Psych Shelf Exam

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Books Preferred for Psych Shelf Exam

  • BRS

    Votes: 2 3.2%

  • Blueprints

    Votes: 15 23.8%

  • Appleton and Lange

    Votes: 16 25.4%

  • Boards and Wards

    Votes: 4 6.3%

  • PreTest

    Votes: 14 22.2%

  • NMS

    Votes: 6 9.5%

  • High Yield

    Votes: 6 9.5%
  • Total voters
    63
  • Poll closed .
just wanted to give back since this thread helped me.

Raw 89

I used pretest, lange, first aid and usmleworld questions. Studied hard for last two weeks.In retrospective, I would not use pretest at all since questions were too short and not a good indicator for the real shelf. Langes and world questions are all you need along with FA as your bible. good luck and it is not a hard shelf at all.
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any reason to study Neuro from another source for the shelf? I was thinking of maybe just reviewing my HY neuroscience or step 1 FA Neuro section since I haven't had my Neuro rotation yet...Would this be entirely silly?
 
I'm planning on blowing the psych shelf out of the water by knowing the following books:

CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry, 2e
FA for Psychiatry
BRS Behavioral Sci
Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs
Lange's Psych Q&A
 
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JabsterL said:
any reason to study Neuro from another source for the shelf? I was thinking of maybe just reviewing my HY neuroscience or step 1 FA Neuro section since I haven't had my Neuro rotation yet...Would this be entirely silly?
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Yes. There isn't enough neuro to make that worthwhile at all, and what neuro there is is pretty basic. You're pretty likely to just know it off the top of your head.
 
Sir James Bond said:
I'm planning on blowing the psych shelf out of the water by knowing the following books:

CURRENT Diagnosis & Treatment: Psychiatry, 2e
FA for Psychiatry
BRS Behavioral Sci
Handbook of Psychiatric Drugs
Lange's Psych Q&A
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it's an easy shelf. you can blow it out of the water just with FA and some of the lange q's
 
The consensus when I took it (last month) was that it definitely was not an easy shelf. I'm not really sure to what degree the questions vary - if at all - between different times of year, but there were definitely a lot of confusing/difficult questions I thought (and I had been doing exceptionally well on practice questions leading up to the real thing, and felt I had a very strong grasp on the material).

Ended up with an 85 raw. The average among my classmates was a 76. I left that exam feeling more unsure about my performance than any other shelf.

Guess I suck.
 
GuyWhoDoesStuff said:
The consensus when I took it (last month) was that it definitely was not an easy shelf. I'm not really sure to what degree the questions vary - if at all - between different times of year, but there were definitely a lot of confusing/difficult questions I thought (and I had been doing exceptionally well on practice questions leading up to the real thing, and felt I had a very strong grasp on the material).

Ended up with an 85 raw. The average among my classmates was a 76. I left that exam feeling more unsure about my performance than any other shelf.

Guess I suck.
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85 raw is a good score. I think people underplay the exam and take too much of a psychcation during the rotation. My test had some confusing questions too, it was harder than I expected it to be based on my classmates and these forums. Got a 86
 
Wow that test was a joke, it took an hour to finish and every answer was a SSRI, GAD, MDD, or CBT (not kidding) haha.
 
test was dificult. it had many ambiguous questions. presentations were not always clear. lots of child develpmnet questions that i got wrong, and ethicl questions that were ambiguous.
one ambiguous question presented with GAD and asked for drug treatment. it was either paroxetine (ssri) or buspirone. 1st Aid said ssri and buspirone. wtf?

The exam had MDD, ssris, anxiety stuff, adjustment disrorders, etc too.


i marked 40 incorrect. For people who took it, do u know the raw score for passing? Is it 70? in other shelves it was usually high 60s and i felt i failed the exm.
 
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How good is UWorld for this exam?

I am planning on doing all of the LANGE questions and most of the questions from Kaplan notes. Any reason I also need to do UWORLD? I haven't activated my subscription yet...
 
ej37 said:
How good is UWorld for this exam?

I am planning on doing all of the LANGE questions and most of the questions from Kaplan notes. Any reason I also need to do UWORLD? I haven't activated my subscription yet...
Click to expand...

bump?


I have 4 weeks of psych coming up and haven't bought UWorld yet. I don't have $399 to fork over, but should by the end of psych. Wondering how important it is for this rotation...
 
Poiu86 said:
bump?


I have 4 weeks of psych coming up and haven't bought UWorld yet. I don't have $399 to fork over, but should by the end of psych. Wondering how important it is for this rotation...
Click to expand...

not that important. there aren't even that many questions.

FA + A&L is more than enough
 
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When people say A&L, is it the Lange Psych Review book or the Lange Q&A book?
 
