First Aid flashcards

If you are using First Aid for step 1 prep, and you'd better be :), then you would wish to review it more and review it often, right?! 

Those flashcards are organized on a subject basis, a big plus if you are studying that way and didn't finish yet. But unfortunately the flashcards are based on First Aid 2012, in which there were a big errata, so be ware just in case.

Here is the flashcards based on First Aid:
Disclaimer: The creator of the flashcards is Yasmine Gabr and not me.

1. Anatomy

2. Physiology

3. Biochemistry

4. Behavioral

5. Microbiology

6. Pharmacology

7. Pathology

You can use them either in study mode or quiz mode and you can make the card flip automatically in just seconds to train to recall faster.

Flashcardmachine is free on-line and you can also download the android or i phone apps and start studying on the go but the apps are not free :)

Good luck with your test prep.

Question resources for Anatomy, USMLE step 1

Anatomy, as we all know, is one of lowest yield subject especially histology but that is not the case absolutely in the case of neuroanatomy which ranks among one of the highest yield for the exam. But just cause you'd get around 10 or 20 anatomy question from 322 doesn't mean just waste them, it only mean study it smart and dedicate little time for anatomy compared to micro or pharm, not going to say Patho cause that's obvious, Daaaah, if you know what I mean. :)

I'll list the books in the order I see fit:

[A-]
Lippincott's Illustrated Q&A Review of Anatomy and Embryology

Screen-shots from the pdf:

Review:

1. This is the best anatomy question book there is in the market in my humble opinion.
2. The book contains only 420 questions.
3. You can do it either concurrently while doing anatomy in med school or can do it in a period of 2-3 days after you finish anatomy or at the start of your prep.
4. If you bought the book from amazon or from a book store and got the website code, you can do the book on their website in tutor mode or quiz mode.
5. Pictures, lots and lots of pictures. X rays, abdominal CTs, gross pictures... etc. that's the main advantage of the book during review.
6. Long and greasy vignettes, the book has the longest clinical vignettes in a dedicated anatomy book I've seen or heard of, plus the questions are tailored magnificently.
7. The feedback and answers. The answers are written to be long enough to help you not go back to your text but short enough not to waste any precious time.
8. To have a lethal combo for anatomy: Kaplan + Q&A + doing as many questions from comprehensive banks and books as you can.

The link:

Amazon link

[B-]

Gray's Anatomy Review

Review:

1. Well, they say that the book contains 500 question but the book contains more than 900 questions.
2. Most of the question stems are short and the questions are about absolute minute. a major setback in my opinion.
3. The answers are not longer than a paragraph, a good point in my opinion.
   Conclusion about the book: If you have tremendous amount of time DO IT! If you are short on time Lippincott's is the best choice.

The link:

Amazon link

[C]

Pretest:

Review:

1. DO NOT DO IT. I think that I made the point pretty clear.

The link:

Amazon link

Do you need an eye opener in the morning?!

If we used the same screening question we use for alcoholics to screen med students, we will get a predicted answer. We are addicted to caffeine. But how much do we depend on it is the more important question.
"Caffeinism", I could have used methyl xanthinism but found my newly fabricated term really weird, could be really hard to defeat. How can we stop the fuel that keeps us awake night after night studying to know as much as we can.Tremors and nervousness, well that's a price most medical students are willing to pay to get beyond 2 standard deviations or even above the mean for many as the competition is fierce. But once you start getting liters of that black elixir bumped up your body per day, you get alarmed. I need to stop it now. I want to live past my fifties and that life style really isn't helping much. So today, April the forth, I took the decision to end that insane escalation in my daily doses of caffeine and stop it all together, that's really hopeful, or to be realistic only use it in times of need.
Caffeine withdrawal from my system should take 4 to 7 days, and my next exam is on 12th of April so I can totally do it.
To be honest, I'll try to do some exercise during breaks instead of making a cup of coffee. If that didn't work out and help me stay awake to study during our glorious all nighters, I'd totally abuse caffeine again. My step 1 exam is in less than 200 days, a horrifying realization, and if losing coffee would even remotely harm my performance I'd totally go back to it and rethink about decreasing my dose after the marathon of step 1. so how many cups of coffee do you drink a day ?

Study Break: Med school parodies

Today I stumbled upon the best med school parody I've seen in a while.

Thought I'd share it with you to shear you up and take a breathing break from step 1 :)

The lyrics of it is the best and really imaginative. Hope you enjoy it.

HERE YOU GO

Do you like it ?! Share your thoughts and if you like another one, share it as well :)