Gunner Training?

[hope2bpaindoc]

A

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[projectlogic]

I keep getting "That page doesn't seem to exist :-(" when i try to redo a quiz.

 

[premedmind]

% complete at the top is including the step 2 cards.....

would be nice if it was like GT where you have the % complete and % mastered next to each other

 

[thawunandonly]

Okay. Out of curiosity I tweaked the settings I have on "fixed spacing" and I did some questions, then I tweaked the settings again and I noticed that once something is on your schedule it stays there and all future questions are scheduled depending on the new settings.

Hey do you mind explaining this a bit please (with example if necessary)? Do you just mean that changing settings only affects the future banked questions and does not affect what's already on your schedule?

 

[withrye]

Hey do you mind explaining this a bit please (with example if necessary)? Do you just mean that changing settings only affects the future banked questions and does not affect what's already on your schedule?

Yes.

 

[Signorina]

Hey do you mind explaining this a bit please (with example if necessary)? Do you just mean that changing settings only affects the future banked questions and does not affect what's already on your schedule?

Yes. That's right. I took a screenshot of my calendar so I knew exactly how it looks.

Then I changed the Fixed Settings, and I did a few of today's questions with different ratings (1, 2, 3, 4). They moved from today's load based on the number I assigned.

I took another screenshot and changed the Fixed Settings again (assigned longer time intervals). The calendar stayed the same and all new cards moved based on the new numbers I assigned.

So don't worry about screwing up your calendar. You can tweak away as you need and it will only affect future questions.

Right now I'm just starting, so I have short time intervals but I'll space things out more as my question load and mastery goes up.

 

[thawunandonly]

Fun fact (aka glitch?):

If a question you have averages less than a day (check when you go to adjust dates, e.g. 0.666667 days to see it next), the question doesn't seem to be counted as "completed" and just stays on your daily review until you rank the number differently and also change the date manually to a whole number.

For example, I had 2 questions I rated as 1's, and were listed as 0.66667 days to see it next. I complete quiz, but the daily review questions stays at 2 left - the same questions. I could manually adjust the number to 1 while still leaving its rating at 1 but it didn't move until I gave it a 2 and changed the day to 1.

poor algorithm is poor

 

[jhamaican]

Thank you firecracker...% mastery is up. Can % flagged be separate for step 1 and step 2 though? Anyway, i've been waiting for the % mastery.

x2

Great work guys. Firecracker is pretty awesome. Please add the above.

 

[WarriorMD]

Off-topic, to FC Staff:
I've been critical of the FC staff and since I know you all read this, just wanted to say I am fairly impressed so far. I've adjusted over to FC and am enjoying pretty much everything aside from the new algorithm.
I think the FC staff does take into account everything we mention on here, but it just takes time to implement it all. FC staff, maybe you could come up with some form of communicating with users as to what exact features are being worked on so that we don't complain too much. A lot of people were complaining about being able to adjust schedules when you guys were working on it all along.

I realize you guys don't want to give out promises or approx. dates as to when things will be ready since you don't want to have people up your neck about meeting said dates, but simply stating that feature X Y and Z are currently being worked on and will be available for sure soon would help calm people down probably.

Posting this on the forums since I know it'll probably get read quicker on here

 

[yoz1215]

hey

does anybody know how to cancel a subscription. I have a monthly subscription. I looked through their site but they I can't find an option to end my plan. I have emailed them twice and they have not responded and its getting frustrating.

 

[doctoritis]

Off-topic, to FC Staff:
I've been critical of the FC staff and since I know you all read this, just wanted to say I am fairly impressed so far. I've adjusted over to FC and am enjoying pretty much everything aside from the new algorithm.
I think the FC staff does take into account everything we mention on here, but it just takes time to implement it all. FC staff, maybe you could come up with some form of communicating with users as to what exact features are being worked on so that we don't complain too much. A lot of people were complaining about being able to adjust schedules when you guys were working on it all along.

I realize you guys don't want to give out promises or approx. dates as to when things will be ready since you don't want to have people up your neck about meeting said dates, but simply stating that feature X Y and Z are currently being worked on and will be available for sure soon would help calm people down probably.

