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Gunner Training?
- Thread starter hope2bpaindoc
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If you gave something a 1 or a 2 many times in a row prior to bumping it to a 4/5 .. it will still show it to you the next day, you need to consecutively give it a higher score to bump it to +1 days. (which to me is logical .. if you have been scoring it low and then high all of a sudden, chances are its short term memory working and you should see it again more frequently before you send it off for the long term)
If on the other hand you started giving something a 4/5 right away and you are seeing it the next day ... that's odd.
Was there a change in algorithm or something? When I click "c" to see my next review date a lot of stuff is showing up as 15 days and 20 days, when it's stuff that has been rated a 3-4 for a while and been showing up every 30 or 60 days.
I was actually wondering the same thing, q's that should have been setting to 60 days have been coming up 10-20 days later.
I was also experiencing a problem that I wondered if anyone had any insight. The last few days, when I try to log in from my phone (Galaxy sIII) it just refuses to let me in.... Very frustrating as I have been in the habit of knocking off a couple q's here and there throughout the day... Goes a long way in reducing the overall load. Any ideas why this would be happening? It only occurs with the phone, laptop, iPad, etc. all working fine.
I was also experiencing a problem that I wondered if anyone had any insight. The last few days, when I try to log in from my phone (Galaxy sIII) it just refuses to let me in.... Very frustrating as I have been in the habit of knocking off a couple q's here and there throughout the day... Goes a long way in reducing the overall load. Any ideas why this would be happening? It only occurs with the phone, laptop, iPad, etc. all working fine.
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I agree, there is something screwy with their algorithm. I bet it has something to do with their randomization of questions.
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As did I.
How long does migration take? I got the e-mail saying stop doing stuff on GT at 2pm. Had like 300 cards to do today. Oh well.
I got that email today too and my favorite part was when it said migration should be done in a few hours (from 2pm). I knew not to actually believe it though.
Typical GT.
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How long does migration take? I got the e-mail saying stop doing stuff on GT at 2pm. Had like 300 cards to do today. Oh well.
I got the same email, and my stuff was migrated over by 9pm EST.
I had completed by daily review on GT by 10am. At 9pm I somehow had 300+ questions in my daily review for FC. Does FC have more questions per card, or was there an issue with the migration?
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The brilliant crew at GT/FC has been adding questions/cards to FC without putting them onto GT. Thus when we were transferred, all the added questions to cards already banked has resulted in hundreds of new questions we must get through. They have absolutely no respect for us.
I thought this was obvious? GT stopped having new cards/questions added a few months back. I didn't think FC would similarly have stopped all progress, so I just assumed they weren't adding them to GT and that I'd see them once I transferred. IMO this isn't a big deal at all.
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You don't think having several hundred questions thrust upon your account in one day is a big deal?
Presumably they're additional questions based on cards you've already banked (flagged, in FC terminology). Whenever I have an unusually large load of cards on one day I just take the average load of the next week and try to do that many cards per day. That way I'm not doing 500 cards on Monday and 100 cards on Thursday. Some people (not necessarily you) get worried about their question load on GT as if it were graded homework for school. At the end of the day it's a learning tool and memory aid that is supposed to fit your schedule. It isn't a big deal if things get fudged around to fit the contours of your life.
tl;dr It's not a big deal to me.
aidama said:
They don't currently have %banked or %mastery on FC, but they know it's a feature we want. Ideally they wouldn't have started migrations until including both those features as well as an individual question custom review feature, but c'est la vie.
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Ahhh ok. Well as long as its up eventually (like mid feb would be ideal)
Hard to assess where I am without it (%4-5 in a subject, not mastery... I actually liked it when I could see my total subject mastery drop after a quiz)
Hard to assess where I am without it (%4-5 in a subject, not mastery... I actually liked it when I could see my total subject mastery drop after a quiz)
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So it looks like FC transferred all my notes which is cool....about the hyperlinks (i.e. when you have a .html link in your notes), can the FC staff please make it appear as an actual link (in its blue, underlined form) so you can simply click on it an it opens a new tab VS. having to copy pasting it into a new tab...just a small tidbit
thanks
thanks
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How many ppl are using GT now that are taking the exam this May/June? I figured it might be encouraging to have a thread to have a log of our progress but not sure if there are enough people for this..?
I am taking it at the end of June/beginning of July. I would be interested in following the progression of practice scores for those who have been using GT and who have a decent % complete/mastery.
