how do u prepare for shelf exams?

[bulldog]

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So what's your method of preparing for shelf exams? Me, I've got into routine of quickly reading through a review book for first week or so, then just doing questions the rest of the way using multiple sources such as pretest, a&l, etc. I know some classmates who spend 3/4 of the time reading and save questions for the last week. wondering what everyone else is doing.

 

[bigfrank]

I usually did first half reading and second half questions. Worked great.

 

[djipopo]

I usually did first half reading and second half questions. Worked great.

I had the same strategy, worked out well for me.

 

[karamella]

questions=succes in exams just that
beeing competant at work i doupt 🙄

 

[bigfrank]

questions=succes in exams just that
beeing competant at work i doupt 🙄

You win the award for the most incoherent post on SDN in March 2006.

😎

 

[trouta]

The Appleton and Lange questions are the best in my opinion. They are similar in difficulty to the test and seemed to prepare me really well.

 

[RonaldColeman]

So what's your method of preparing for shelf exams? Me, I've got into routine of quickly reading through a review book for first week or so, then just doing questions the rest of the way using multiple sources such as pretest, a&l, etc. I know some classmates who spend 3/4 of the time reading and save questions for the last week. wondering what everyone else is doing.

To summarize the general consensus of this board:

Peds: Blueprints + Pretest--the best combo for any 3rd year shelf exam.
IM: MKSAP + any general IM review text (First AID, NMS, etc.). Many people have also spoken highly of Case Files.
OB: Blueprints
Psych: I haven't seen a consensus here, but many people think Blueprints is adequate.
Surgery: Surgical Recall + prior IM rotation. A & L has had contradictory ratings: some people swear by it, while others think it is total crap.

You don't have to do questions for every shelf. To be honest, most of the 3rd year question books suck. The only 2 that people seem to consistently find helpful are MKSAP and pre-test Pediatrics.

 

[Magnus67]

Surgery: First 250 pages of Recall and then Read Kaplan over and over. PRIOR IM IS NOT NECESSARY TO ACE THE SURGERY SHELF.

IM: Casefiles is a good book. First AID is a Concise and full of good facts. Kaplan is lacking IMO, but is a quick read. MKSAP are really good, our school gives us sections of these throughout the clerkship to study for our weekly exams. I did 450 Qbank IM questions the week before and did well on the shelf.

Psych: I dont know..its psych 🙂

Family Practice: is there a shelf? we took a department test.

PM if you have any questions.
IMO practice questions with good explanations of all answers is the best way to study the week before a shelf exam.

Good Luck.

 

[anamarylee]

For IM I read Step Up throughout the clerkship for the weekly quizzes. The week before I re-read Step Up and did Harrison's Board review and Self assesment (mind you we had a full week to finish our case presentations and study for the shelf, with no in-house exam).