Internal Medicine

[NontradICUdoc]

What is the best way to study for this rotation without having to read Harrison's from cover to cover, which is probably not very productive.

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[deleted77919]

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[ropeadope1983]

What is the best way to study for this rotation without having to read Harrison's from cover to cover, which is probably not very productive.

This gets talked about a lot in Internal Medicine circles. I've talked to a lot of doctors and they all say they have never met anyone who has honestly read Harrison's from cover to cover.

I don't recommend this for a 3rd year rotation, but you may be interested in taking a peak at Cecil's Essentials of Medicine. It's about 1200 pages and it has the most important information from "big Cecil's". I'm still contemplating buying it and reading it as much as possible during 4th year. Alternatively I'm contemplating a self-study during all of 4th year in which I use UpToDate and other clinical resources rather than a book (I may like this approach a lot better, even though it requires a lot more planning to work effectively).

 

[45408]

Step Up and UWorld (step 2 CK bank has like 1800 internal medicine questions).

 

[nogolfinsnow]

On a day to day basis read about your patients, whether it's from UptoDate or a section from Harrison's. I used internal medicine clerkship essentials as my text book. I thought it was decent. I've heard lots of good things about Step Up as well. I did the MKSAP, but didn't think it reflected the actual shelf questions very well. I'm sure UWorld is the best Qbank, it's just a question of whether you want to spend the money now and spend it again later when you study for Step II. If I had it do do again I would probably have bought a UWorld subscription for the last month of IM.

 

[veenut]

Get a college degree, and while you're doing that, take certain required science courses (an advisor in college can help you plan that). Also take the MCAT (like the SAT but for med school)Get accepted into medical school and spend 4 grueling years getting an education that will prepare you to learn how to be a doctor. Get a residency position in internal medicine.

Fail

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

I can't stree how great mksap is for the shelf. it looks like the shelf, acts like the shelf, makes sure you see all the big points you need....

I was going through some personal stuff and didn't have much time to study. but i like doing questions so i bought mksap 3 and mksap 4 (the most up to date and the one before it) I did half of mksap 3, then all of mksap 4 and that was it. no first aid, no step up, thats it. And I did just fine. I don't know how well I would have done had I actually had time to finish the test (DO NOT SLOW DOWN, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT 200, DO NOT STOP TO THINK YOU WILL RUN OUT OF TIME) but I managed to get a 75% without answering the last 15 questions or so. I just bubbled in C.

Had i the time to finish? would have probably done awesome. i certainly felt prepared, just did the thing way too slow. I was one ONE person away from getting honors. Dang it

Anyway, whatever you use to study, i highly recomment these. its amazing how well they prepared me. just remember not to slow down!

 

[nogolfinsnow]

I can't stree how great mksap is for the shelf. it looks like the shelf, acts like the shelf, makes sure you see all the big points you need....

I was going through some personal stuff and didn't have much time to study. but i like doing questions so i bought mksap 3 and mksap 4 (the most up to date and the one before it) I did half of mksap 3, then all of mksap 4 and that was it. no first aid, no step up, thats it. And I did just fine. I don't know how well I would have done had I actually had time to finish the test (DO NOT SLOW DOWN, DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT 200, DO NOT STOP TO THINK YOU WILL RUN OUT OF TIME) but I managed to get a 75% without answering the last 15 questions or so. I just bubbled in C.

Had i the time to finish? would have probably done awesome. i certainly felt prepared, just did the thing way too slow. I was one ONE person away from getting honors. Dang it

Anyway, whatever you use to study, i highly recomment these. its amazing how well they prepared me. just remember not to slow down!

I used Clerkship Essentials and MKSAP 4. About 4 posts above I said I didn't think MKSAP reflected the shelf very well, but I just found out I did quite well on the exam, nothing like some of the 98's I've seen posted on here before, but quite a bit higher than our group's average, so I'll take that back and say that it is a decent resource. And what is in uppercase above is absolutely true. One of my classmates apparently had about 30 unanswered questions. Just blast through them, circle one's your not sure of but just move on and come back to them if you have extra time at the end.

 

[sprinkibrio]

I agree that MKSAP isn't reflective of the shelf, but UWorld is. I would still do MKSAP 3 & 4 if there is time. Step Up is gold and also a good reference book while at the hospital. I think what shocked me the most is that the patient presentations are not classic and you have to give your best guess on many questions. There are not many give away phrases on these shelves.