OB/GYN Shelf

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JulianCrane

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Anyone have any tips for the OB shelf? How are the questions compared to those in Blueprints and the Pretest? How many questions are on the exam? Anything else I should know about?
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OB was my first rotation last year, so my memory is a little sketchy. There were 100 questions on the test. It seemed like we had 2 hours and 10 minutes to take the exam. I thought that the clinical vignettes were long and I had just finished when time was called. However, the time issue may have been due to the fact that this was my first shelf exam of the year and I didn't know what to expect.

Some big topics that I remember being on my version of the exam were urinary incontinence, what to do with a newborn whose mother was exposed to various infections (chickenpox, HIV) and some ovarian cancer stuff. I thought Blueprints was really good for the exam. I also think that the Kaplan Q-Bank questions were helpful. Pre-test seemed a little easy in comparison with the real test. Good luck! :luck:
 
Big help for Ob/Gyn shelf is Case Files: Ob/Gyn. That had 30-40% of the test within its pages. Some of my friends who hardly studied did very well on the exam by reading it a few days before the exam. If you know Blueprints well (especially the blue boxes), you can help yourself as well.

Also checkout the other threads on the topic, such as:

"BLUEPRINTS enough for OB/GYN????"
 
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Case Files is essential for the OB/gyn shelf. I also agree with everyone else in that Blueprints is very good.
 
I have the Pretest. Any thoughts on those that took it? What's passing on this exam anyway?
 
Of course it depends on personal preference, but I agree with the above post--Case files ob/gyn is the way to go. I honored the course reading this once the last few weeks and referencing Blueprints here and there for several good OB sections-ex: placenta previa, placental abruption...

JulianCrane said:
I have the Pretest. Any thoughts on those that took it? What's passing on this exam anyway?
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JulianCrane said:
I have the Pretest. Any thoughts on those that took it? What's passing on this exam anyway?
Click to expand...

At our school we were told a 58% is passing and a 78% is honors for the test.

People who honored the shelf: was this your first rotation? It is my first and I'm just wondering what the likelihood of honoring it is considering I have no idea what to expect from this exam.
 
JulianCrane said:
I have the Pretest. Any thoughts on those that took it? What's passing on this exam anyway?
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Pretest is off the mark for OB/Gyn. There are chapters that are flat out useless in terms of the shelf (ie the one on ultrasound). I'd recommend the questions at the end of blueprints, or if your institution has access to the ACOG practice questions as mine does, those questions are dead on.
 
Blueprints and the A&L Question book were all I used for the rotation. OB was my 3rd rotation (after FP, Surg), and my 87 on the shelf was the highest score in my group, which made it enough for honors.

I think most of my group, in particular, really hated OB.
 
katrinadams9 said:
At our school we were told a 58% is passing and a 78% is honors for the test.

People who honored the shelf: was this your first rotation? It is my first and I'm just wondering what the likelihood of honoring it is considering I have no idea what to expect from this exam.
Click to expand...

Ob/gyn shelf was by far my best score of 3rd year (99%ile). Interestingly, I also studied much less for it than most other rotations. In general I am not a fan of blueprints and didn't use it for any other rotations, but for OB/gyn it was AWESOME and IMO truly all you need to do well. The only additional sources I used besides blueprints were CaseFiles (which I didn't read all of) and I did the 2 50-question ob tests in the kaplan step 2 qbook. No First Aid, no pretest, no A&L. Good luck!
 
Are the questions at the end of Blueprints representative of the shelf? How much detail should I be focusing on?
 
I've heard High Yield OB/GYN was all you need.
 
I started my Ob rotation about a week ago, and unlike most people, I'm enjoying it. It's def. not what I want to do with my life, but I'm liking it much much more than I expected to.

I was wondering how much detail the shelf went into drugs and dosage, etc.

thanks

sm
 
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sleepymed said:
I started my Ob rotation about a week ago, and unlike most people, I'm enjoying it. It's def. not what I want to do with my life, but I'm liking it much much more than I expected to.

I was wondering how much detail the shelf went into drugs and dosage, etc.

thanks

sm
Click to expand...

The one thing that I was surprised to find on the shelf was that there were several detailed antibiotic questions. I'm not saying to go back and re-read your pharm text or anything, but be aware that there may be some off the wall questions like that.