Posting this on the forums since I know it'll probably get read quicker on here

 

[SCME500]

someone at firecracker just put the step 2 ck file into the step 1 subject review folder's reproductive subfolder.

how do i know that? when i minimize reproductive - step 2 cs info disappears. Also, a lot of step 2 subjects are not accessible anymore.

i have been trying to contact firecracker for 48 hrs now and nothing happens. no one even bothers to reply. no automated message. no one replies my emails.... Guys, what's going on?

anyone else with the same problem? i am studying for step 1 but like to go over step 2 things when i need more in depth info.

 

[withrye]

someone at firecracker just put the step 2 ck file into the step 1 subject review folder's reproductive subfolder.

how do i know that? when i minimize reproductive - step 2 cs info disappears. Also, a lot of step 2 subjects are not accessible anymore.

i have been trying to contact firecracker for 48 hrs now and nothing happens. no one even bothers to reply. no automated message. no one replies my emails.... Guys, what's going on?

anyone else with the same problem? i am studying for step 1 but like to go over step 2 things when i need more in depth info.

I think it got fixed recently, because I don't see Step 2 lumped into the other folder. I can also access Step 2 cards just fine.

I don't think you need any more in depth info from the Step 2 cards for Step 1. There's already quite a bit of info there, and if you need background explanations on pathophys or mechanism, there are better sources for it.

On a separate note, they now have mastery on a global and per-subject basis, as well as other cool metrics and graphs. Neat.

 

[SCME500]

The step 2 ck folder is now in the step 1 organ systems subfolder in my account. I just checked it. Also, most of the step 2 topics do not expand and are inaccessible.

What good is a software with terrific specs if cant even access it? The bells and whistles such as improvements in UI are awesome but I think what is much more important is that Firecracker improves its customer service (!!!) and software reliability (like learn from USMLE WORLD, maybe?).

What is really frustrating is that i have been trying to contact firecracker for over 48 hrs now and nothing happens. no one even bothers to reply. no one replies my emails...

 

[SCME500]

this is hilarious: after waiting for >48 hrs i finally decided to publicly rant about my poroblems and voila! the baby's back!

 

[withrye]

this is hilarious: after waiting for >48 hrs i finally decided to publicly rant about my poroblems and voila! the baby's back!

As pure speculation, I'd say this had less to do with the public complaint than it did with the fact that FC is Boston-based and the past 48 hours have been spent in the worst snowstorm the Northeast has seen since '78 or '88 (that's 1888).

 

[Nottinghamlace]

What is the point of this % mastery? It's the % mastery of what I have already banked...correct? That's never going to change, I keep it around 78% and then I bank some new stuff and it dips down a little bit to maybe 75%, and then I don't bank and it goes up slowly to maybe 80%.

The whole point of having % mastery is to see progress. I can't see any progress with this. All I see is the happy medium I like keeping my recall at so I don't get swamped with too many questions per day. Why can't we just have the old system back? Those bar graphs were fantastic, I could see the breakdown and had a real goal to work towards. Seriously if it's not broken don't fix it. The makers of gt/fc have had many broken things in their growth as a company, but the graphs were something they got right from the start. /endrant

On an unrelated note-- is there some sort of "I am now an MS3" option with fc in the making? I would like to see the high yield stuff of step1 but am not prepared to keep memorizing where CO2 is made in the krebs cycle and what the role of IL-15 is etc,etc, as I try and bank for clinical rotations.

 

[SCME500]

this is hilarious: after waiting for >48 hrs i finally decided to publicly rant about my poroblems and voila! the baby's back!

I am again unable to access my step 2 stuff. This is really annoying.

 

[SCME500]

I am again unable to access my step 2 stuff. This is really annoying.

Also what i noticed is that every time i am unable to access the material two things happen.

1. there is no line that separates step 2 ck material from step 1 organ systems material (there is a line only between step1 basic and clinical sciences)
2. collapsing organ systems causes disappearance of step 2 cs material.
3. when i sign into account when it doesnt work it is not in the setting that i sign out of but rather the one that it was in when it stopped working properly. wtf.