So far I have FA Psych Clerkship

There's: blueprints, Lange, Pretest, Casefiles

Which of these do I even get? Is there a general consensus somewhere? I keep hearing varying opinions... these are all question sources right? Would you recommend UW on top of these?
 
studentdoc911 said:
So far I have FA Psych Clerkship

There's: blueprints, Lange, Pretest, Casefiles

Which of these do I even get? Is there a general consensus somewhere? I keep hearing varying opinions... these are all question sources right? Would you recommend UW on top of these?
Click to expand...

Haven't got my score yet, but for my exam Uworld was by far the best prep. There's not a lot of material in psych, so the trick is learning how to answer the questions. Uworld was the closest for this! Lange was good for learning but the questions weren't very similar to the real thing, IMO
 
Ok so far I've read through First Aid once, just did half of the pretest qs, need to finish the 2 exams int he back of A n L

Is there anything I'm missing? Exam is next friday and I think I need an 82 for the A but I'll aim for a 90 to be safe

The pretest qs are good, aside from that developmental section I had no idea what i was reading
 
Used: FA, Uworld, 50% of Apple and Lange

Score: 90

It's always hard to judge what contributed to your score in retrospect, but I'd recommend FA and Uworld as enough to do well.

Good luck!
 
I used UWorld ?'s, Lange Q&A (9th edition was fine, some errors but you can tell what they are), and First aid for Psych Clerkship.

I also read through Blueprints Clinical Cases and thought it was pretty good. The text we used in class was Kaplan and Saddock's pocket handbook which is really good but it a lot of extra information.

I thought the best preparation by far was 1st Aid + UWorld + Lange Q&A. My UWorld percentile was right on with the real deal (90th percentile), even though there were a lot of ethics ?'s that weren't on the shelf. I had some basic neuro stuff (clinical presentation of Trisomy 21, FAS etc) and some general medical condition questions but overall it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was timing, which I didn't expect because with all the practice ?'s I did I had about 30 min to spare but with the real deal I only had 5 minutes to spare and had 3 questions to go back over!

I am on OB/GYN now and am severely missing my psych hours... enjoy it while it lasts & Good luck!
 
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veraisme said:
I thought the best preparation by far was 1st Aid + UWorld + Lange Q&A.
Click to expand...

i totally agree with this ...however i would emphasize that Appleton and Lange is the most important resource of the three. I went through every chapter (except the legal one) and made little notes on my answer sheet next to questions that had new concepts. Went over those notes 1-2 days before the NBME along with a quick second flip through FA. Did UWorld questions 2-3 days before the NBME and i think they were way easier than Appleton ...not saying don't do them but they are definitely not sufficient.

My score on the shelf was 95th percentile.
 
skinMD said:
i totally agree with this ...however i would emphasize that Appleton and Lange is the most important resource of the three. I went through every chapter (except the legal one) and made little notes on my answer sheet next to questions that had new concepts. Went over those notes 1-2 days before the NBME along with a quick second flip through FA. Did UWorld questions 2-3 days before the NBME and i think they were way easier than Appleton ...not saying don't do them but they are definitely not sufficient.

My score on the shelf was 95th percentile.
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Hey Skin, what "raw" score correlated with your 95th percentile?
 
Longest stems ever:laugh:, it was reasonable but it definitely showed me that the NBME exams this year are going to be a different ball game


Just need an 82 to get an A :xf:

lot of neuro
a few qs that required knowledge of other subjects to answer eg ethylene glycol and oxalate chrystals
the pharm was fair
overall i think it went well but i was exhausted afterwards
 
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I took it this past Friday. I used:

1) FA Psych (read once through, memorized drugs)
2) Case Files Psych (read once through)
3) UWorld Psych questions

Felt ok. I still haven't gotten any shelf grades back so I have little to no idea how to predict how well I did. The pharm seemed very fair. I didn't encounter anything not covered by FA in that area. A few questions that didn't seem to be psych at all (one was an ob/gyn one I would have missed if I didn't have ob/gyn for my first rotation). Overall it felt fair.
 
Is denial a neurotic or immature defense mechanism? FA says immature while Lange says neurotic (Practice test 1: #35).
 
Sheldor said:
Used: FA, Uworld, 50% of Apple and Lange

Score: 90

It's always hard to judge what contributed to your score in retrospect, but I'd recommend FA and Uworld as enough to do well.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Similar score, used casefiles once, plus reviewed the major DSMs in it the night before the exam. Did Uworld twice + pretest (which was meh). I read FA last in the final week. I thought it was a good run through, especially of the drugs. I felt that the hardest part of the shelf was that they pulled out a few less common SSRIs and stuff on you in some questions. Uworld was definitely number 1, I love casefiles and since I did FA last I'm not sure which one would have ultimately been better if I had only done one. Did not like pre-test much, there were a lot of questions that were just way too in depth on the different psychoanalytic theories. I'd stick to FA over blueprints.
 