Otherwise, I would focus more on the major OB/Gyn topics and what drugs to use rather than the doses. For example, make sure you know when to use Pitocin, Cytotec, anti-hypertensives, mag sulfate, etc. Also, make sure you have a general idea of the Drug class A-X scheme, especially with regards to common meds that women are on.
 
Pre-test is not good for ob/gyn. CASE FILES. CASE FILES. CASE FILES. Dr. Toy, the guy who wrote Case Files, was my attending for OB/Gyn. He knows what will be asked on that shelf, and he shares it in CF. Whoever said CF represents 30-40 percent of the test is right.

To the OP, get CF and a text, Blueprints is fine. IMO Appleton and Lange, High yield, pre-test, are just extra reading with very low yield. Reading CF a second time is better than reading all 3 of those books once.
 
So, I took the shelf today and yup, it was NOT cool. . . what's passing on this thing anyway?
 
sleepymed said:
I started my Ob rotation about a week ago, and unlike most people, I'm enjoying it. It's def. not what I want to do with my life, but I'm liking it much much more than I expected to.

I was wondering how much detail the shelf went into drugs and dosage, etc.

thanks

sm
Click to expand...

No dosages whatsoever as I recall (I don't think there are dosages on any shelf). Very little about drugs also, mainly Mag stuff, oxytocin, maybe some endocrine stuff, I don't really remember.
 
Any opinions on First Aid for OB/Gyn?
 
JulianCrane said:
So, I took the shelf today and yup, it was NOT cool. . . what's passing on this thing anyway?
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holy crap, i thought this puppy was tough...harder than the peds shelf IMO. I used casefiles, pretest, B&W, and read bits of Magowan and Drife's book and I still felt like ish when i walked out of there. oh well, at least I made it out of ob/gyn alive
 
Damn that final was tough. I used Blueprints (read through it 1.5 times) and did questions in that lil blueprints question book. My test was OB heavy for shizzle. No staging, grading etc on cancers. no dosages on meds and only a few questions about drugs. know your amennorhea, DUB, infertility, abnormal bleeding. Questions i hated the most was non path OB questions like, "some lady has been in labor for 4 hrs and baby is at station whatever for 2 hrs what do you do next or what is the fancy term for this (prolonged descent, normal labor, etc...). Know how to read fetal heart strips, normal labor curve Im just glad its all done. Blueprints is really good, the only thing i was surprised about was prophylaxis to someone who has been sexually assaulted. thats all i can remember after engaging in 2 days of alcohol abuse. Keep it pimpin

Bono :eek:
 
SurgeryChef said:
Pretest is off the mark for OB/Gyn. There are chapters that are flat out useless in terms of the shelf (ie the one on ultrasound). I'd recommend the questions at the end of blueprints, or if your institution has access to the ACOG practice questions as mine does, those questions are dead on.
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what are the acog questions? are they online or your school gave you something?? thanks.
 
and I still didn't do as well as I would've liked. You can read all the textbooks in the world and still get hung up on a lot of questions. One reccomendation I have for your OB/GYN rotation is to ask your residents/attendings to teach you patient management - protocols for diagnosis, treatment, etc. The hardest questions on the shelf IMO were those relating to patient management - "What's the best next step?"-type questions. And those are the kind of things that aren't really in any of the textbooks.
 
Are you guys reading CASE FILES??? ALL THE QUESTIONS IN CASE FILES ARE "next step", "diagnosis", "treatment", and every case in case files pops up on the test in some fashion. Am I wrong here?
 
yes i read case files and it definitely helped....still, i thought it was very challenging nonetheless
 
excalibur said:
Are you guys reading CASE FILES??? ALL THE QUESTIONS IN CASE FILES ARE "next step", "diagnosis", "treatment", and every case in case files pops up on the test in some fashion. Am I wrong here?
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yes i read case files through twice, read through blueprints once, read through hacker and moore twice, and did all 200 blueprints ob/gyn questions. there are 100 questions on the shelf - there are only 60 cases in case files. there are definitely questions on the shelf that aren't in case files. i thought case files was good and helpful for the shelf, but explanations were definitely way too cut and dried for someone who wants to really learn clinical reasoning.
 
OB/GYN was my first rotation. I just took the shelf about 2 months ago. Coming out of the shelf, just as many people have said... CASE FILES is the way to go. I started reading blueprints, but pressed for time, i switched to Case Files and got thru it twice. For me, blueprints is just too dense and wordy that by the time i finish the chapter, go onto the next one, i forgot what i read in the first. I just found it too hard to remember the management from there while Case Files does an excellent job of that.

