Official Pediatrics Shelf Exam Thread

Anyone have any advice on the pediatrics shelf exam? This exam hasn't been stickied yet so I'm still scavenging the advice and trying to get some better perspective. My plan thus far is to read all of Blueprints, FA, A&L or Pretest (not sure which one I want to do yet), and I've skimmed certain sections of Harriet Lane and Nelson's. Your advice and insight would be helpful. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Pox in a box

Anyone have any advice on the pediatrics shelf exam? This exam hasn't been stickied yet so I'm still scavenging the advice and trying to get some better perspective. My plan thus far is to read all of Blueprints, FA, A&L or Pretest (not sure which one I want to do yet), and I've skimmed certain sections of Harriet Lane and Nelson's. Your advice and insight would be helpful. Thanks.

People swear by Blueprints on this site, but I only could force myself to read about 15pgs out of it. I tried to read about cyanotic congenital heart defects, but discovered a persistant primitive reflex forcing me to throw the book across the room. I did PreTest twice, A&L, and CaseFiles as well as some reading in Nelsons throughout the rotation - and those served me quite well.

There are some ridiculous questions in A&L re memorizing RDAs for vitamins and orders of eruption of indiviual primary and permanent teeth. How should I put it? -- waste of time.

Pre-test was AWESOME. wish i had done it twice, but even once will get you a pretty decent shelf score

Scored the 95th percentile. I read blueprints once- could not read through the cardio section though since it really was awful. I did 900 questions to prepare- pretest, blueprints question book and the peds questions in NMS for step II.

Is anyone using Illustrated textbook of pediatrics? I heard good things. I was going to use that book along w/ pretest and uptodate for my specific patients. you think that's enough for the rotation and the shelf? or do i need blueprints instead of the illustrated textbook?

thanks

I felt that the pediatrics shelf was probably the easiest of the shelf exams. (I don't know about the curve yet, however!). I thought the exam was extremely focused unlike the other shelf exams which tend to draw material from many different clerkships. I didn't believe people when they said all you need for this exam is pretest + Blueprints, so I also read First AID and the Harriet Lane handbook. What a waste. Blueprints + Pretest is all you need for this exam even if you are a serious gunner. I'm thinking about derm, and if I could do it all over again, I would only use Blueprints + Pretest.
Most of the questions are diagnosis, and the cases are much more classic than in other shelfs. I was really surprised at the number of classic buzz words used: obese with limp, cold agglutinins, cheeks that looked like they had been slapped, etc. Another question that was quite common (>15 questions) on the exam was mechanism of disease. They would give you a ridiculously obvious clinical scenario and ask you to describe the mechanism. Another important thing that I noticed is that unlike most 3rd year shelfs, there were very few next step in management questions on my exam.

Bottom Line: Blueprints + Pretest. I'm not guaranteeing that you will answer every question, but the vast majority are in these 2 books.


Topics: quite a few diabetes insipidus and SIADH questions, lots of GI, a few trauma cases, diabetes, congenital heart disease (duh!), 1 developmental milestone question (First AID actually has a pretty nice chart for these with really good mnemonics--this is the only thing I would use that book for!),
vaccinations...

Got my score back: 97.

Good Luck...

I just took the Peds shelf, and thought I would add my own 2 cents.

I used blue prints, pre-test, and Case Files. I only made it through about half of CF and I really wish I had finished it - I feel like it was helpful for learning and understanding material and was very relevant to the shelf. BP - what everyone else says. It can be a place to start, but it doesnt take you far. And PT is the standard questions. And of course I read about my pts and common illnesses, attended our lectures, etc.

The shelf itself: I feel like it covered a good range of material and had a good range of questions from really obvious to what the f---? I felt like there were a lot of questions on anemia and heme and renal, but I think thats just because I think kidneys are the most boring subject and didnt really study them and just didnt think to study blood disorders. (Yeah, I know that was dumb!) Also, I have more trouble with endocrine and electrolytes so I remembered them, but I dont think they were heavily emphasized. In fact, I dont think anything was the main focus. In general I think the stuff I dont know sticks out more than the questions I answered without a lot of thought.

