Basic science shelf exams

[Sheerstress]

I have a friend (not yet on this forum) who is scheduled to take three basic science shelf exams in about a month, and wanted advice on how to best prepare for them.

After searching through many of the threads here, the consensus appears to be that the following reviews are the best for the subject areas (I numbered them in order of yield and noted any other advice that kept coming up):



Microbiology Shelf Exam:

1. Appleton and Lange (pretty much a consensus favorite)
2. FA for USMLE
3. Q-bank questions (tend to be difficult questions, good for review purposes)

Immunology is one areas that is stressed, so make sure that is covered.



Behavioral Science Shelf Exam:

1. Kaplan Behavioral Science Review (people seem to like this book)
2. FA for USMLE
3. Q-bank questions
4. BRS Behavioral Science (good supplement if needed; relatively quick read)




Physiology Shelf Exam:

1. BRS Physiology Review (good foundation, not enough as exam has overlap with pathology and other subjects)
2. FA for USMLE: Paying attention to pathophysiology (i.e. pathology), as this exam is multidisciplinary.
3. Q-bank questions

I got the impression that the physiology shelf exam has the most overlap of all the shelf exams.


Does all of this seem to be in line with what everyone here has experienced on these exams? Thank you for any input.

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[vtucci]

I took the micro shelf this past week. My recommendations would be:
1. FA
2. Kaplan Qbank & USMLEWORLD Qbank
3. Micro Recall
4. Deja Review (has all subjects)

FA is not enough. Many of my classmates liked Clinical Micro made ridiculously easy as well for the micro shelf.

I took the physio shelf last year and did not feel that there was a lot of pathophysio (we had not taken path yet). For path, I used FA and BRS and it was fine.

 

[shaggy411]

is kaplan 2004 books up to date??????? sufficient for behavioral shelf this thursday?

 

[joe6102]

Microbiology Shelf Exam:

1. Appleton and Lange (pretty much a consensus favorite)

Is that the same as Lange Medical Micro & Immuno: Exam and Board Review, 8th ed. by Levinson?

 

[shaggy411]

is kaplan 2004 books up to date??????? sufficient for behavioral shelf this thursday?

bumppppppppp

 

[vtucci]

I would imagine you would be okay with Kaplan 2004. If you have FA 2007, I would check the behavioral section on there just in case.

 

[nasdr]

i looked this up on amazon. they seem to be different. Appleton and Lange is simply a "Q and A" book? feel free to correct me if i got this wrong.

Is that the same as Lange Medical Micro & Immuno: Exam and Board Review, 8th ed. by Levinson?