 

[SCME500]

As pure speculation, I'd say this had less to do with the public complaint than it did with the fact that FC is Boston-based and the past 48 hours have been spent in the worst snowstorm the Northeast has seen since '78 or '88 (that's 1888).

i dont know. how would you explain that the first aid 2012 had 28 pages of errata? the material is pretty much a hand me down stuff from the books prior to that edition. just an analogy....

i think that someone saw easy money in this project and tries to run it on the side.

ohh... thanks SDN. It's back on.

 

[Brunky96]

Does anyone know of a promo code to get a discount to the new FC? My month subscriptions is about to run out and I'd like to get it for a discounted rate instead of 229/yr. Feel free to PM too

Also if anyone knows how to contact the Firecracker team directly (idk a number or an email) that would be awesome as well.

Gracias

 

[anonymous56]

Using the spaced algorithm setting, has anyone been able to get their review questions spaced out above 45 days? I haven't been able to get above this with any of my questions which used to be at 90 days spacing on GT. I feel like I'm going to have a gigantic amount of questions soon if I cannot space things above 45 days.

Also I don't want to use fixed spacing, because it won't take into account my rating history which I think is important.

 

[crazyozone]

Max i've seen is 60 days

 

[WarriorMD]

Using the spaced algorithm setting, has anyone been able to get their review questions spaced out above 45 days? I haven't been able to get above this with any of my questions which used to be at 90 days spacing on GT. I feel like I'm going to have a gigantic amount of questions soon if I cannot space things above 45 days.

Also I don't want to use fixed spacing, because it won't take into account my rating history which I think is important.

New algorithm is horrible. I hate when 2 = 4 days and 3 = 13 days. That's too much of a gap between the two scores.

The best is when my options were 1, 2, 4, 6, 44 LOL.

I actually really liked the GT algorithm, I rated mostly 3's and only very well known topics 4's and very very rare 5's. In Firecracker the majority of my banked stuff is a 5.


Having said that I haven't banked much at all the past 2 months. I was planning on banking 4 times as many cards as I actually did LOL. How much do you guys bank on average in a week?

 

[withrye]

New algorithm is horrible. I hate when 2 = 4 days and 3 = 13 days. That's too much of a gap between the two scores.

The best is when my options were 1, 2, 4, 6, 44 LOL.

I actually really liked the GT algorithm, I rated mostly 3's and only very well known topics 4's and very very rare 5's. In Firecracker the majority of my banked stuff is a 5.


Having said that I haven't banked much at all the past 2 months. I was planning on banking 4 times as many cards as I actually did LOL. How much do you guys bank on average in a week?

Back when I was banking I'd do about 3-5 new cards per day, slowing down as needed when my mastery didn't keep up and the questions piled up.

A spaced repetition algo can easily go from 4 to 13 to 30 days between answers, provided you get the answers correct easily. If you miss the first one after four days, however, the next interval shouldn't go up as much. I'm not sure if the Anki or any of the old Supermemo algos are open source, but it seems like FC should be employing one of those (unless maybe they are?).

 

[madchemist89]

Back when I was banking I'd do about 3-5 new cards per day, slowing down as needed when my mastery didn't keep up and the questions piled up.

A spaced repetition algo can easily go from 4 to 13 to 30 days between answers, provided you get the answers correct easily. If you miss the first one after four days, however, the next interval shouldn't go up as much. I'm not sure if the Anki or any of the old Supermemo algos are open source, but it seems like FC should be employing one of those (unless maybe they are?).

Although the spacing with the new algorithm is a big problem, the bigger problem is its inability to change the spacing significantly even if a card has been missed multiple times. For example, if I rate a card a 2 multiple times the spacing may only go down from 6 days to 4.5 days. In GT, the spacing was far more adaptive and took into consideration past performance to a greater extent, making it much better for learning than the new algorithm.

 

[thawunandonly]

The spacing is to the extreme in the other end too. Sometimes I'll keep rating a card low and the system won't bite - I want to see it in 1 or 2 days but the system only gives me anywhere from 4-11...........................

Either that or it isn't recording or something. I am currently on adaptive spacing but 2's seem to be 4 days more often than not.

 

[madchemist89]

The spacing is to the extreme in the other end too. Sometimes I'll keep rating a card low and the system won't bite - I want to see it in 1 or 2 days but the system only gives me anywhere from 4-11...........................

Either that or it isn't recording or something. I am currently on adaptive spacing but 2's seem to be 4 days more often than not.