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This thread seems more for GT users to vent with problems/concerts/IT problems and not really helpful to our actual study habits per say.
....Or we could just post it here on a weekly basis.
I just thought it's a good way to help us/others get motivated or not get too behind on it due to school work, etc.
....Or we could just post it here on a weekly basis.
I just thought it's a good way to help us/others get motivated or not get too behind on it due to school work, etc.
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A LOT of the 400+ "NEW" cards that just appeared after transferring to FC is NOT EVEN NEW! They are making me re-bank old questions...And some of their new questions are horrible. FC/GT is just killing me...kiiillliiiinnnngggg meeeeeee!!
I'm at 100/99 and now doing qbanks to get used to USMLE question styles. I haven't done any diagnostic testing. I feel like roughly half the time I get a question wrong it because I didn't know/missed the diagnosis and the other half is I know the dx but confuse or don't know the related concept. A tiny proportion of questions are things I feel I've never encountered before. I used GT and pathoma as an intro to the concepts and core knowledge; I was never too concerned about nailing all 10 signs of tuberous sclerosis or all 11 criteria for SLE. In the end, the question style in GT is way different than the qbanks or the real exam, so I'm more careful about recognizing associated signs and symptoms as they appear in vignettes on real qbank questions.
How long does migration take? I got the e-mail saying stop doing stuff on GT at 2pm. Had like 300 cards to do today. Oh well.
Took them about 24 hours for my account.
I didn't have a message in my gunner account like they said I would, when I logged into firecracker to look at something I saw that my data had been transferred over so I checked my email and they had sent an email.
I magically have 669 questions to do today LOL, not a big deal since I can spread them out over the source of a week, just slightly annoying.
Killing me aswell here
Major love hate relationship with the program. So many things that have helped me retain info, but at the same time countless hours wasted on unnecessary crap.Being the OCD type of person I am, I'm now stuck between sticking with GT or using FC.
Could somebody from the Firecracker staff PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give a realistic idea of when the "customize review date" feature will be added?
This one thing alone is what will determine whether I stick it out with gunner or switch to firecracker and I don't want to be stuck doing questions for 3 months on firecracker without the feature or I don't want to end up sticking to Gunner and let Firecracker backup with 192301293 questions and then a week later Firecracker has the feature.
This one thing alone is what will determine whether I stick it out with gunner or switch to firecracker and I don't want to be stuck doing questions for 3 months on firecracker without the feature or I don't want to end up sticking to Gunner and let Firecracker backup with 192301293 questions and then a week later Firecracker has the feature.
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guyss in firecraker is there anybody face this probleme: when i have to choose question they opened topics not in systemic to choose despite from 2 weeks i was able to choose topics(systemic) and subtopic plz any help
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Is the firecracker team going to fix the problem where I click on links in the firecracker flashcards and they transfer me over to the gunnertraining site when I dont have an account there as I just bought a year subscription to firecracker
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Can anyone help me with a "new" question that came up in Firecracker? It reads:
Meperidine is contraindicated in a patients taking which of the following drugs for treatment of Parkinson's disease?
Benztropine
Amantadine
Bromocriptine
Selegiline
Levodopa
The answer is Selegiline and the explanation reads:
Selegiline is a MAO inhibitor that can be used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. However, meperidine is contraindicated in patients taking MAO inhibitors because of the possibility of excitation or depression that may result. Excitation symptoms include agitation, skeletal muscle rigidity, hyperpyrexia and depressive symptoms (e.g. hypotension, hypoventilation and coma).
First off, this explanation is horrible. It teaches me nothing about how meperidine causes excitation or depression when used with Selegiline. 2nd, the reference link is to the Benzo/Barbituate card...absolutely fabulous.... I hate how the new firecracker questions give poor explanations and don't highlight portions of the card that are pertinent to the question.
Anyhow, I know 2 properties make meperidine special: 1)anti-cholinergic 2)metabolite has SSRI like effects (hopefully I'm correct on this?). Furthermore, Selegiline is a SELECTIVE MAOI, only increasing dopamine levels. Thus, it is not contraindicated for use along with SSRI. Any thoughts on this? Thank you!
Meperidine is contraindicated in a patients taking which of the following drugs for treatment of Parkinson's disease?
