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Gunner Training?
- Thread starter hope2bpaindoc
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On gunnertraining, I used to copy paste the question onto an excel sheet and then hit perfect recall. The idea was to go back to the excel **** in the event that I finished GT and had extra time to review some Q's that seemed medium yield. This plan didn't work too well after the FC change haha.
Is there a section on FC where you can add perfect recalled questions back into your sched?
Is there a section on FC where you can add perfect recalled questions back into your sched?
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Oh crap I don't actually know if you could restore questions besides unflagging... can anyone confirm?
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FC Staff:
I've noticed you guys took out couple of things that were in GT and no longer in FC. Some notable ones are:
Endometrioid tumor of the ovary
Rinne/Weber test for hearing loss (I got a question on this in UWorld).
You guys never tend to reply to my Feedback via FC so hopefully you guys see it here. I don't understand why you guys decided to take out important concept (and add a lot of other details as posted above). Please respond for once. Thanks
I've noticed you guys took out couple of things that were in GT and no longer in FC. Some notable ones are:
Endometrioid tumor of the ovary
Rinne/Weber test for hearing loss (I got a question on this in UWorld).
You guys never tend to reply to my Feedback via FC so hopefully you guys see it here. I don't understand why you guys decided to take out important concept (and add a lot of other details as posted above). Please respond for once. Thanks
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Anyone else getting repeat questions in the same day even if you ranked it to get it far away?? Its frustrating and they haven't responded to me regarding this.
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YES! What the hell!
I explained one "glitch" that makes this happen. If you rank a question low and it becomes less than 1 day (usually 0.666667), then it won't move off your review list until you manually change the day or rank it something other than a 1.
Besides that, sometimes questions still get (randomly?) asked more than once. Either new banked questions are just repeats of the same material or something's wrong with the system. This is why I moved on to Fixed Spacing, which is okay I guess...
Hey guys, for anyone still using GT, can you check your total numbers of questions per subject? I'm finished with everything but anatomy (woohoo), but in checking my numbers of questions vs. others who have finished and posted before me, the numbers are pretty different. I tend to have ~25-50 FEWER questions per subject, despite being fully banked, and I have no idea why! I'm in "comprehensive mode" and everything.
Any thoughts? I'm including a screenshot of my question numbers...
Thanks!
Any thoughts? I'm including a screenshot of my question numbers...
Thanks!
Attachments
My numbers are still roughly as I've posted them a few pages back. I don't really have an explanation about why your numbers are different, except maybe that questions for cards have been removed between when you banked and when I banked, and that those questions persist in my database versus yours. I don't use GT anymore, so I can't say whether those questions would disappear or something if I were to go through and keep up with the daily review.
Thanks for the response, withrye. Not sure what the deal is...you may be right about some cards being taken down or something. I've decided I'm not going to worry about it since it just means fewer questions for me. Definitely don't need any more haha. thanks again!
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What is really the point behind using Lite mode? It doesn't seem like a more high yield version of the comprehensive mode, and it reduces the questions by a huge amount. So yeah it takes a lot less time...but you are learning like 25% of the stuff that is on FC. It would be GREAT if there was a mode that took out allll of the fluff that is currently in FC and basically added only the HY stuff seen in FA. Example - I'm looking at the MSK section in FA and the FC version of it in Derm and Ortho/rheum is like RIDICULOUSLY detailed compared to it, and I'm wondering if it all is even necessary?
I switched over to Lite mode because I noticed regular mode was taking a lot of time out of me doing Uworld...not good. Anybody else have the same concerns / issues right now? I'm like 90% banked, with like 60% mastery (even though it says 80%, I inflated a lot of the ratings so I could cover more material faster)
I switched over to Lite mode because I noticed regular mode was taking a lot of time out of me doing Uworld...not good. Anybody else have the same concerns / issues right now? I'm like 90% banked, with like 60% mastery (even though it says 80%, I inflated a lot of the ratings so I could cover more material faster)
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So let me ask you guys... how well do you know your GT/FC material now? At 90+% banked/mastered it sounds like you guys are set on material and you guys are riding FA+UWorld smoothly to the end. Does that mean you can muscle through your daily reviews easily? How about the trivial questions that ask you to "list 4 factors that might lead to membranous nephropathy" or something like "describe the progression of Alzheimers (I think...the card that wants you to list apraxia, aphasia, agnosia, problems with executive planning, etc.)" Do you still place emphasis on those or do you just keep the main concept cards lying around (e.g. pathogenesis of X, associated symptoms with Y, etc.).
I've got about 3 months left for MS2 and am not really close to banking as much as you guys... I really want to close it out though. So I can place FC on the backburner.
Also side note: You guys finding FC/GT + FA to be sufficient for your Pharm classes?