This is what I meant to say.

 

[iliketurt1es]

Has anyone here tried it on "lite"?

 

[jhamaican]

please separate % of topics flagged for step 1/step2. I want an accurate percentage of what amount of step 1 material I have flagged.

 

[viactiv]

Is any of the Step 2 CK material worth reviewing for Step 1? There are some topics/cards that we have covered in med school lectures that appear in the Step 2 cards, but not the Step 1 cards. Thoughts?

 

[thawunandonly]

Sooooo....have you guys made the move to fixed spacing yet? How's that working for ya?

 

[withrye]

Is any of the Step 2 CK material worth reviewing for Step 1? There are some topics/cards that we have covered in med school lectures that appear in the Step 2 cards, but not the Step 1 cards. Thoughts?

I think FC is pretty low yield as it is; it almost certainly isn't worth it to look at any Step 2 material.

 

[viactiv]

I think FC is pretty low yield as it is; it almost certainly isn't worth it to look at any Step 2 material.

Got it, thanks!

 

[WarriorMD]

I Did some Qbank questions today...
I did very well, but the whole time I was like wtf where is all that nitty gritty crap I banged into my head?? Basically it was all the major major high yield stuff and a lot of those tiny random details didn't show up at all.

I think I have become the master of low yield. Panic mode in 3... 2...

 

[thawunandonly]

So I'm giving fixed spacing a shot; the current algorithm is pointless. I'll let you know how it goes I guess, I have it at 1-1, 2-3, 3-7, 4-14, and 5-90.

Also had a random question about some material:



Q:

A 39-year-old overweight female has been experiencing recurrent post-prandial abdominal pain under the right side of her rib cage. An ultrasound is inconclusive and Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is conducted, which reveals the presence of multiple gallstones. 24 hours after the ERCP is done, the patient develops shortness of breath and an oxygen mask is required. Lab results and CXR are provided below. Which of the following is accurate regarding her condition?

Lipase: 1000 U/L (0-160 U/L)
Amylase: 300 U/L (40-140 U/L)

A: Right to left shunting contributes to increased hypoxia

Acute pancreatitis is a potential severe complication following ERCP, and severe pancreatitis is a risk factor for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS is defined as a noncardiogenic pulmonary edema and is seen as bilateral pulmonary infiltrates on CXR. There is decreased lung compliance as a result of global pulmonary inflammation. Antibiotics are only indicated if an infectious component is identified. Right to left shunting in ARDS further worsens the hypoxia by maldistribution of ventilation/perfusion gradients.

I think I'm blanking/burning out or whatever, but could someone explain? I know that ARDS can lead to intrapulmonary shunting, but when someone says R-to-L shunt I think only of openings between the circuits... how is there a R-to-L shunt here?

 

[LazerMD]

I think you're missing the point of GT/FC. You said you did very well, and maybe you would have done very well on those questions even if you hadn't done GT. But what I'm hoping, and I think most of us on here will agree, is that all the repetition of the minutiae will allow us to get those questions that most ppl will miss, and that's what will set us apart...

 

[sheepsie]

I think I'm blanking/burning out or whatever, but could someone explain? I know that ARDS can lead to intrapulmonary shunting, but when someone says R-to-L shunt I think only of openings between the circuits... how is there a R-to-L shunt here?

R-->L shunting, as in, blood flows from the right side of the heart to the left side of the heart without being oxygenated. That would be my guess. You had it right when you said intrapulmonary shunting.

 

[thawunandonly]

R-->L shunting, as in, blood flows from the right side of the heart to the left side of the heart without being oxygenated. That would be my guess. You had it right when you said intrapulmonary shunting.

Huh. I guess when you phrase it like that it makes sense. Technically it would be a RtoL shunt then. Good stuff, thanks!

 

[WarriorMD]

I think you're missing the point of GT/FC. You said you did very well, and maybe you would have done very well on those questions even if you hadn't done GT. But what I'm hoping, and I think most of us on here will agree, is that all the repetition of the minutiae will allow us to get those questions that most ppl will miss, and that's what will set us apart...

