!

 

[nabilesmail]

I just let them know!

When clicking "Do more Questions" would it be possible to further breakdown the options such as "Priority", "Urgent, Current, Past". A lot of the time, I don't get too many past questions because my current/urgent numbers are high so I try to manually do a certain amount of Past questions per day. I can go to the Study something Specific and Click Past-> GO, but this system is super laggy since it'll have 6K+ Cards in the deck. Also just curious, when we click Past/Current/Whatever and start doing cards, does it give it to us by priority or is it just random?

 

[theKeithF]

When clicking "Do more Questions" would it be possible to further breakdown the options such as "Priority", "Urgent, Current, Past". A lot of the time, I don't get too many past questions because my current/urgent numbers are high so I try to manually do a certain amount of Past questions per day. I can go to the Study something Specific and Click Past-> GO, but this system is super laggy since it'll have 6K+ Cards in the deck. Also just curious, when we click Past/Current/Whatever and start doing cards, does it give it to us by priority or is it just random?

Great idea. Let me think this through and try to get it into our roadmap.

 

[StevensBibi]

Oh heh, my bad. I'll quote below my original Step 1 experiences post from last year which gives I think a good idea of the approach I took. In answer to your question, based on my results I don't really regret anything except for maybe using a few unnecessary resources as noted in the post, but certainly don't regret using FC as much as I did. Happy to answer any other questions.

Thanks for the bump describing your experience. You said that you did FC religiously M1 year. Were you able to keep a good class rank during preclinical years even though it seemed like you focused a lot on boards?

 

[nabilesmail]

Great idea. Let me think this through and try to get it into our roadmap.

Sorry! But would you mind explaining the priority that cards are given if you go to "study something specific" and for example click "Past" + "All (Low,Mod,High Scores)". Will it organize all the Cards in the Past Deck by priority? or is it just random?

 

[Daitong]

Thanks for the bump describing your experience. You said that you did FC religiously M1 year. Were you able to keep a good class rank during preclinical years even though it seemed like you focused a lot on boards?

M1 at top 20 institution here, religious FC user. We're organ based and I use FC primarily as my means of studying, but I'm weird and I focus mainly on board stuff rather than class- still doing better than average on our exams, though granted I definitely could do 'better' if I focused on the minutae that some of our exams tested.

Since our grades are true P/F, my strategy is going HAM in step 1 from day 1 and hoping that I start dedicated with a high baseline and devote the rest of my time for research.

I only use class lectures to fill in gaps or to see what nuances our prof tests.

 

[mcloaf]

Thanks for the bump describing your experience. You said that you did FC religiously M1 year. Were you able to keep a good class rank during preclinical years even though it seemed like you focused a lot on boards?

I was generally comfortably above (1-2SD) class averages throughout M1. Regressed towards the mean a little bit during M2 when the volume of material increased but overall was fine. I go to a true P/F school so I wasn't particularly concerned about my preclinical grades, though obviously was trying to do as well as I could with the constraints of making sure I got through FC and boards stuff.

 

[Elevencents]

Sorry if this was asked - but I am using the app to cover block material. Currently doing female repro so I flag all of the female pathology under repro but am still getting male repro randomly even though it is not flagged. Any way to only get questions from flagged topics? Curious because I was hoping to unflag all topics and only flag pharm to do for review for boards.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[mcloaf]

Not sure if this is helpful to anyone or not, but I uploaded a screenshot of the schedule I created as I was replying to a PM; thought I'd post it here as long as I'm at it.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Not sure if this is helpful to anyone or not, but I uploaded a screenshot of the schedule I created as I was replying to a PM; thought I'd post it here as long as I'm at it.

How is this even possible? Lol, I guess most days seem ok, but 200 pages of rapid review biochem in a day plus 2 UW blocks and all of FA biochem? I couldnt pick up and read rr biochem in 1 full day let alone after spending 6-8 hours on UWorld and doing First Aid

 

[DNC127]

I am sure this has been asked but would appreciate some help, I am an incoming OMS1 and was wondering if I should do the DO or MD firecracker? Obviously DO will be better for comlex, but I am planning on taking USMLE as well and most of my studying will be geared toward the USMLE. Is the MD and DO firecracker material the exact same besides OMM stuff? Or is it totally different? Thanks.