Definately buzz-words. A couple questions on development, but pretty straight forward. A couple on ethics\child abuse. A fair amount of ID - including some q's about recognizing, preventing spread, treating, and the lab test to confirm the diagnosis. Nothing too profound there. A couple questions on weird genetics diseases - but the more common ones that you actually see. A couple diseases came up multiple times - when one came up about 5 questions later I looked back and really questioned myself.

I had heard it was really long, but a lot of folks left pretty early, and I didnt have a problem. Maybe it depends one when you take it. (First shelf vs second semester).

Good luck and enjoy the kidlings!

Has anybody used pretest for PDA? I'd rather use that than the book but have read that some versions are really tough to navigate. Any experiences?

can anyone tell me...is the 10th edition of pre test very different from the 11th edition? thanks for you help!

I just took the peds shelf today. I agree with previous posters that all systems are tested about equally. There was about every possible child with a limp question, lots of infectious disease and treatment, a little more gyn than I would have expected, very little neuro (I think I just had one question about identifying a type of seizure), more immuno than I would have liked, lots of rashes and respiratory (which is expected of course). I did have a couple developmental and anticipatory guidance questions, so don't forget to study those. Overall, I did not think the SHELF was that difficult (I'll post my score when I get it), and this is my first rotation of 3rd year.

How I studied:
*First Aid for Pediatrics - read through once in its entirety throughout the rotation, and then skimmed the side boxes and tables just before the exam
*Case Files - read through once in its entirety throughout the rotation, and reread the bold words and clinical pearls just before the exam
*PreTest - did all the questions once just before the exam
*CLIPP cases (www.clippcases.org) - my school required that we complete half of these during the clerkship, but if your school doesn't require it, I think it's only $30 for a 90 day subscription, and I highly recommend it!

Update: received my shelf score - 86th percentile (not as high as I had hoped, but I'm not complaining)

i heard the question vignettes are long... like some questions were a couple paragraphs long. how'd you guys do for time?

raw: 90, percentile: 96.

I used blueprints, case files and USMLEasy questions.

really hard shelf. surprised that I did this well. I think a lot of the test was step 1 material rather than peds specific.

Originally Posted by MCATMAN45

raw: 90, percentile: 96.

I used blueprints, case files and USMLEasy questions.

really hard shelf. surprised that I did this well. I think a lot of the test was step 1 material rather than peds specific.

Step 1 like pharm mechanisms? Phys? Pathophys? Would it be helpful to look over FA for Step 1?

zero pharm mechanisms. I don't think reading first aid would be that high yield. I stuck to blueprints and case files and it out worked out well. I'm told the questions on the back of blueprints are good but I never did these.

fyi everyone stressed memorizing the developmental milestones, but my test had only 1 question on them and the answer (I'm pretty sure) was 'normal for the patient's age'

work really fast, time will be a factor. I never have trouble finishing tests, and finished blocks comfortably during step 1, but this test had looooong question prompts.

Took it yesterday, and it was tough. So many questions had similar answer choices. At our school we only do Clinic Pediatrics, and no exposure to Inpt peds. Alot of questions I felt like were from the hospital aspect of Peds.

Used Casefiles x2. And did about 200 qs in Pretest. Casefiles was eh, should have tried to finish all of Pretest. I felt like alot of q's I answered were from recalling my step 1 knowledge and just applying it to kids.

I go to a DO school but we do MD shelf exams, and its worth 25% of our grade. I only taken the pysch shelf before this and it was a hell of alot easier. Hoping I passed!

Peds shelf was ridiculous. Albeit my first shelf, but getting this far Ive taken a lot of exams. Never really been one to feel rushed during an exam. Barley finished, only because I was FLYING through the question stems. Really tough due to lengthy questions + a lot of lab values and similar answer choices. Sometimes even a- L !

Used Case Files 3 X
Pretest 2X

Still hoping for just a passing score.

Were Uworld questions helpful? What was the best review book for the shelf?

Originally Posted by PistolPete

Were Uworld questions helpful? What was the best review book for the shelf?