I've got about 3 months left for MS2 and am not really close to banking as much as you guys... I really want to close it out though. So I can place FC on the backburner.
Also side note: You guys finding FC/GT + FA to be sufficient for your Pharm classes?
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At this point my daily review happens very very quickly. I'm also putting a lot of SUPER basic stuff on perfect recall, because at this point many of the things I mark will show up near my exam, and it isn't worth it to see no-brainers at that point (if I'll even be doing FC). When I see long list questions I focus more on them, and I want to get into a more rigorous answer mode with respect to that stuff. In general, I'm treating these cards as the last time I'll see them, so unless I get it really right I want to see it again.
That being said, I PR-mark anything that seems beyond the scope of the exam (i.e. all the crazy cardiology treatment algorithms that showed up in FC).
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withrye I know you have started question banks, how has the transition been from FC (or GT) to the question banks? Has the time commitment up to this point seemed to pay off? Thanks.
It helps about as much as knowing FA pretty well helps. It helps make sure you land the gimmes, where it's a one step question or the diagnosis is obvious and you need to know treatment or MOA or side effects.
It doesn't help where you need to know bigger picture situations. Pathoma and sources like it are great for these scenarios, where you need to know why this or that happens in order to answer a trickier question. Lastly, qbanks themselves are a great source for the "none of the above" style questions: where it's not obvious what the dx is, it's not just about straight pathophys, but it's an obscure question style, presentation of disease, and/or complication/side effect. When I see those (and get them wrong) I hope to keep that info in some meaningful way in case that situation happens again.
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Anybody else noticing that with firecracker, many times, you will not actually see the question on the day it says it's scheduled for when you hit adjust? Instead the question will come way sooner. Just me?
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Daily reviews will usually always take a good chunk of time I feel like (2 hours for around 200-300 questions). Yeah if you know the material cold it helps, but getting to that point takes a longg time (that is unless you started FC from day 1 of year 1), and it's still going to hover around 200-300 questions. I'm definitely going to be using the perfect recall feature with heavily, like withrye mentioned.
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I'm not withrye, but I'm also in the process of doing some questions alongside GT/FC. For reference, I have about 75% of the Step 1 material banked in FC. Since beginning pathophys, I've been doing Kaplan's QBank alongside my coursework and have a 77% average with ~1200 questions left. I recently started doing a bit of UWorld just to get a feel for what it is so I don't freak out the day I officially start it. With ~100 questions done on random, untimed tutor mode I am over 80% correct. FC essentially forces you to know and understand every word in First Aid. Nearly every card in the pathology sections contains the pathophysiology of the disease/cancer/etc. While I haven't moved into my dedicated study time yet (May) I have a feeling doing, and finishing FC will be worth every hour.
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hey the extra cards in cardio section i noticed that are information for step2 ck like acute coro synd managment of unstable and chronic unstable pulmonic stenosis spuravalvularr.. are those cards present in step1 ?
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Did they do away with the tab to report problems with content? I'm coming across a lot of answer cards on my daily questions that are either popping up with a lot of random characters, difficult to understand tables, or information that I think formerly had Greek letters than have transformed into other things that make the info on the card incorrect.
It's really a pain to click the feedback, copy and paste the card and answers, then write an explanation of the problem. Lots of their data doesn't seem to have transferred properly from GT cards, and some of it is subtle enough that it could cause a user to pick the wrong answer on Step I, but it slows me down so much to report it using the feedback tab on the left side of the screen that I'm letting some of it slide, possibly to the detriment of myself and other users.
It's really a pain to click the feedback, copy and paste the card and answers, then write an explanation of the problem. Lots of their data doesn't seem to have transferred properly from GT cards, and some of it is subtle enough that it could cause a user to pick the wrong answer on Step I, but it slows me down so much to report it using the feedback tab on the left side of the screen that I'm letting some of it slide, possibly to the detriment of myself and other users.
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Do they even get back to you? I've tried sending in a couple of changes but they don't reply back so I stopped sending them. I sent some with GT and they would reply quickly. With FC I don't know if they take user feedback into account as much.
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I can't remember if I've actually submitted problems with content since switching to FC, or if I always start, see that the interface for doing so requires much more work from me and just say screw it, but I did get a response to a bug I was running into.
I want to say that I probably did submit one or two content issues without a response and that it seems like they're not as good about following up as they used to be, but I've had reports go unanswered with GT as well, so it may just be coincidence.
Hey all, question for those of you who have gone through dedicated study post-GT. Did you end up going through First Aid / spend a lot of time on FA during dedicated study, or did you choose to focus on qbanks? I'm currently planning to try to fit a couple QBank blocks per day with a few hours of FA reading, but I'm debating whether or not I need more or less FA time...I'm fully banked in GT (finally!), but still working to get my mastery up unfortunately...~60% mastery with 1.5 weeks left til dedicated study starts (~5 weeks of study before the exam). I'm hopeful that my mastery can jump up pretty quickly, though...it's very low due to a recent final banking push, but I think for certain subjects (like anatomy), I should be able to get it up pretty quickly.