SlickNickMD said:
Longest stems ever:laugh:, it was reasonable but it definitely showed me that the NBME exams this year are going to be a different ball game


Just need an 82 to get an A :xf:

lot of neuro
a few qs that required knowledge of other subjects to answer eg ethylene glycol and oxalate chrystals
the pharm was fair
overall i think it went well but i was exhausted afterwards
Click to expand...


90 RAW 91 RANK

Feels-Good-Man.jpg




Anyhow First aid + Appleton and lange + pretest + residual step one knowledge + speed reading and above avg reading comprehension skills=success (didn't use world but I hear its good)
 
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99 scaled
95th percentile

Did all the questions in appleton and lange, all the uworld questions, read through case files and did the questions (later on), constantly skimmed First Aid for psych. In the end, I probably made it through that book 2.5 times. I also skimmed over the Step 2 secrets psych section, which took all of 15 minutes and the first aid step 2 psych section before beginning the rotation.

Like usual, I also had a great attending that I learned a lot from and loved to explain mechanisms and indications for various therapies over and over and over and over again.
 
Hard as ****.

Prep: Appleton and Lange Q&A, FA Psych, UWorld, Pretest

Score: Never got my shelf mark, only my final grade, but since I aced everything else, I know i must've sucked it up on my shelf (aka < 90). Yea so I did those books and was pretty sure I knew my stuff. The actual exam was crazy different and often times I was getting asked what the 3rd line treatment for bipolar and **** were. I'm not posting this to scare neone, just to let ppl know. I had a lot of atypical presentations of psych disorders and was often asked about 2nd-3rd line treatment options that were not directly found in FA psych or other books. I also got some neuro questions and was asked to ID some EEG wave strips (wtf?!). What I most remember about the test are really really long stems, atypical presentations of common diseases and substances, very specific treatment questions that are not as straightforward as in review books and some fairly specific and hard neuro questions. I have a pretty good memory and did well on my step I's (250+), so I copy down a lot of questions I remember from the test to look up when I get home (cuz I am neurotic). Let's just say I missed a bunch (at least 10 out of 100 questions) and none of the questions I missed could be found in FA Psych. GG

I'm not sure how I would study for this exam if I had to take it again - it was RANDOM. To be fair, I also felt every time I took a practice time, there was something random and new that I learned that was not in FA. My FA was notated with so much new info added, but the test still had more random questions - unfrickinbelievable.

Anways, GL with it.
 
There are a few different versions of the test. They get scaled differently, so I wouldn't sweat it just yet. If you thought it was hard, everyone did. I also have no idea how your school does stuff though. We only need 70th percentile for honors with enough excellent reviews from our attending.
 
how were/are you guys doing on UW? I'm getting 80s on the psych questions and they seem pretty straight forward
 
I think I finished around the mid to high 80s for an average. They were a little easier, but also had some random fluff questions thrown in. My percentages with appleton and lange questions were a little more variable. They tend to have more random facts in them.
 
MossPoh said:
I think I finished around the mid to high 80s for an average. They were a little easier, but also had some random fluff questions thrown in. My percentages with appleton and lange questions were a little more variable. They tend to have more random facts in them.
Click to expand...

I agree with this assessment. I scored 87 average on the UWorld questions. The Appleton & Lange 70's or 80's, it's hit or miss depending on the subject. Although, I've always just done right above average. I'm not up with the SDNers in the 99's, etc. So we'll see how this shelf goes tomorrow.
 
Got my score back today: 99

Used FA psych, A&L question book (9th ed. [older ed.]), Pretest (newest ed.), and UW. I won't speculate as to what helped the most, as I honestly can't say with any degree of certainty. I will say that A&L was more difficult while UW and pretest were pretty easy overall.

Be aware that neuro is apparently fair game for this exam, something that I did not know until I was taking it. Not worth spending a lot of time on (just a handful of questions), but if you're aiming high, reviewing the path and pharm sections of neuro in FA (for Step 1) wouldn't hurt.

Good luck everyone!
 
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Hey! Have my exam in a few days... Can anyone please weigh in as to whether I need to know things like "minnesota multiphasic personality inventory 2 or reyu-osterrieth test, or rorschach test, weschsler intelligence scales, wiconsin card sorting test, etc." Also, is it important to know people and their contributions like Josef Breur, Charcot, Erikson, Freud, etc.

These were all answer choices to the A&L question book. Was not sure whether to memorize them or not.

Please help! thanks!

Also, how should I study neuro??
 
Scores back today: 85, good enough for honors at my school

1) FA for the Psych clerkship (x2)
2) Two practice tests in the back of Appleton and Lange the day before


In retrospect, I didn't really do any questions while preparing. This was my first block of the year and I figured I'd be good just knowing the heck out of FA. I ended up buying UWorld after the exam and the psych questions look pretty good. The content is easy, but the delivery of the questions can be tricky. I had really good clinical evaluations, and our clerkship only necessitates an 80 for honors. If you're shooting for above what I scored, I really recommend doing questions, as they can make the delivery of the material interesting.
 
