Biochemistry Shelf Exam (NBME)

[txguy]

Hey guys,

We are going to be taking the Biochemistry Shelf Exam (NBME) in a month and I was just wondering how to study for it....I have heard Lippincott and BRS Biochem (the practice exam) are good study materials........

Thanks in advance......

-tx

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[BOHICA-FIGMO]

Hey guys,

We are going to be taking the Biochemistry Shelf Exam (NBME) in a month and I was just wondering how to study for it....I have heard Lippincott and BRS Biochem (the practice exam) are good study materials........

Thanks in advance......

-tx

I don't know about biochem, but the grid book (BRS) for Anatomy was spot on for prepping for shelf questions. Hopefully it works out the same for Histology, Biochem, and Phys. this semester!

 

[txguy]

I don't know about biochem, but the grid book (BRS) for Anatomy was spot on for prepping for shelf questions. Hopefully it works out the same for Histology, Biochem, and Phys. this semester!

We're taking the NBME Shelf for Anatomy as well. Thanks for the BRS tip!

-tx

 

[lilmo]

congrats on starting early! at my school we pretty much had one day to study for them, which took a bit of the pressure off. either you knew the material or you didn't. unfortunately i didn't know the biochem but on the otherhand, i thought the brs books for phys and anatomy were great. i'd recommend looking at lots of pics for the histology shelf. best of luck

 

[txguy]

congrats on starting early! at my school we pretty much had one day to study for them, which took a bit of the pressure off. either you knew the material or you didn't. unfortunately i didn't know the biochem but on the otherhand, i thought the brs books for phys and anatomy were great. i'd recommend looking at lots of pics for the histology shelf. best of luck

Sounds good.........we only have 1 day between an exams and the Biochem Shelf too, so I'm trying (trying! ) to start a little early......

What book did you use for Biochem? I have been using Lippincott throughout the semester (for the pictures, diagrams, etc.) and was just wondering if it was worth it to get another book like BRS or something......

I agree about the BRS for Physiology--that is a very good read.....

-tx

 

[SoCuteMD]

BRS Histology is way too basic for the NBME test. At least that was my feeling. Unfortunately, it may be just about the only thing you can find. I had an older version of Junquiera that was really good and shorter than the current text. I used that for the NBME Cell bio/histo.

 

[lilmo]

Sounds good.........we only have 1 day between an exams and the Biochem Shelf too, so I'm trying (trying! ) to start a little early......

What book did you use for Biochem? I have been using Lippincott throughout the semester (for the pictures, diagrams, etc.) and was just wondering if it was worth it to get another book like BRS or something......

I agree about the BRS for Physiology--that is a very good read.....

-tx

I ended up using First Aid (as did most of the rest of my class.) I didn't find it very helpful, but Biochem was always my worst class. I've heard good things about the Lippincott book.

 

[jtriplet]

Go to your library...take out Lippincott, BRS and First Aid....study.....kick butt on the exam.....return to library That's what I did and I did fairly well on the shelf despite my severe distaste for biochem.

 

[bobmarley77]

I just went thru all of the figures in Lippincotts twice and read the chapter summaries in the back of the book..I did pretty well by just doing this.

 

[Samoa]

If I recall correctly, the test was almost entirely composed of clinical vignettes. So anything that wasn't necessary to know for diagnostic or prognostic purposes in a clinical setting could be safely ignored. VERY different from the material taught in our class.

 

[getunconcsious]

Hello TXguy. I took the NBME in biochem last semester and it was one of the few finals that I aced. I used the BRS and did as many of the review questions as I could. I would also recommend high-yield.

Make SURE you know everything that would happen to every enzyme in cases of diabetes, alcoholism, and heavy excercise. There were question after question on these topics.

Good Luck!!!

 

[SkylineMD]

Shelf exams change from year to year. So the advice some of us may give may be helpful or may not. So i'll just chime in and throw in my advice.

Last semester I just took my NBME biochem shelf and just ran through it with about 20min left to spare. What helped me most about this is being able to read the questions fast and dissect out what they are really looking for. In fact one question stumped me for a few seconds - something about leaves on a tree (which to me had nothing to do with biochemistry) and after a little bit of staring at the question, i realized that they were asking about one of the non-essential amino acids in the multiple choice list. its really odd how they can make a question out of something totally out there.

Anyhow, i ended up with a 96 on the exam (after whatever curve was applied). The days before the exam I would briefly read through BRS. I only had enough time to read the first few chapters (DNA replication, transcription, translation). I only had time to do the review questions from the first 2 chapters. I didn't have time to go over the rest of the material but hoped that since I had just taken an exam on those topics, I wouldn't need to. I also read the biochem section in First Aid 2 times before the exam at least

The day of the exam I left my BRS at home and just brought First Aid with me. I spent the 40min before the exam just reviewing the information there. Just don't get bogged down with every question because there are 150questions and you have just about 1minute per question.

 

[txguy]

Thnx for the advice y'all!

-tx

 

[Twitch]

*bump*

 

[alphaholic06]

One word: Kaplan

 

[Twitch]

One word: Kaplan

blue lecture notes?

 

[alphaholic06]

blue lecture notes?

Yep. Videos are pretty good too.

 

[Samoa]

Yep. Videos are pretty good too.

By any chance, did you go to UT Austin?

 

[alphaholic06]

By any chance, did you go to UT Austin?

No, I didn't but I've spent some time at UT Austin. Why do you ask?

 

[Samoa]

How can you be at UT Austin and not go there?

<---fellow alphaholic, if it refers to what I think it does. (BTW, I am also an LBJ moonfish)

 

[alphaholic06]

How can you be at UT Austin and not go there?

<---fellow alphaholic, if it refers to what I think it does. (BTW, I am also an LBJ moonfish)

I had friends that went to UT and I visited a few times. I'm not sure what an LBJ moonfish is, but we can discuss our alphaholism via PM.

 

[Samoa]

Your friends should know. It's ancient history though, so no point in PM'ing.

/threadjack

 

[myrtle]

I asked this is the Step 1 forum, but no responses yet.

Do you think this would be a good test to take while preparing for the boards? My school offers it to first years (I took it last year and did horribly overall) and I could maybe jump in and take it. Has anyone done this? Think it would be a waste of time or a good way to prepare?

 

[Cmercury1]

I asked this is the Step 1 forum, but no responses yet.

Do you think this would be a good test to take while preparing for the boards? My school offers it to first years (I took it last year and did horribly overall) and I could maybe jump in and take it. Has anyone done this? Think it would be a waste of time or a good way to prepare?

I don't think you should do it. I don't think they change the tests that much, especially between consecutive years. Our anatomy prof told us that for the anatomy shelf, they just ask profs to submit questions. No one ever does, except him, and what they do is just take the questions verbatim with no editing whatsoever (grammar mistakes included!). Therefore, for the anatomy shelf, I found a lot of variation in the types of questions asked. Doesn't sound like there's a lot of quality control to me.

I don't know if this is how it works for the biochem shelf, but I will agree with the person who said that the format is mostly clinical vignettes. There were a lot of diagnostic criteria given, and you had to figure out the particular disease with less emphasis on actual biochemical pathways.

Also, if you download the sample questions from the NBME site, you'll find that the latest batch is from 2003, and those same questions showed up on my shelfs last semester.