Thoughts on FA during dedicated study with a good GT background?
Thoughts on FA during dedicated study with a good GT background?
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UMMMM... is it just me? But FC made "changes" yesterday, and made it so you can see images at the bottom of the answers and not have to click on the flashcard to see them for review.
...except I can't see images on the QUESTION itself now either. A bunch of review questions just came up referencing an image that wasn't showing up.
herp derp
Also... does anyone else get double questions? Sometimes the # of questions don't match on the top of the screen in the toolbar to the top of the review section and I see doubles repeatedly. Not sure if server error or if I should PR those questions at the risk of sending both of them to the PR pile.
...except I can't see images on the QUESTION itself now either. A bunch of review questions just came up referencing an image that wasn't showing up.
herp derp
Also... does anyone else get double questions? Sometimes the # of questions don't match on the top of the screen in the toolbar to the top of the review section and I see doubles repeatedly. Not sure if server error or if I should PR those questions at the risk of sending both of them to the PR pile.
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Also having a problem with pictures not showing up for quizzes.
They fix one thing and then break another. So frustrating.
They fix one thing and then break another. So frustrating.
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Also having the same problems. Not sure how to rate the repeat questions or questions without pictures...
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What's everyone's daily load with the FC algorithm? I've been steadily banking 5-7 cards/day for the past few months, with a total of ~850 cards banked to date and I'm looking at 200-300 for the next week. The goal is to bank a ton over spring break, while reviewing some older material and finish banking by early-mid April.
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Well, I have 535 flagged topics... and I'm using fixed interval because the other one seems pretty inconsistent... I don't know if this is working out in my favor, lol. Daily load recently has been around 200 questions, but I've also been flagging a lot of stuff and of course, newer concepts I would like to see many times within the week or two.
I wish I could flag and review faster but it just goes to show how much I didn't learn the material the first time.
I'm also really annoyed at how low-yield this has become, especially the cardiology section.
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One of these "how are you using FC" questions...
When flagging a few cards, do you do the "study" questions as soon as you finish each card, or do you flag a set and then do the all the study questions in one go?
When flagging a few cards, do you do the "study" questions as soon as you finish each card, or do you flag a set and then do the all the study questions in one go?
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I bank a bunch and then do them all at once (often 70+, but that's just me). If you do them right after in sets of like 8-20, that's even more of short term memory and doesn't help me.
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Credit where credit is due. I am impressed with number of improvements that FC has rolled out recently. The improved interface and additional images are nice. Keep up the good work.
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Well, I have 535 flagged topics... and I'm using fixed interval because the other one seems pretty inconsistent... I don't know if this is working out in my favor, lol. Daily load recently has been around 200 questions, but I've also been flagging a lot of stuff and of course, newer concepts I would like to see many times within the week or two.
I wish I could flag and review faster but it just goes to show how much I didn't learn the material the first time.
I'm also really annoyed at how low-yield this has become, especially the cardiology section.
Yeah, I hate how there is a lot of low yield, and how they took out a bunch of HY that used to be in GT but no longer in FC. (Side effect of protease inhibitor, endemetroid tumor of ovary, Rinne test just to name a few, all of which I've been tested on UWorld). Been sending them feedback to put those back up as quizes but no response. of course.
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lol I just got a review question that I haven't seen in months...
I thought it was a well-known fact that pancreatic necrosis is fat for the peripancreatic fat, but the actual parenchyma is liquefactive. GT still has this fact down (and is seen in Pathoma, Goljan, etc. etc.).
However, FC removed that point all together, and pancreas is just "fat necrosis."
...............did something change?
I thought it was a well-known fact that pancreatic necrosis is fat for the peripancreatic fat, but the actual parenchyma is liquefactive. GT still has this fact down (and is seen in Pathoma, Goljan, etc. etc.).
However, FC removed that point all together, and pancreas is just "fat necrosis."
...............did something change?
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The well known fact is what I learned in class, pathoma, etc. etc.
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I don't think there is anything within Firecracker itself, but you can download and use AutoHotkey. Someone mentioned it a few pages back. You write a brief script(took me like 10mins to figure out and ive never written one in my life) and make the hotkeys whatever you want. Then you run the script in the background and open up FC. Personally I use the Numpad where 0 shows the answer and 1-5 is my rank+enter, less keys is always nice and I can "one hand" the program. Don't ask what I'm doing with my other hand.
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is there anyway we can separate the flagged % between step 1 and step 2?