Hello, I got some good advice from this thread so I thought I would give back.

I just got my psych shelf score back and ended up with a 98.

In retrospect what I did was probably overkill but some people had horror stories about how hard this exam was so I didn't want to chance it for honors.

I did: First Aid x2, Pretest x1, Lange x2 and made sure to read almost every answer explanation on both passes, Uworld x1 and then redid all the Uworld psych questions I missed on first pass.

My thoughts: Pretest wasn't that helpful overall, but it was good to get thinking about things starting out on the rotation. I wouldn't recommend it alone, but if you do decide to use it I would start out with Pretest before moving on to Lange.

First Aid is obviously as many people said pretty money for the shelf exam, definitely essential.

Uworld was pretty easy overall, it was helpful but l definitely wouldn't say it is absolutely necessary to do well.

Lange Q&A is by far the best resource for doing well on the shelf. I would definitely recommend going through this twice.

If I was only going to recommend two sources to do well on the shelf with, it would be First Aid and Lange. If you have time, throwing in pretest and Uworld would also help out. The test is pretty long and definitely not something to blow off, but overall it was very doable. Hope this helps.
 
raw score: 93

I just used case files and Lange Q&A (only did about half). Exam itself definitely focused on diagnosis being the most common type of question. Used the DMS-IV to review presentations and criteria (which is very important when it comes to the shelf) during the day with patients. My rotation also had lots of lectures (though I personally didn't find them all very helpful). I also reviewed FA for step 1 for drugs though case files also has a section on pharm. Step up to step 2 has a decent section as well.
 
Took this one Friday. Did FAPsych x1, CaseFilesx1, Blueprintsx1, Blueprints Casesx1, A&L Questions x1, Pretestx1 and UWorld Questions.

Honestly, the best prep was probably Blueprints+Blueprints Cases, and rounding questions (one of our attendings had about 50 drug questions a day we went over on rounds). I didn't find it to be that terrible, butI probably would have without his three weeks of instruction.

Very little Child & Adolescent on my test, lots of drugs, lots of substance abuse...
 
There are a few versions of the test supposedly. Mine had a ton of child/adolescent junk.
 
MossPoh said:
There are a few versions of the test supposedly. Mine had a ton of child/adolescent junk.
Click to expand...

As much as i <3 kids, I'm glad I didn't get that one. We have very little instruction in Child & Adolescent on psych.

Oh, and if it matters - we take the one that has neuro in it.
 
Time is a big factor for this test bc you cant skip stuff in the questions since the diagnoses are so close and nuanced. If your school gives you enough time to carefully read through each q (3+ hours) this shelf should be easy if you know the criteria for each dx, if not then it really comes down to who can read/think the fastest, not who knows more.
 
Completely agree with the above post. We were given 2.5 hours to complete the exam, and I had to push to make my first pass through on the 2 hour mark then went back to check the handful of questions I wanted to revisit over the last 30 min. I am a pretty fast test taker in general, and I know from people who didn't do as well as they wanted that time was one of the biggest factors for them at my school.
 
chessknt87 said:
Time is a big factor for this test bc you cant skip stuff in the questions since the diagnoses are so close and nuanced. If your school gives you enough time to carefully read through each q (3+ hours) this shelf should be easy if you know the criteria for each dx, if not then it really comes down to who can read/think the fastest, not who knows more.
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you really only need around 2.5 hours imo. If you know the criteria and how they apply to patients it's not that hard. Just be ready for some small facts in the criteria you maybe weren't expecting, e.g. adjustment disorder with depressive sxs vs major depressive disorder, as it can get tricky at times.

I think case files hits all the major topics you'll need to know and gives all the criteria. Lange Q&A was alright. DSM-IV is good while you are at the hosptial but do not try and memorize it or study it beyond that.

Pharm = case files, FA for step 1, and step up to step 2. You do not have to know the nitpicky details of pharm your attendings will make you think you have to know. It's more along the lines of SSRI vs TCA vs etc. You need to know basic contraindications and side effects but not what SSRI to choose or what receptors they act on or what cyp450 enzyme is involved with it's metabolism for example.
 
chessknt87 said:
Time is a big factor for this test bc you cant skip stuff in the questions since the diagnoses are so close and nuanced. If your school gives you enough time to carefully read through each q (3+ hours) this shelf should be easy if you know the criteria for each dx, if not then it really comes down to who can read/think the fastest, not who knows more.
Click to expand...

i thought the amount of time you get, like the shelf, is standard (2.5 hrs)
 
If it isn't, then it defeats the purpose of calling it a standardized test.
 
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