As far as blueprints - i would read the General OB stuff because 1) we dont get any of that info in the first two years and 2) everyone pimps on those topics. I dont know how many times i was asked the signs of placental separation and the stages of the decent of the baby. I read all of the OB chapters and a few GYN, but didnt find it as useful as case files.

Topics I remember that were heavy on my exam:
1) VAGINAL BLEEDING!! From 12 y/o to 80 y/o coming in with vaginal bleeding. I felt that 1/2 the exam comprised this. Definately know 1st/3rd trimester bleeding and their management (case files did a good job of this) along with bleeding in the older population
2) Did not have much on preeclampsia or gestational diabetes which were stressed at my school - i had maybe 3 questions total
3) Do NOT memorize the staging/grading of the cancers - i asked many people and it did not come up on their exam and it never came up on mine - and i could only assume it will never come up on any future exams
4) I remember 2 questions on breast cancers (i was really worried about this because i always hated these and never quite understood them)
5) I didnt have anything on contraception either

Hope that helps & Good Luck.
 
anyone know any conversions between raw score and national percentile on this shelf? Our school only gave us raw scores
 
Let's just all be thankful we passed! :)
 
I second Felipe5's request. Specifically, what is the 3% on the shelf (I took it Sept 22, and I've heard there are different % for each quarter). Thanks.
 
DrMDPhD said:
OB/GYN was my first rotation. I just took the shelf about 2 months ago. Coming out of the shelf, just as many people have said... CASE FILES is the way to go. I started reading blueprints, but pressed for time, i switched to Case Files and got thru it twice. For me, blueprints is just too dense and wordy that by the time i finish the chapter, go onto the next one, i forgot what i read in the first. I just found it too hard to remember the management from there while Case Files does an excellent job of that.
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I totally agree. It seemed like many questions on the test were taken directly from Case Files. I've only done three rotations, but so far it's the only book I felt prepared me well for an exam.
 
I just took the shelf on friday. Medical123's post at the beginning of this post is exactly right, I got several questions on the topics he mentions. I studied and took notes from Blueprints, did all the questions in the back, the questions in the blueprints Q&A book, studied notes from our attending lectures on high-yield topics, and went through 1/4 of casefiles. I still found the test to be quite challenging. It was definitely a very clinical test, with the majority of the questions about a patient's symptoms at various different times and then asking what the disease was or what you would do next. Definitely know STIs, the basics of FHR monitoring, and the symptoms of as many different ob/gyn diseases as you can, and when the symptoms occur, is it right after delivery, one week after delivery, etc. I'll know more about how my preparation was after I receive my score.
 
Digging up an old thread instead of starting a new one...

Has anyone used the uWise questions on the APGO website?
How do those hold up the shelf?
As well, do those that recently took still it feel that blueprints was good? If not what else?
 
Thievery Corp. said:
Digging up an old thread instead of starting a new one...

Has anyone used the uWise questions on the APGO website?
How do those hold up the shelf?
As well, do those that recently took still it feel that blueprints was good? If not what else?
Click to expand...

I thought the uwise questions were the best preparation for the shelf. I wish there was something similar for all the other rotations.
 
Thievery Corp. said:
Has anyone used the uWise questions on the APGO website?
How do those hold up the shelf?
As well, do those that recently took still it feel that blueprints was good? If not what else?
Click to expand...

The uWise questions are good, but MUCH shorter than the shelf questions.

The shelf focused a lot more on urogyn than I had expected. There were also a lot of questions about STDs.

For me, the uWise questions were good for post-partum issues (i.e. post partum hemorrhage, etc.), but didn't really focus on pre-partum issues (i.e. fetal distress, significance of late decels, r/o ROM, and infections).
 
I thought the uWise questions were alright at the time, but now that I have taken the shelf I realize they are garbage. I liken them to QBank for the Step 1: they test way too much detail, and are not at all like the actual shelf. I relied way too much on them and I am pretty sure it burned me in the end. Beware.
 
The Buff said:
I thought the uWise questions were alright at the time, but now that I have taken the shelf I realize they are garbage. I liken them to QBank for the Step 1: they test way too much detail, and are not at all like the actual shelf. I relied way too much on them and I am pretty sure it burned me in the end. Beware.
Click to expand...

