Advice on Physio NBME Shelf Exam?

[GobindSingh]

hi--

i have to take this exam soon and wanted some advice from you kind folks on the exam:

1. how many questions are there?

2. what is the best way to prepare to ensure a good performance?

3. what books are the best to use?

thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Radiohead]

1. Alot
2. Read BRS Phys
3. Read it again

 

[Dr.Bevo]

I have to take this in a couple of weeks. Is it just BRS all the way? Did anyone use a different book (high yield, pre-test)?

thanks

 

[orthoman5000]

I'm taking the physiology shelf next Friday (last test of the year) and need to do fairly well in order to make an A in the class.

My plan is:

1. Review the BRS along with the end chapter questions
2. Review all the questions from PreTest
3. Review the physiology questions from the NBME Retired and Self-Test questions book.
4. Review the sample questions on the NBME website because someone said that the exact items from the website were on their shelf-exams.
5. Use First Aid to know what to really focus in on.

Any thoughts on how to prepare for the Neuroscience NBME? I have to take it next Monday.

 

[omarsaleh66]

An MS2 told me to also look at the phys and path sections of first aid. They are gonna have path questions on there that we havent learned in Phys. So make sure u look at the path in First Aid dealing w some of the organ systems we learned in phys

 

[FISHMAN]

Most challenging shelf I have taken this year.
Do not overlook Renal and Respiratory, do practice problems and know your equations.
Good Luck!!!

 

[kedhegard]

go to usmleasy.com and do the practice test there. You can click "explanation" over at the left hand side of the page while you are taking a test, also. Oh yeah, and it's free and better than Qbank if you ask me. Great review.

 

[Radiohead]

I made an 89 raw score on the Phys shelf last year by reading the grid book twice and doing all the questions. The basic thing about the "shelf" tests is that there is no way one can know everything on the test. Reading Guyton, or whatever TEXTBOOK for whatever subject, will NOT get you a perfect score(you would probably do worse). For example, I looked up a tricky question from the path shelf in Robbins...couldn't find the answer. The answer was definitely in BRS.

To make a long story short, you need to do some good educated guessing to do well on these tests. So, with knowing BRS Phys cold (and some luck) you will rock the exam

 

[Stinger86]

There are 125 questions on the shelf (if memory serves me right).

Read BRS Physiology cover to cover and make sure you understand graphs, charts, and the relationships they exhibit. BRS is a med student's physiology bible.

 

[johnstoner]

is the respiratory and renal section on BRS sufficient?

 

[Stinger86]

is the respiratory and renal section on BRS sufficient?

Worked for me. If you want more, you can always read through those chapters in a good text like Medical Physiology by Guyton & Hall

 

[omarsaleh66]

just got done w this test. Everything is in First Aid; for respiratory there was alot that can be found in the first aid path section. There were word for word q's from BRS and pretest. Also 2 q's from the nbme website.

holla

 

[jwin]

the previous post about everything being in first aid and brs is really not true. i would agree most of the straight physiology questions are straight out of the brs; however, there is a significant amount of interpretation clinical scenarios and lab values that are not straight out of brs. there are a fair number of just oddball questions that are more based on physiological reasoning than facts you have memorized about physiology; or some kind of regulation or feedback system that does not seem to really fit anything that you have learned in brs or class. the breadth and depth of disease pathophysiology is also much greater than is covered by brs.

all in all i would say it is just kind of a weird test. i have taken 4 of these nbme tests now and i can say they can be characterized by the poor quality of the questions and the completely arbitrary nature of the subject matter. micro and physio have seemed to be the more ridiculous of the ones i have taken. only the histo/cell bio exam seems to have been interested in testing you on things you could have learned in class or in textbooks.

 

[omarsaleh66]

BRS and pretest are good for basic phys. But u are right BRS doesnt prepare u for the clinical questions. But all of those were in the path section in First Aid. For those taking phys nbme, it would help alot to look at the endocrine, cardiac, respiratory, GI sections in First Aid not only in the phys section, but the pathology section as well.

 

[randomlogik]

Does anyone know the degree of calculations we have to perform on this exam? I'm making an assumption that we arent allowed to use calculators on it?

 

[omarsaleh66]

U need to know how to calculate free water clearance, GFR , filtration fraction, Renal plasma flow for Renal

For respiratory u should be able to calculate Compliance for IP and Alveolar values, calculate diving pressure, those equations to calculate dead space and ventilation, etc...

Know how to calculate stroke volume, ejection fraction, cardiac output; know all relevant CO equations cold cuz there are some twists...

holla

 

[jwin]

obviously some people don't care about the signature they had to give to the nbme..lol

it appears the tests are different because i don't think i had to calculate all those things and had to calculate some other things. just memorize all the equations in the back of brs and in first aid (which i think are identical) and you will be fine.