Case Files was good, probably the best IMHO. I heard the Kaplan notes were good. USMLEWorld questions were really good. Very close to the real thing, I thought.

Originally Posted by desijigga

Took it yesterday, and it was tough. So many questions had similar answer choices. At our school we only do Clinic Pediatrics, and no exposure to Inpt peds. Alot of questions I felt like were from the hospital aspect of Peds.

Raw score: 78
Casefiles x 2 (I don't think this is a good source, barely covers the stuff)
Pretest - Did about 200 qs (I think this is the best source, def try to finish this book once. I made the mistake of looking at Pre test the night before my shelf)

This exam is very tricky, and I recommend not waiting till the last day or 2 to cram. I think alot of the q's I got were from just remembering stuff from Step 1. I thought I had failed the exam, but guess I got lucky... Good luck guys

Received my score today, and quite honestly, I'm astonished by how well I did. I came out of the test thinking I had failed, and I still regard it as the most difficult test I have taken while in med school. I guess what I'd say to folks who haven't taken it is to remember that the reported scores are all relative to how everyone else does so you really have no way of gauging your performance until you actually receive your score. Anyway, just wanted to share my experience--best of luck to everyone taking it in the future.

Did anyone read the Kaplan notes for this? Should i read them or just do case files a second time. I don't really feel like I'm getting enough out of case files but that's most likely because I haven't started pretest yet

blueprints, pretest, and case files are what I used and did fine

Haha I thought I was making up the massive Amt of chihuahua references at first. Glad someone else mentioned it b

Just got score back today. 94 scaled, 96 percentile. I did all of the uworld, Appleton and Lange and pretest questions with about 3/4th of pretest x2. I had NMS and read a good chunk, but not all. We also had to do clipp cases, which were sheer misery for me. My attending had major discussion topics each day and I had some very challenging inpatient experiences that stuck in my mind. Uptodate had some good reviews for big topics.

88raw ?percentile
uworld 2x
case files 1x
pretest 2x

No development, developmental disorders, metabolic disorders, or vaccinations...

My rotation was very weak with a tiny patient load and little teaching. So, all my learning was done outside of the clinic/floor.

Burnt out from surgery but I'm just about ready to start reading something for this rotation-I need one good reference source can't decide between NMS? Casefiles? Blueprints? BRS?


Any thoughts on lange as an extra question source?

Blueprints and UWorld are all I used and I got a 97. Also all I used for CK and did well on peds. Unless you're really worried about honoring and don't feel great about the rotation so far, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about peds and spend it studying up more on OB/Gyn and IM for CK.

my 2 cents

I'm getting killed on these kaplan qbank questions This is the first time 3rd year I've felt completely clueless about the material, this may not end well.

I was underwhelmed by A&L. NMS is good, but not exactly a quick read.

Originally Posted by happyfeet123

Thanks! Watching the videos now. Not bad, but doesnt seem to go much into rationale. I guess this is where Step 1 studying comes in handy.

Anyone know how big the current exam is on vaccines and milestones? These topics seem to be the most miserable memorzing topics in peds lol.

Also, NMS seems to be losing popularity (perhaps due to time), but it seems the few who do use it do very well. I was wondering if anyone could comment on the case studies in the back as well as the practice exam questions?

Thanks!

There is a fair amount of fluff in NMS, but that along with practice questions from uworld and pretest were the majority of my studying. (Got a 96)

I have had a few attendings tell me to constantly review pictures, especially of dermatologic lesions in children, because "pictures are a large portion of the test". Can anyone attest to this being true or not true?

Pictures weren't a big part of my exam from what I can remember but I think it's certainly fair game. Definitely be able to recognize the buzz word descriptions of any infectious exanthem or autoimmune exanthem.

Pre-test was enough for me. 99. I'm a big believer in Pre-test in general. It's never done me wrong.

I guess we had to do some of those CLIPPS cases too, but I don't know how much they actually helped.

How do some of you guys figure out your percentile on the shelves? We only received our scaled score and they told us a 70 is the 50th percentile with a SD of 8. Do you guys just figure it out based on that?