Also, When I go to the review topic for a certain question (hotkey t), and press the more button while reviewing that topic, it opens and closes and doesn't stay opeN? Tried multiple browsers don't know what is going on.
Also, When I go to the review topic for a certain question (hotkey t), and press the more button while reviewing that topic, it opens and closes and doesn't stay opeN? Tried multiple browsers don't know what is going on.
Is there any way to take a day off? I hate spreading my questions over a week. After a string of tests they pile up. Not to mention going on vacation is impossible. They need to make the schedule more flexible ASAP.
Has there been an algorithm change???
It looks like some of my questions are back onto the Gunnertraining styled algorithm.
Ok, somethings not right, it's setting my next review date as 1-2 days for any rating between 1-4 and if I rate the Q a 5 it's giving me between 6-9 days. I think they forgot to add the 0 to make it 10 20 60 90 LOL? (This is for q's that I banked way long ago and constantly rated a 5).
It looks like some of my questions are back onto the Gunnertraining styled algorithm.
Ok, somethings not right, it's setting my next review date as 1-2 days for any rating between 1-4 and if I rate the Q a 5 it's giving me between 6-9 days. I think they forgot to add the 0 to make it 10 20 60 90 LOL? (This is for q's that I banked way long ago and constantly rated a 5).
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Doing the exact same thing for me right now. I'm having to manually schedule everything.
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lol, it would be really nice if they clarified how the algorithm works.
...I've been on fixed interval for maybe a month now because of the erratic nature (IMO) of the adaptive spacing. Maybe I'll switch back after the next round of exams.
I'm at the point where I have to make sure I really know a topic before it gets a 5... because 90 days out is already past exam date. Maybe I should just be pushing things to the "perfect recall" pile, and then just selectively rating the higher-yield concepts low.
Is there an option (or has there been one this whole time) to return perfect recalled topics to the review without having to unflag and reflag an entire set of topics?
...I've been on fixed interval for maybe a month now because of the erratic nature (IMO) of the adaptive spacing. Maybe I'll switch back after the next round of exams.
I'm at the point where I have to make sure I really know a topic before it gets a 5... because 90 days out is already past exam date. Maybe I should just be pushing things to the "perfect recall" pile, and then just selectively rating the higher-yield concepts low.
Is there an option (or has there been one this whole time) to return perfect recalled topics to the review without having to unflag and reflag an entire set of topics?
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Any further word for those of you that have been using GT/FC on how transition to question banks has been going? Particularly as you start practice exams? Thanks.
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I scored pretty high on my latest 2 micro kaplan Qbank sections. 85% on my first 20Q and 94% on my next 46Q. I do it untimed and in tutor mode though and I really take my time to work through the Q so that's inflating my scores a lot.
A lot of Q's I wouldn't have gotten right based on FC alone, I owe a lot of Q's to kaplan actually since what I learned from kaplan is what helps me make the initial diagnosis and not what I know from FC. I always have trouble making the diagnosis and spend a lot of time working things through in my head and on paper before I can come up with the right diagnosis, but once I make the right diagnosis looking through the M/C options and picking apart the right/wrong options becomes a joke and that part I could say I owe a bit to Firecracker's rote memorization.
As a side note out of my first 20 or so Q's, 4-5 of them were Q's on things straight out of first aid that weren't covered in Firecracker and the only reason I got them was because I add a lot of FA material into Anki. Out of all the Q's I've done I also feel like I wasted BOATLOADS of time on LY crap in FC as well.
I still feel way too slow and I struggle with second guessing myself on the diagnosis, if I were to do the Q's in timed mode I think I would struggle and do very poorly.
As an aside does anyone feel that Firecracker may be burning them out a bit?
Every now and then I just feel like my brain shuts down and I can barely even make it through 80 review questions without my mind exploding and I end up doing nothing else all day. I also STRUGGLE to recall concepts on those days as if my memory decided to take a day off on me.
There have been a lot of days where I wanted to review new topics, but I just end up struggling with firecracker Q's and getting nothing else done.
Every now and then I just feel like my brain shuts down and I can barely even make it through 80 review questions without my mind exploding and I end up doing nothing else all day. I also STRUGGLE to recall concepts on those days as if my memory decided to take a day off on me.
There have been a lot of days where I wanted to review new topics, but I just end up struggling with firecracker Q's and getting nothing else done.
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lol YES! I've been feeling that a lot lately, so it's more noticeable and when that happens I just stop my review and study something non-FC related. The more my memory just blanks the more I get frustrated and rate my review questions poorly. I'll take a break or do them in shorter chunks, or do the topics/subjects that I know will be easy (i.e. older stuff) to make me feel good about myself. Gotta keep that morale up haha.
Been trying to wean myself off FC now. Filtering through redundant questions (seriously...why have the same exact question multiple times) and really low yield crap.
