In service exam as first year EM resident

[Bigeminy]

Hey all, so this exam is fast approaching (i think it's the end of february) and i am wondering what the recommended study aids are. I've heard PEER 8 is good for questions and i've heard this book talked about: http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medicine-Focused-Review-Curriculum/dp/B003TGZPWU

What do you guys suggest? Honestly, i have not been keeping up with the Rosen's readings we are supposed to do. It's just so long-winded and i barely have any time to get it done (so i feel like i should get my act together sooner than later).

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[Dane07MD]

Truthfully, you'll take Step 3 at some point. That's a handy start to some stuff. I studied for two days for that, but the actual step 3 exam is a nice little primer. If you take step 3 after the inservice then the inservice will serve as more of a study guide to the USMLE test.

In all reality, you're graded against all the other interns out there. We have PEER 8 copies in our resident lounge. I made it through about 100 questions of that intern year. Studying is a crap shoot as there are too many niche questions (e.g. how much factor VIII to replenish in your 60kg hemophiliac who just fell and hit their elbow with a F8 level of 1%). You might see that in PEER 8 and remember the formula, but it's wasted brain space for your in-service because it probably isn't on there. Of course, if you ignore the equation, then you inevitably get the question involving Factor replenishment (my situation last year). Rosh Review is a decent resource, but like any large question bank, there are a large number of gimmie questions and a small percentage of impossible questions that NO ONE knows, so by the end of the question bank, your score average is about on with the nation +/- a little depending on if you're an intern or senior when you do the bank. Just keep reading, listen to EMRAP and Hippo if you've got them, do some Peer 8 and you'll probably get an average score like most of us.

 

[deuist]

Use PEER VIII

What do you guys suggest? Honestly, i have not been keeping up with the Rosen's readings we are supposed to do. It's just so long-winded and i barely have any time to get it done (so i feel like i should get my act together sooner than later).

That's not good. You need to have a weekly reading schedule.

 

[link2swim06]

Are Rosh Question a similar difficulty? My residency gives me free access to those. They seem very easy...but if that's the level of the inservice, then I am ok with that.

 

[Birdstrike]

Hey all, so this exam is fast approaching (i think it's the end of february) and i am wondering what the recommended study aids are. I've heard PEER 8 is good for questions and i've heard this book talked about: http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medicine-Focused-Review-Curriculum/dp/B003TGZPWU

What do you guys suggest? Honestly, i have not been keeping up with the Rosen's readings we are supposed to do. It's just so long-winded and i barely have any time to get it done (so i feel like i should get my act together sooner than later).

I was so busy first year I did virtually nothing for this other than working, conference and spot reading here or there. I think if you read a few minutes (5-15) per day on your most interesting patient from each shift and fire off a bunch of practice questions from your question bank of choice in the few weeks/month before the exam you'll do fine. Everyone's different but that's what worked for me. Realistically, you're not expected to knock this out of the park until 3rd year (shouldn't be anyways). I didn't do very well on the intern year ITE at all, but by third year rocked it, along with the qualifying exam after that and the Concert 3 months ago . Remember, that you're learning a tremendous amount by just seeing patients and processing what you see.

 

[shookwell]

Rosh review is pretty good. Use it to identify areas of weakness and then study those with other sources as well. A bunch of recent grads I know used it before the boards and liked it. I went through all the questions; there are some mistakes but its generally great. They are very quick to reply to feedback and they fixed a mistake I found later that day.

 

[deleted547339]

Peer and HippoEM. Done.

 

[alehar]

I did pretty well on mine as an intern (last year), and I did Peer VIII and about half of these questions: http://www.amazon.com/1200-Questions-Emergency-Medicine-Boards/dp/1451131623

 

[Old_Mil]

I did pretty well on mine as an intern (last year), and I did Peer VIII and about half of these questions: http://www.amazon.com/1200-Questions-Emergency-Medicine-Boards/dp/1451131623

That is a good book, particularly if you read the answers and see why the wrong answers are wrong not just why the right answers are right. Find one book and stick to that. The videos from intraining prep are good also.

 

[EsTxDr]

Peer and HippoEM. Done.

I'll probably stick close to this. Just got turned on to HippoEM by a faculty member, really like it. Although we have Rosh from our program so I'm doing it per their schedule too.