Benztropine
Amantadine
Bromocriptine
Selegiline
Levodopa
The answer is Selegiline and the explanation reads:
Selegiline is a MAO inhibitor that can be used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. However, meperidine is contraindicated in patients taking MAO inhibitors because of the possibility of excitation or depression that may result. Excitation symptoms include agitation, skeletal muscle rigidity, hyperpyrexia and depressive symptoms (e.g. hypotension, hypoventilation and coma).
First off, this explanation is horrible. It teaches me nothing about how meperidine causes excitation or depression when used with Selegiline. 2nd, the reference link is to the Benzo/Barbituate card...absolutely fabulous.... I hate how the new firecracker questions give poor explanations and don't highlight portions of the card that are pertinent to the question.
Anyhow, I know 2 properties make meperidine special: 1)anti-cholinergic 2)metabolite has SSRI like effects (hopefully I'm correct on this?). Furthermore, Selegiline is a SELECTIVE MAOI, only increasing dopamine levels. Thus, it is not contraindicated for use along with SSRI. Any thoughts on this? Thank you!
The exact mechanism of their interaction is not known. Selegiline at high dosages has MAO-A inhibitory effects as well, but that's probably unrelated to the specific interaction with meperidine. Selegiline at therapeutic doses is not contraindicated with SSRIs, but it is with meperidine.
tl;dr You're going to just have to memorize and accept this drug interaction, as its cause isn't fully understood.
http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00002018-199819010-00002
my GT was transferred to FC today.
I haven't been on FC for weeks now so I'm very impressed.
the only thing missing is %mastery and progress bars, i hope they add these soon.
And I had 600 new questions, but please, what's the big deal? you can reschedule.
Anyway, well done FC-crew!
I haven't been on FC for weeks now so I'm very impressed.
the only thing missing is %mastery and progress bars, i hope they add these soon.
And I had 600 new questions, but please, what's the big deal? you can reschedule.
Anyway, well done FC-crew!
I kind of agree with this, but I'm a pretty staunch anti-mcq guy. 250/450 of my new q's were multiple choice. I keep praying that they'll make them optional or just get rid of them. They keep making it better, but for the countless mcq's.
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What's your gripe with MCQs? I personally like them. They're another learning modality and way of testing your understanding of the material aside from the rote memorization. Plus it's a break from 400 questions of just "What are the 6 symptoms/causes/side effects of this"
The problem is that they test your understanding the first time you see them, and every time after that you're just using rote memory to answer the MCQ. Spaced repetition is a learning paradigm for the rote memorization of associated pairs of information. Once you see an MCQ for the 5th time, you've gotten good at pairing the way that paragraph looks and is phrased with the correct answer. There is no proof that you've actually reinforced the underlying concepts that got you to that answer each time you were faced with that MCQ.
It's the same concept behind why people don't recommend doing 5 passes of UWorld, no matter how good their questions are.
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Does it work if you explain the answer yourself though?
e.g. there is one MCQ belonging to "secondary causes of osteoporosis" [I think]... it's really long about a woman involved in a car crash, with irregular menstrual periods and low BMI. She sustained injuries but the question asks about the etiology of other, older injuries. The answer was hypogonadism.
I recognize the question in a fraction of a second and I know answer that matches, but I also know the explanation behind it down cold because the MCQ is so recognizable. Like...subconsciously, I don't read the question or answer anymore... the explanation pops into my head. Low BMI -> anorexic -> hypogonadism -> low estrogen -> osteoporosis
The thing about MCQ's is that your brain is using recognition to recall and associate the underlying concept.
EX: To diagnose hep A = IgM antibody, but when I'm given IgM antibody, I couldn't work backwards to Hep A as easily. My brain just memorized that GT always asks that Q and to diagnose it the answer is IgM antibody.
Now if I got a Q asking how do you diagnose Hep C and the same options are given, I may possibly answer IgM antibody without properly thinking it over
To combat this I make sure I firmly understand and learn things backwards aswell so that my memory isn't based off of recognition only.
EX: To diagnose hep A = IgM antibody, but when I'm given IgM antibody, I couldn't work backwards to Hep A as easily. My brain just memorized that GT always asks that Q and to diagnose it the answer is IgM antibody.
Now if I got a Q asking how do you diagnose Hep C and the same options are given, I may possibly answer IgM antibody without properly thinking it over
To combat this I make sure I firmly understand and learn things backwards aswell so that my memory isn't based off of recognition only.
The thing is you are recognizing the Q and providing your brain with the familiar stimulus in order to quickly recall the explanation. Would you still be able to make the proper associations without recognizing the question which in essence is the trigger for you to immediately think LOW BMI, anorexic, hypogonad.