Well that's exactly why I put up with the ridiculous minutiae, but my concern is that I might become so distracted from the big picture that the minutiae could simply become a useless distraction from the main HY stuff. It would suck wasting so much time and effort on stuff that's never going to show up and not having the HY stuff banged into my head properly.

The program is great, my only concern is whether I'm getting the most out of my time. If they could implement ways to make daily reviews faster it would become an even more superior program.

 

[withrye]

Well that's exactly why I put up with the ridiculous minutiae, but my concern is that I might become so distracted from the big picture that the minutiae could simply become a useless distraction from the main HY stuff. It would suck wasting so much time and effort on stuff that's never going to show up and not having the HY stuff banged into my head properly.

The program is great, my only concern is whether I'm getting the most out of my time. If they could implement ways to make daily reviews faster it would become an even more superior program.

You're describing what sounds like the fundamental concern of anyone studying for the exam, which is to make sure you never sacrifice the high yield knowledge for the low yield stuff. I think it's always going to be a balancing act with any resource (including the classic FA+UWorld), but if you're really worried your drowning out your memory with little things, switch to lite mode.

 

[WarriorMD]

Ways to speed up the program: *hint hint* FC staff

1) A better algorithm (Gunnertrainings was so much better)

2) A better shortcut to adjust your next review date (shift + enter isn't quick, a single keystroke would be ideal, it seems picky, but when doing it 200-300 times a day it becomes a huge time saver)

3) Notes showing up for every question related to a card versus just with the question you want them to - Often I used the notes to put explanations into my own words, or to add a missing point or to simply state that all 4 points aren't high yield and only to review Point 1 and 2.
The problem is that these notes show up for every question associated with the card, so I'm spending time (valuable time) reading through my notes everytime a Q from the card shows up and often times the notes were relevant only to 1 or 2 out of the 10-15 Questions associated with the card.

 

[WarriorMD]

You're describing what sounds like the fundamental concern of anyone studying for the exam, which is to make sure you never sacrifice the high yield knowledge for the low yield stuff. I think it's always going to be a balancing act with any resource (including the classic FA+UWorld), but if you're really worried your drowning out your memory with little things, switch to lite mode.

Yeah maybe it's my own character that is flawed haha, I can't come around to skipping stuff in firecracker because the overwhelming feeling of "what if it shows up" takes over and I end up learning the info.

I started putting a lot of stuff into ANKI and marking each question as high, medium and low yield and also re-wording things the way they make sense to me. I find that I fly through these questions since I only quickly glance at the LY stuff and a lot of it is in my own wording which makes sense to me.
I tried to do this with GT/FC, but the notes you add to a question are card specific and not question specific so that doesnt work and several months later I tend to forget whether a card was HY or LY or what my own version of the explanation was.

 

[withrye]

Yeah maybe it's my own character that is flawed haha, I can't come around to skipping stuff in firecracker because the overwhelming feeling of "what if it shows up" takes over and I end up learning the info.

I started putting a lot of stuff into ANKI and marking each question as high, medium and low yield and also re-wording things the way they make sense to me. I find that I fly through these questions since I only quickly glance at the LY stuff and a lot of it is in my own wording which makes sense to me.
I tried to do this with GT/FC, but the notes you add to a question are card specific and not question specific so that doesnt work and several months later I tend to forget whether a card was HY or LY or what my own version of the explanation was.

I think an unavoidable problem to all flashcard based systems is that you see most pieces of information from one perspective, with one particular wording. We all blow through the questions by the 6th+ repetition because we're used to the language that's used. However, when it gets tested, that language is usually quite different and much more subtle, and this is especially true for the lower yield stuff. This is why FC tries to (and gets rightly criticized for) use MCQs. Having multiple ways to ask a question gets you used to thinking about the myriad ways something can show up. Unfortunately, that's not a method that's particularly compatible with a flashcard system.

Making good flashcards is reliant on the most universal, unambiguous single-question-single-answer language you can create. The Supermemo website does a pretty good job of laying out the concepts to a good flashcard. The more idiosyncratic your language when you do your flashcards, the harder it'll be to catch that concept when the exam phrases it in a whole new way. In the end you want to know the concepts by rote so that when you do question banks and get questions wrong, it isn't because you didn't know the concepts, it's because the presentation was tricky. Then you learn those tricky presentations in all their many forms and it becomes a breeze to make the Dx and then know all the facts behind it.

