Family Medicine Shelf

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docjohn101

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Anyone feel that they failed the family medicine shelf and ended up passing? Can people post their experience if this happened to them.

Just took this exam (first rotation), and it was pretty ridiculous.

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Does no one care about this shelf anymore? I dont know if its the field or the material...but CF is mad boring and pretest is just silly so far...But im gonna keep truckin' through. any updates would be greatly appreciated

::bump::
 
Does no one care about this shelf anymore? I dont know if its the field or the material...but CF is mad boring and pretest is just silly so far...But im gonna keep truckin' through. any updates would be greatly appreciated

::bump::

I'm taking my shelf tomorrow and came on here to see what other people are saying. Surprised to see just 3 posts; regardless, I've done half of CF and 3/4s of the AAFP questions. I also read through most of Kaplan Step 2 IM notes and the Ambulatory Section in Step up to Medicine. I'm so burnt out from those AAFP questions, I'm ready to be done with this clerkship.
 
taking the test friday, Im finishing up AAFP questions, sprinkled in with going selected cases in CF and re reading ambulatory section in step up. i think this will be adequate for a good score
 
Would love to hear what ya'll think after you take it!
 
80 questions. 2 hours. No breaks.

Mirroring what has been said, there isn't really one great way to prepare for it. FM is so broad, it covers peds, OB, adolescents, geriatrics.

I think the BeSci questions were properly covered in BeSci STEP 1 books. Some domestic violence stuff, a few SIGECAPS type of depression questions.

My preceptor told me that everything you need will be in front of you. REALLY focus on the stems. They are mostly thorough. Being thorough, that means there is "superfluous" data WNL. Focus on the outliers. And read the H&P stuff a bunch of x's.

Of course, I just took it so I have NO IDEA how well (or badly) I did, but it wasn't super awful. If I did well, then I'd say a general rule is similar to Step 1. Least invasive stuff is probably the right answer. I had a few answers revolving around doing nothing (like maintain meds or reassurance). If I did poorly, then maybe I'm wrong, but if you've had a great FM rotation, you've actually seen a lot of the patients in the questions. And I answered what we did w/ those patients since they were answer choices.

My preceptor made me do two presentations during my rotation. One for hypertension. One for diabetes. And I have to say that she was so wise in making me do so. A LOT of the questions of DBM or HTN had to do w/ the current recommendations. The HTN questions were based around things I got discussing ALLHAT or ACCOMPLISH studies. And I read the AAFP journals my preceptor had during our down time in between patients. W/o those, just get on UpToDate and read what the current recommendations are.

The pace isn't bad. I finished w/ 20 mins left. The images in the questions (probably 15 or so) are ones you might have seen on Step 1. And to repeat, your patients can be pregnant moms, 2 month old babies, 6 year old boys, 15 year old sexually active girls, to 89 year old ladies.

Hope all this helps! Good luck!!!
 
Spot on review, however my test was 100 questions 2.5 hours. Will let u know how it ended up on Tuesday. I thought this shelf was pretty easy and had multiple repeated questions from the AAFP qbank. Identical presentations. Hoping I aced it.
 
great review gfiptastic!

AAFP is bulk of my studying so glad to hear it, roast
 
Hate to sound like an idiot here, but where are the AAFP board review questions? I've done 10 of them but it keeps repeating the same 10 over and over. How do you access the whole "bank"?
 
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