For me this has proven to be an issue since when I try to work backwards via my own Anki Q's I made up I sometimes cannot make the associations as easily, but when the familiar Q on gunnertraining comes up it somehow stimulates my mind to recall the concept very quickly and easily.
I've experienced this with qbanks. You get a question about hypothyroidism, but you miss it because it's not phrased in the same way as all the GT hypothyroid questions. You don't miss the question because you don't know about the causes and sequelae of hypothyroidism, you miss it because the presentation is trickier and more subtle. It's much more helpful to be exposed to 10 subtle and different presentation of one disease than to be presented with the same presentation 10 times, no matter how solidly you think you're reviewing the background path. No one doubts that you know the background path, the issue is more about recognizing the vignette to begin with.
GT and spaced repetition in general have no role as a qbank.
GT and spaced repetition in general have no role as a qbank.
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Got forced to migrate today, 700 questions, tried to choose the option to only review the 19 that I took too many days to answer and they thought I might have forgotten...but it turned out clicking that option directed me to a "The page you're looking for cannot be found" page. And I can't seem to find the "perfect recall" button so that I can get rid of simplistic facts (e.g. which parts of the heart makes up the inferior surface) and save myself review time before step1 (?) Am I missing something?
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Oh, and all the apostrophes are displaying as "â"
I'm using Google chrome
I'm using Google chrome
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Good points both of you. So what's the solution? Do you guys then just "perfect recall" the MCQ's? I haven't PR'ed anything simply because if I recognize the fact so much it takes a half second to do it anyway...
Maybe just leave it as is and broaden my review (I'm still mainly on GT but will gradually do QBanks more and more, along with plain old FA review).
I agree on the MCQs. It'd be nice to have them in a separate bank to do them and use them, but there is no point in seeing them at spaced intervals. I hope the change is made soon, when question days are around 400 they're a drag to read through.
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This was always my biggest gripe with GT. Evidently they continued to push it with an end goal of making more money, to the detriment of the program's efficacy (unless these are just the MCQ's that they had already written up before all the complaints, and they just haven't (or aren't going to) bother to separate them out from the recall Q's.
The issue with PR'ing them is I think GT uses the MCQ's to cover bases that aren't covered in their recall questions, so if you want to see the information, you need to see it in the form of the MCQ. Then the issue with leaving them in is that they break up the flow of the daily review when you're forced to slow down and think about why you know what the answer to the question is
Hi GT/FC people,
I just got this a week ago. So far, I am liking the mix of questions and the scheduling of future questions based on recall rating. However, I want to know if anyone here is using other resources. I am sure everyone has a brand new copy of FA, not that there is a big difference between 2011, 20121, and 2013 (color?). But, besides the obligatory FA, what else do you guys recommend? Also, do I work on GT and other stuff now or wait until my 6 week break? Our 3rd years make it sound like studying anything before we go on break is a sin. Personally, our lectures suck ASS and I rather pathoma my second year of med school.
Thoughts, comments, rants are welcomed.
Lulu
I just got this a week ago. So far, I am liking the mix of questions and the scheduling of future questions based on recall rating. However, I want to know if anyone here is using other resources. I am sure everyone has a brand new copy of FA, not that there is a big difference between 2011, 20121, and 2013 (color?). But, besides the obligatory FA, what else do you guys recommend? Also, do I work on GT and other stuff now or wait until my 6 week break? Our 3rd years make it sound like studying anything before we go on break is a sin. Personally, our lectures suck ASS and I rather pathoma my second year of med school.
Thoughts, comments, rants are welcomed.
Lulu
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Does anyone else have problems with picture captions in FC? For some reason, they are getting cut off.
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Is the option to PR even in FC?
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GUYS can I ask all of you for a collective favor...
Could we please, if you're going through cards and such and have spare time... try and add update comments on the information and some of your mnemonics. The comments section was left behind and I feel some of that information was VERY important. Especially since the GT/FC team doesn't get around to correcting their information much...
There was a guy by the name of T M going around all the Micro cards with awesome information. I'll miss those.
Could we please, if you're going through cards and such and have spare time... try and add update comments on the information and some of your mnemonics. The comments section was left behind and I feel some of that information was VERY important. Especially since the GT/FC team doesn't get around to correcting their information much...
There was a guy by the name of T M going around all the Micro cards with awesome information. I'll miss those.