So are you saying the shelf has easier questions? I'm not quite sure I'm pickin' up what your layin' down.
 
Thievery Corp. said:
So are you saying the shelf has easier questions? I'm not quite sure I'm pickin' up what your layin' down.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I wasn't too clear. I thought the shelf questions were harder (although they didn't test on random details like the uWise questions seem to) AND different in their presentation from the uWise. ones. If you just want to do some quick quizzes for knowledge those questions are fine, but don't use them as your primary question bank for the shelf. It is only one opinion, but I thought uWise left me high and dry when shelf time came around. The uWise questions were much more about simple diagnosis or first-order pathophysiology, while the shelf (like all of them) is more about what to do next.
 
Just took it today. It was okay. Not horrible, not easy. Time was definitely an issue --- the question stems are all huge passages, which I was expecting, but I still barely finished the exam. I did Blueprints once, 43/60 cases from Case Files, some of the Appleton and Lange questions, and some of the uWise questions. Blueprints was pretty good --- at times too much detail with the various cancers. The questions at the back of Blueprints were a little too easy. I didn't have ANY questions on staging, and only 1-2 questions on cancer treatment. The test was definitely heavier in obstetrics. Case Files is EXCELLENT. There were some questions that I got right only because of it. I wish I'd had time to finish all the cases, but at least I got through the bulk of them.

HATED the Appleton and Lange question book. It is not even close to being representative of the real test. Tests way too many details. The uWise questions were great --- I only wish I'd had time to do more of them. A classmate emailed me about it last night, which meant I only got to do like 40 questions.
 
Did Case Files and USMLEWorld questions, felt pretty prepared for what I saw on the shelf today. I looked at a few Blueprints chapters at the beginning of the rotation just so I'd know what the heck was going on but didn't really use it for shelf prep.

USMLEWorld has been spectacular for shelf exams so far for me.
 
This was an Evil EVIL shelf... I took it about a week ago, and neither USMLEWorld, nor CaseFiles, nor Qbook really helped me much. Maybe its just me, but I went into there feeling I at least somewhat knew the material, and still ended up second guessing myself alot. I have yet to receive my score so I really cant say how well I actually did, but by the look of things, Im not feeling too good...
 
prazmatic said:
This was an Evil EVIL shelf... I took it about a week ago, and neither USMLEWorld, nor CaseFiles, nor Qbook really helped me much. Maybe its just me, but I went into there feeling I at least somewhat knew the material, and still ended up second guessing myself alot. I have yet to receive my score so I really cant say how well I actually did, but by the look of things, Im not feeling too good...
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry. I second guessed myself on at least 70% of the questions on the shelf, but still ended up passing with a good margin.
 
I took it about a week ago, was not a fan.
The questions are very long. It seemed to be a substantial amount of OB. (Like 75%) I used Blueprints, its corresponding case book, and uWise questions. I liked the uWise questions alot, in fact I think that there were some of the same questions on the shelf.

I passed with a 70% percentile. :hungover: I guess that said, maybe try and find better sources for yourself.
 
I used the following at the advice of a classmate and did pretty well
1) Blueprints - read twice (except gyn-onc - browsed through once)
2) Kaplan Qbook questions - pretty representative
3) Crush step 2 - read the ob-gyn section the night before and thought it was short, sweet, and totally high yield

If I remember correctly, there was very very little gyn onc.

Hope that helps.
 
Is there anyone here who would be super nice and pm me their username/password for the apgo uwise questions? My shelf exam is tomorrow and I just found out about this... takes 3 days to register.
Thank you very much!
 
I used USMLEWorld, Case Files, and Beckmann's Obstetrics and Gynecology textbook that was loaned to us for the clerkship. Didn't use APGO's questions.

I felt that all 3 sources were excellent, and would highly recommend UW and Beckmann's. There were no surprises on the exam, and I ended up doing well. Good luck!
 
I failed the OBGYN shelf Exam by one percent. I have to redo the shelf again. Oh crap I study UWISE, UW, BLUEPRINT and Casefiles. I dont what else is there. Maybe I was not lucky:mad:
 
anyone have issues with the APGO uWise questions being outdated now?

I feel like I am having a hard time trusting the guidelines for Pap smears and stuff because they don't seem to line up with what we have learned on the rotation.
 
Will I be OK with older editions of blueprints and casefiles?
 
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