Mksap 2--is This Everything I Need For Im Rotation?

[roady]

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Well, I know that the MKSAP 2 book has been discussed here before, but I wanted to hear some more recent feedback from people who have taken the IM shelf and what they felt their study yield was from this book--i.e., was it high-yield??

In particular, did you use just this book, or did you supplement with something esle?
Also--is it true that the authors of the MKSAP 2 are the same people who write the shelf questions? How do you know this..???

THANKS FOR ANY INSIGHTS~!

P.S. This book is EXPENSIVE! I had to pay about $42.95 + tax at the bookstore here...is it this expensive everywhere?!

 

[MISTERshortcoat]

The MKSAP 2 is a great study guide, but I don't believe that it sufficiently covers everything you will see on the IM shelf exam. I used a combination of PreTest Medicine, First Aid for IM, and the MKSAP with results >90. If you score 70-75% on the MKSAP the first time through, I think you'll be sitting pretty strong for the shelf. PreTest is easier than the actual test, so just keep that in mind. Other people that did well seem to have liked NMS Medicine, but that thing is huge! I can't imagine I'd be able to stuff that much information in, with inpatient medicine to worry about at the same time.

Good luck.

 

[MISTERshortcoat]

Oh wait, and one other thing-- the MKSAP 2 is going for like $60 new on Amazon, so $40 is a pretty good deal. Heh. The big bonus is the CD that the book includes. You can load it up on a laptop or something and take it with you wherever you go.

 

[Pinesinger]

I used just the MKSAP for "formal" studying, I took a lot of time to go through it and basically studied from the answers/explanations. During the rotation, though, I did a lot of reading on the illnesses my patients had, mostly from UpToDate. So by the time I starting reading MKSAP I had already covered a lot of the bread and butter stuff (CHF, ARF, etc). I got an 84% on the shelf which was the best score in my rotation group. Also bear in mind it was our first rotation so if you have done other rotations you will have a little more background knowledge than we had.

 

[14022]

The big bonus is the CD that the book includes. You can load it up on a laptop or something and take it with you wherever you go.

Isn't it easier to take the book with you wherever you go, rather than a laptop and CD?

Anyways, it is definately NOT sufficient. It covers a limited number of topics. It is good for learning management of specific diseases but there is very little in terms of common everyday information needed for IM. This information is covered well in First Aid and Pre-Test. One of my favorite book series for third year (Iused it for IM, surgery, neuro, and peds) is the Blueprints Clinical Cases series. This book is great for learning common findings in the H&P and for learning the differential diagnosis for various diseases. Plus the book is only around $20. I used these 4 resources and scored in the 96th percentile on the IM shelf for my first rotation.

 

[Pox in a box]

Isn't it easier to take the book with you wherever you go, rather than a laptop and CD?

Anyways, it is definately NOT sufficient. It covers a limited number of topics. It is good for learning management of specific diseases but there is very little in terms of common everyday information needed for IM. This information is covered well in First Aid and Pre-Test. One of my favorite book series for third year (Iused it for IM, surgery, neuro, and peds) is the Blueprints Clinical Cases series. This book is great for learning common findings in the H&P and for learning the differential diagnosis for various diseases. Plus the book is only around $20. I used these 4 resources and scored in the 96th percentile on the IM shelf for my first rotation.

Hey, thanks for the info. What is the Blueprints case book you're referring to, a Step 2 case book or a Medicine cases book?

 

[14022]

Hey, thanks for the info. What is the Blueprints case book you're referring to, a Step 2 case book or a Medicine cases book?

Blueprints has a Clinical Cases series for 8 or 9 clerkships (I used IM, peds, surgery, and neuro...they also have OBGYN, psych, family medicine, ER, and maybe a few others). Each book is 50 clinical cases of common problems in that discipline. So the IM book has 50 medicine cases. Each case is a thorough H&P, a series of open ended questions for you to think about followed by an explanation, and 4 shelf/USMLE style mulitple-choice questions (total of 200 board style questions per book) each with an explanation. I liked the book because it is so succinct. Say you have 15 minutes on your hands between dinner and a TV show you want to watch, Seinfeld for example! You can go through a case really quickly and learn a few key points about a disease. It doesnt require the sustained attention that a textbook requires. It is great for someone like me with borderline ADHD. I recommended them to a bunch of people in my class, and most of them seemed to like them as well.

 

[Ignacio]

There's two things you should worry about on this rotation: your evaluation, and your NBME shelf score.

Basically, your evaluation revolves on how good you perform on wards which means: 1) fund of knowledge 2) presentations 3) clinical prowess, etc 4) notes/write-ups 5) behaviors (professionalism)

For your NBME shelf, I found Qbank coupled with the little amazing book, pocketmedicine internal medicine (from MGH), was absolutely perfect, crazy insanely useful.

Qbank is amazing - but so is Qbook. Qbook was so predictive of my shelf, that I almost vomited after my shelf. the questions were IDENTICAL. MKSAP, I did all of them too, was way to into smaller details - awesome for wards though - but not what the NBME was about. Qbook and Bank do the better job on this (I'm talking about Kaplan Step2 Qbank). The USMLE Step 2 Qbook ($30 on amazon) even LOOKED like the medicine shelf. The questions were of exact comparable length, appearance, detail, everything. I kid you not - want a single resource for questions? Get Qbook - it has 8 IM tests totaling llike 400 questions - can't go wrong. I also did PreTest, MKSAP, and Blueprints. Blueprints Step 2 Medicine was also EXCELLENT! 200 Questions and just so well done - so hi-yield.

So, for NBME: Get pocketmedicine. Get Qbook. Do Qbook
IM questions and try to time yourself. 50 questions in 65 minutes. Explanations are amazing! When you're not sure, look up the asnwer in pocketmedicine. If you're still not sure, I recommend using Step Up to Medicine - amazing book: perfect depth - I would stay away from Cecil's/Texts during your rotation - just too dense, not enough time, not hi-yield enough.

Also, pocketmedicine is amazing for shining on wards: they cover exactly what attendings like to ask. It's just bizarre - it's all in there.

Hope this helps!! And good luck and be professional 🙂