novak123 Posted February 24, 2018 Report Share Posted February 24, 2018 Hey guys, I'm curious to know whether any of you have used resources like firecracker to supplement your studying, and if so how helpful you have found it to be. I know this is big in the US, but not sure how popular it is in Canada. I am a second year UBC med student, and I am concerned that I'm not able to retain a lot of information that I've learned over the past 1.5 years. I also feel like using a supplemental resource now will help me do better in clerkship --> get stronger LoR --> higher chance of getting in to the residency program that I want. In UBC there is a big focus on the clinical aspects of medicine, and not nearly as much of the pathophysiology relative to American medical schools. I know that using a program like firecracker would ultimately make me learn extra information beyond what my curriculum demands, but this is not necessarily a bad thing? What are your thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted February 24, 2018 Report Share Posted February 24, 2018 Pointless. You're not going to look better on clerkship by knowing preclinical minutae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1D7 Posted February 24, 2018 Report Share Posted February 24, 2018 IMO firecracker or anki are overkill and not a good use of time. Great for recalling numbers or tiny details, but preceptors will rarely ask about those details. More often if they do ask about basic sciences, they'll ask about broader concepts. If you have problems retaining these concepts (e.g. lung compliance in different disease states, afterload/preload after cardiac insults, etc.) then the best way to ensure you have a solid science background for clerkship is by studying for UWorld Step 1 & Step 2 CK before clerkship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novak123 Posted February 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 I appreciate the insight from you both. @1D7 - So if I understand you correctly, UWorld focuses on broader concepts which will be more useful to know than the small details of Firecracker. Pardon my ignorance on this as I don't know much and I'm just starting to research more in to this, but why would you recommend doing step 1 + step 2 UWorld prep instead of ONLY step 1? Step 2 is not typically written until 4th year, and may be overkill to start studying for now? I ask mainly due to the heavy time + monetary investment of doing both step 2 and step 1 prep right now. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 45 minutes ago, novak123 said: I appreciate the insight from you both. @1D7 - So if I understand you correctly, UWorld focuses on broader concepts which will be more useful to know than the small details of Firecracker. Pardon my ignorance on this as I don't know much and I'm just starting to research more in to this, but why would you recommend doing step 1 + step 2 UWorld prep instead of ONLY step 1? Step 2 is not typically written until 4th year, and may be overkill to start studying for now? I ask mainly due to the heavy time + monetary investment of doing both step 2 and step 1 prep right now. Thank you! You do Step 2 prep during 3rd year, as most US students write it after their core rotations are done end of 3rd year. Step 2 prep is clinical knowledge and going to be more useful than most of step 1 prep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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