 

[jhamaican]

please separate out the topics % flagged for step 1 and step 2.

It shows I only have about 50% which is true only if you figure in the step 2 cards. very disheartening. It sounds silly but it feels really rewarding to watch the little % numbers increase as you flag and learn new topics. One of the biggest awesome things about gt/fc is the quantification of your learning. Put stats and percentages on EVERYTHING and separate out step 1 from step2.

 

[crunchymedicine]

yes! finally, the answers have been cleaned up and have a better formatting! Much easier to read.

 

[WarriorMD]

Yeah, the wording recognition is an issue for me, especially in vignettes when the presentation is changed up, making that associated becomes so much harder.

All along I've been re-wording Q's into Anki or asking them in reverse fashion. I try to have no clues or hints in my questions and it's helped me grasp stuff a lot better.

EX: In firecracker they ask a series of questions that already get you thinking about Kaposi and then it asks most common location, so the hints before make it easy to recall hard palate and since you're already thinking of kaposi you're not actively associating kaposi with hard palate. When being presented with just "most common location = hard palate" in Anki I couldn't think in reverse order and figure it out, my answer was Oral leukoplakia. I'm experiencing this at an alarming rate with anki, but I'm being more careful in avoiding these issues now.

Hopefully everything comes together in the end once I get down to dedicated study time and uworld.

I think an unavoidable problem to all flashcard based systems is that you see most pieces of information from one perspective, with one particular wording. We all blow through the questions by the 6th+ repetition because we're used to the language that's used. However, when it gets tested, that language is usually quite different and much more subtle, and this is especially true for the lower yield stuff. This is why FC tries to (and gets rightly criticized for) use MCQs. Having multiple ways to ask a question gets you used to thinking about the myriad ways something can show up. Unfortunately, that's not a method that's particularly compatible with a flashcard system.

Making good flashcards is reliant on the most universal, unambiguous single-question-single-answer language you can create. The Supermemo website does a pretty good job of laying out the concepts to a good flashcard. The more idiosyncratic your language when you do your flashcards, the harder it'll be to catch that concept when the exam phrases it in a whole new way. In the end you want to know the concepts by rote so that when you do question banks and get questions wrong, it isn't because you didn't know the concepts, it's because the presentation was tricky. Then you learn those tricky presentations in all their many forms and it becomes a breeze to make the Dx and then know all the facts behind it.

 

[WarriorMD]

Forgot to share my most embarassing moment of the day:
I'm fully banked biochem and I can rate all Q's a 5 and easily smoke through 100's of them with total ease.

BUTTT..... In Anki a question showed up today: "PDH = pyr---> ?" such a simple basic Q, but I sat there clueless and for some reason I couldn't come up with an answer for like 5 minutes and I was bothered by it so much that I sat there thinking... and thinking...... and thinking.
Ans: PDH = Pyr-->AcoA


Maybe it's time to buy Uworld and teach my brain how to think or maybe I need to go back and add the 20 pages of "to remember" stuff I jotted down into anki

 

[thawunandonly]

Why do the cardiac murmur cards (individual versions) have a ridiculous amount of detail in them? Management, where to best hear the jet depending on positioning of the leaflet, etc.

Is this Step 2 stuff mixed in to the Step 1 stuff or what? Did you guys send these straight to the "Never see again" pile? lol

In fact... there are a lot of cards here with the same exact info, e.g. ACS card.

 

[withrye]

Why do the cardiac murmur cards (individual versions) have a ridiculous amount of detail in them? Management, where to best hear the jet depending on positioning of the leaflet, etc.

Is this Step 2 stuff mixed in to the Step 1 stuff or what? Did you guys send these straight to the "Never see again" pile? lol

In fact... there are a lot of cards here with the same exact info, e.g. ACS card.

I put anything that sounds like it's meant to be on a cardiology board exam in the perfect recall pile. This might be easier for me to determine because I'd already banked all of cardio in GT, so I know what used to be there and what's new and wtf.

 

[thawunandonly]

lol, it's a little out of hand.

Card for Treatment algorithm for Acute Coronary Syndrome

Flag topic -> 0 questions

What's the poiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiint. This is clutter, lol.