 

[abolt18]

I am sure this has been asked but would appreciate some help, I am an incoming OMS1 and was wondering if I should do the DO or MD firecracker? Obviously DO will be better for comlex, but I am planning on taking USMLE as well and most of my studying will be geared toward the USMLE. Is the MD and DO firecracker material the exact same besides OMM stuff? Or is it totally different? Thanks.

Pretty sure they're exactly the same with free addition of OMM crap. Do the DO. Honestly though just email firecracker to get an explanation from them on the differences. They are very quick to reply.

 

[tvelocity514]

Keith from Firecracker here. As it stands now, most students would heavily caution against using Firecracker for only one month. That said, we are working on a new mode in Firecracker specifically for use during that last bit of time leading up to you boards (i.e. right before and during your dedicated prep); the system will rely on fairly comprehensive diagnostic testing at the beginning of your experience in order to recommend the order in which you need to tackle (in a very short amount of time) all of the content being covered on your exams. Our tentative timeline for this huge update is early April, though, so that may be a bit too late for you. Hope that helps somewhat.

I'm a current firecracker user but haven't use any diagnostic tests etc. I'm taking the exam on May 2. Is there a diagnostic exam that firecracker currently has that does the recommendation or is that part coming out in april only?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[mcloaf]

Let's just say there was some aggressive skimming...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using SDN mobile

 

[Daitong]

@theKeithF

When you say that you'll be (potentially) adding in citations from pathoma (or other resources), does that mean that the content will be only adding in citations for what's already in the content currently, or going through the pathoma text and adding into FC what's currently missing? Because I feel that the latter would be immensely useful, while the former, while nice, won't make a significant difference.

I don't think that it'll be took difficult to integrate all of pathoma since there's so many anki decks out there of pathoma, but it would be great consolidating everything onto a sole platform, FC.

 

[nabilesmail]

The Snooze button is here!! Anyone know the hotkey?

 

[theKeithF]

The Snooze button is here!! Anyone know the hotkey?

The hotkey will be Z(zz)... Okay, just one 'Z' will do it... It'll be added tomorrow. We slipped up and released without it. My bad.

Sorry! But would you mind explaining the priority that cards are given if you go to "study something specific" and for example click "Past" + "All (Low,Mod,High Scores)". Will it organize all the Cards in the Past Deck by priority? or is it just random?

Exactly, it organizes all the cards in your selected deck in the same priority it would if you were to receive them in Today's To-Dos. It is not random. That way, if you want to do more Past cards than you are receiving in Today's To-Dos, you can go to Study Something Specific, select only Past, and start working on them in order of priority.

 

[theKeithF]

@theKeithF

When you say that you'll be (potentially) adding in citations from pathoma (or other resources), does that mean that the content will be only adding in citations for what's already in the content currently, or going through the pathoma text and adding into FC what's currently missing? Because I feel that the latter would be immensely useful, while the former, while nice, won't make a significant difference.

I don't think that it'll be took difficult to integrate all of pathoma since there's so many anki decks out there of pathoma, but it would be great consolidating everything onto a sole platform, FC.

I meant the former. That said, our content editors are going to shoot you an email. Perhaps you could help us with the latter?

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Man I was hoping the hotkey would be out by now

 

[theKeithF]

Man I was hoping the hotkey would be out by now

Sorry dude. Just got word it will be added tomorrow. Bummer.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Sorry dude. Just got word it will be added tomorrow. Bummer.

Hey, at least it's finally here. And my God is it wonderful

 

[theKeithF]

Hey, at least it's finally here. And my God is it wonderful

Snooze = Magnum.

 

[firecrackerJason]

Man I was hoping the hotkey would be out by now

Snooze hotkey (z) is deployed.

Sorry for the delay!

 

[Dr Blue]

Hello everyone,
Current MS1. Starting FC late! I have quite a bit of material this year but I am hesitant to mark it as 'past' or 'current' as I would like the refresher. however i am not sure how much of a time sink it will be. should I start from scratch or have things marked?

