First Aid 2014 vs. 2019: how different are they really?

ft. What I Wish I Had Done Differently in Med School

A few of the questions that crossed my mind as I went to order the newest FA on Amazon (for a whopping $50.25) were:

• Can medicine really change THAT much? Nope.
• So how different are these two versions probably gonna be? Not very.
• Do I really wanna spend another 50 dollars? Not at all.

…but…

• Am I going to take any chances with this $1000+ Step 1 exam? Absolutely not.

Thus, with the blessing of my parents, I bought the newest FA and have gotten some questions about it: how different is it really? And why do I have TWO?

“Why do you have two copies of FA?”

2014 copy: I read that you should get an older copy as you’re going through your pre-clinical years, so that you can flip through it as you’re studying. So many people recommended it to “familiarize yourself” with the content, and it seemed like a good idea. So in 2015, when I started med school, I bought a “recent” copy, which I occasionally flipped through as we learned the basic sciences.*

2019 copy: now that the USMLE is upon me (yikes), I definitely feel more comfortable using a newer version. Part of me knows it’s a marketing gimmick, but the other part of me refuses to risk a $1000+ exam on a $50 purchase. And so I’m falling for the trap, albeit knowingly.

So how different are they?

Keep in mind that this is 2014 vs. 2019, so a five year difference. Based on their own descriptions, the differences seem pretty minor. Take a look at the picture below:

• 30 new high yield facts
• 200+ new (or revised, hmm) photos and illustrations

That doesn’t seem like much of a difference…

The formatting, the layout, the diagrams are largely the same. The information, the chapters and subheadings, also appear to be almost identical. Entire paragraphs are exactly the same, word for word.

But there are definitely differences, and I put together a few examples of differences that I saw, just to give you an idea:

• lac operon: section added to 2019 (first picture)
• diseases of peroxisomes added to 2019 (second picture)

(I’m so sorry the pictures aren’t that clear — WordPress seems to really decrease the image quality.)

So while many of the changes seem minimal and may be subtle, I think it’s definitely safe to say that for anyone seriously preparing for the USMLE Step 1, you’ll want to get your hands on a newer/newest copy. I bought both of mine on Amazon, you can find the link to the newest one here.

(Please note that it’s an affiliate link, which means if you choose to buy it, I’ll get a small percentage at no cost to you.)

IMPORTANT: I imagine the differences between 2018 and 2019 are even more minor, so while upgrading a 2014 copy to a 2019 copy makes more sense, I honestly can’t tell you how prudent it would be to switch out a 2018 version for a 2019 one.

*The #1 Mistake I Made in Med School (so far…)

Even though I had read that it would be beneficial and knew that I should use First Aid throughout my studies, I didn’t actually. I wanted to for a while, and then I forgot about it. Whenever I did remember, I could never figure out quite how to integrate it into my studies.

Thus, I ended up using this 2014 First Aid copy that I had only infrequently — sometimes I would mark useful diagrams at the beginning of a module and copy down some of the mnemonics. After almost 4 years of medical school, only a few pages are actually marked with annotations or highlights (41/632, yes, I did actually count), which goes to show how little I used it. And what a mistake that was…

If I could go back and change one thing in my med school studies so far, it would be to USE BOARD MATERIALS MORE during my pre-clinical years.

I wish I had watched Boards and Beyond biochemistry videos, used FA at the end of every module or the beginning of a new one and read through more than just 41 pages of it, and integrated some other board sources. There are a lot of great resources out there for medicine (check out my favorite ones, organized by class/course), but until recently, I didn’t realize how useful board prep materials could or would be.

For starters, FA (2014 or 2019 or 2022) is chock-full of useful tips, mnemonics, key-testing points, and it’s really wonderfully written. Kaplan videos have excellent explanations, and Boards & Beyond walks you through many of the key concepts really well.

Although my university doesn’t really follow the FA/USMLE testing style, what’s important in the US generally does end up being important in other countries, as well. So maybe you can learn from my mistakes and actually integrate it into your studies?

Learn from my mistakes…

…and if you end up buying an older copy of FA [to have and to hold, til death do you part], which I highly recommend, do a better job than me of using it during your pre-clinical years. And good luck!

If you’re also in the process of preparing for your USMLE Step 1 and would like to join a small group of like-minded students in a Slack group/chat, where we share tips, resources and motivation, send me a message or comment below!

Now I’ll be passing my 2014 onto someone who is wants to use it to flip through it during their pre-clinical studies, and I’m off to prepare a bit more seriously for this monster of an exam.