Writing in First aid

[anbuitachi]

Hi I noticed a lot of ppl write stuff in first aid.. like its covered w/ stuff. Where do you guys get these info from that you are writing down? Are you guys mostly writing lecture stuff thats not in first aid, or are you doing questions and writing stuff down from questiosn that you learned? Thanks!!!

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[Phloston]

Only annotate your FA from QBank material (e.g. USMLE Rx, Kaplan QBank, UWorld).

People who annotate from lecture / SoM material tend to realize when approaching the real deal how much BS / irrelevant info they had written.

When you're close to your exam, you'll want to be able to blast through concise notes. So only annotate from the QBanks.

 

[Zzmed]

I respect Phloston's opinion (i always do).

But i would say that you shouldn't hesitate writing down info from review books you use and clarify some concepts or add some info missing. In this way, next time you review FA (before starting Qbanks) wil make your life easier and perform better in Qbank.

But do not exaggerate because you will end up realizing that what Phloston says it's actually right.

 

[Wolverines83]

agree with both. I have some annotations in mine that clarify some concepts that I'm hazy on. Or it'll be my own mnemonic or a page reference to another book for an explanation. But they're like 2 or 3 words at most.

 

[KinasePro]

Definitely annotate FA from the Q-banks. I had a handful questions on my exam that I only knew because of my Q bank annotations. Surprisingly, a lot of Kaplan's minutiae showed up on my exam.


It's also worth cross-referencing FA's derm section with Goljan RR derm images. Be prepared to diagnose skin lesions based almost exclusively on image and patient age/gender.

 

[Phloston]

When you get close to the actual exam, you'll be kicking yourself if you have annotations from places other than the QBanks.

You'll realize you have very little time and very little room for BS info. Stick to writing down only what you see in the QBanks.

 

[FIREitUP]

When you get close to the actual exam, you'll be kicking yourself if you have annotations from places other than the QBanks.

You'll realize you have very little time and very little room for BS info. Stick to writing down only what you see in the QBanks.

the point of writing things is not always to review them later. there is an intrinsic benefit to writing things out because it helps you retain information/understand it better. If you want, you can always write info from qbanks on looseleaf and stick it in there for rapid review later on.

 

[iki4life]

I've been writing stuff from behavioral kaplan and pathoma. i think i started studying the wrong way =/

 

[WilliamsEph]

I am doing Pathoma right now. Whenever Dr. Sattar says "This is high yield" or "The board likes to test this", I add it to first aid. If the info he is mentioning is already there, I highlight it in a specific color.

 

[Phloston]

I'd advise against writing on looseleaf. If you do, those are your class notes, not annotations.

Some people take the binding off of FA, put it in a separate binder, then add additional pages. The point of annotations is to keep them short and sweet. If you start writing on additional sheets of paper, you'll begin to get comfortable writing longer explanations, and by the time you get to the real deal, you'll be kicking yourself that you have so much to look over.

Keep your notes to the margins in FA and annotate from the QBanks only.

 

[anbuitachi]

thanks for the inputs!! i guess i'll add stuff from Q bank and maybe pathoma

 

[stronghold]

I'd advise against writing on looseleaf. If you do, those are your class notes, not annotations.

Some people take the binding off of FA, put it in a separate binder, then add additional pages. The point of annotations is to keep them short and sweet. If you start writing on additional sheets of paper, you'll begin to get comfortable writing longer explanations, and by the time you get to the real deal, you'll be kicking yourself that you have so much to look over.

Keep your notes to the margins in FA and annotate from the QBanks only.

So you mean the only additional info we need are notes from Qbanks? What about class notes or notes from review books? Or these books are just to prepare us for FA and Qbanks?

 

[Phloston]

So you mean the only additional info we need are notes from Qbanks? What about class notes or notes from review books? Or these books are just to prepare us for FA and Qbanks?

Only annotate your FA with QBank material.

Don't add extra sheets of paper and don't add class notes to your FA.

Review books and class notes are just as you've said: to build your external knowledge. You can have separate notebooks for this stuff if you need, but when you approach the real USMLE, you'll want concise annotations in your FA from the QBanks, because that's the highest-yield info you'll come across. Nearing that exam, you will scramble. You will have a temporary frantic phase. You will want to cut to the chase with everything you do. You will not want to deal with the bull****. So keep your notes succinct and QBank-focused.

And not to mention, you'll find most of your notes early-on that you felt were important or abstruse are actually very basic or insignificant later.

 

[Shadowmoses]

Only annotate your FA with QBank material.

Don't add extra sheets of paper and don't add class notes to your FA.

Review books and class notes are just as you've said: to build your external knowledge. You can have separate notebooks for this stuff if you need, but when you approach the real USMLE, you'll want concise annotations in your FA from the QBanks, because that's the highest-yield info you'll come across. Nearing that exam, you will scramble. You will have a temporary frantic phase. You will want to cut to the chase with everything you do. You will not want to deal with the bull****. So keep your notes succinct and QBank-focused.

And not to mention, you'll find most of your notes early-on that you felt were important or abstruse are actually very basic or insignificant later.

Out of curiosity, did you do this while you were prepping for the exam, or is this one of those things you realized in retrospect after having taken the exam?

 

[Phloston]

Out of curiosity, did you do this while you were prepping for the exam, or is this one of those things you realized in retrospect after having taken the exam?

A little of both. I had annotated a little from Kaplan QBook, Webpath and Robbin's Review of Path, but looking back, it wasn't necessary.

 

[Guyton Killah]

A little of both. I had annotated a little from Kaplan QBook, Webpath and Robbin's Review of Path, but looking back, it wasn't necessary.

Does this mean that to ace the USMLEs you only need FA and the Q-Banks?

 

[btricycle]

Does this mean that to ace the USMLEs you only need FA and the Q-Banks?

How on earth do you make that inference?

But I guess if you do enough QBank questions you'll cover everything...

 

[Shadowmoses]

Is it worth annotating qbank questions you got right? I am beginning qbanks and I'm trying to get a feel of knowing what to annotate, and what should be left out because I don't think the point of annotating is to re-write the entire qbank into FA...and I'm afraid I might fall into this pattern.