I attend a true P/F school. I get about average/slightly below average on exams so this kind of worries me a little when marking it as 'past'.

 

[Leoz M Jiliums]

Hey guys,

Currently 6mos out of the test and 50% flagged (intermittently throughout the past year or so). I won't have heavy classes for the next couple of month and was wondering if it would be feasible to properly flag the remaining topics in 7-8wks.

Also, would the 3-4mos left after that be enough to get all of it in my head (planning to do 300-400/day on FC MD)

LMJ

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Hello everyone,
Current MS1. Starting FC late! I have quite a bit of material this year but I am hesitant to mark it as 'past' or 'current' as I would like the refresher. however i am not sure how much of a time sink it will be. should I start from scratch or have things marked?

I attend a true P/F school. I get about average/slightly below average on exams so this kind of worries me a little when marking it as 'past'.

Start from scratch. Add in past content as you go but mark it current. If you mark it past you'll never see it again. Then during the summer work your ass off to catch up.

 

[Ophthoseidon]

Hey guys,

Currently 6mos out of the test and 50% flagged (intermittently throughout the past year or so). I won't have heavy classes for the next couple of month and was wondering if it would be feasible to properly flag the remaining topics in 7-8wks.

Also, would the 3-4mos left after that be enough to get all of it in my head (planning to do 300-400/day on FC MD)

LMJ

10%/month is easily doable. Then you'd be done 1 month before your exam. 10%/month equates to ~50 new cards/day.

 

[CyberMaxx]

Hey guys,

Currently 6mos out of the test and 50% flagged (intermittently throughout the past year or so). I won't have heavy classes for the next couple of month and was wondering if it would be feasible to properly flag the remaining topics in 7-8wks.

Also, would the 3-4mos left after that be enough to get all of it in my head (planning to do 300-400/day on FC MD)

LMJ

I would say go for it. Like your suggesting, I would front load flagging to give yourself plenty of time to straight review.

 

[ZachBraff]

Hey guys! I'm currently an M2, about 3 months away from step 1, and I thought I'd share my experience w/ FC thus far, as I know other people's experiences have helped motivate me to this point.

I first started Firecracker around the middle of spring semester of M1 year and got to about 40% flagged by the end of last summer. It was at this point I switched to FC medical. Throughout this process, there were definitely a few times when I questioned how much it was truly helping me. But from where I stand now, I think it has helped at least a little bit, if not a lot. I've been at 100% flagged and reviewed for a few weeks now and am currently averaging about 75% in Uworld (about 1/3 through the qbank). From everything I've read on the internets, this seems like a good average but I've yet to take an NBME to get a more accurate gauge.

 

[Daitong]

Hey guys! I'm currently an M2, about 3 months away from step 1, and I thought I'd share my experience w/ FC thus far, as I know other people's experiences have helped motivate me to this point.

I first started Firecracker around the middle of spring semester of M1 year and got to about 40% flagged by the end of last summer. It was at this point I switched to FC medical. Throughout this process, there were definitely a few times when I questioned how much it was truly helping me. But from where I stand now, I think it has helped at least a little bit, if not a lot. I've been at 100% flagged and reviewed for a few weeks now and am currently averaging about 75% in Uworld (about 1/3 through the qbank). From everything I've read on the internets, this seems like a good average but I've yet to take an NBME to get a more accurate gauge.

Can I ask how many cards you've been averaging this whole time? And how long does it take for you to run through the stack/day?

 

[ZachBraff]

Can I ask how many cards you've been averaging this whole time? And how long does it take for you to run through the stack/day?

From when I started through September: ~150. September-December: ~200. December-now: ~250. It takes me ~2 hrs to kill 250 cards now a days.

Those amounts describe my review stack. I would typically add any new cards on top of that.

 

[nabilesmail]

@theKeithF

Would it be possible to get those analytical/descriptive features back (Like How long it took to answer your questions/How many cards you've answered etc/And possibly a marker that shows you how many times you've seen a card (say you've seen a card 10 times and every time you rate it a 1- by showing that statistic it would help you to realize you probably need to relearn it etc)