NBME Physiology shelf test

[godchaser1016]

I will be taking physiology shelf exam as a part of the remediation process. I read other posts from the past and it pretty much said study BRS and expect lots of pathophys.

I've been studying BRS + FA (both phys and path) + Questions from Qbanks (UW + Rx + Kaplan).

Has anybody taken this exam last year? How much time is given for the test. I know it's 125 Qs and is supposed to be hardest test!

Please let me know what your experiences were regarding preparing for this exam and taking it.

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[Powerplant]

I will be taking physiology shelf exam as a part of the remediation process. I read other posts from the past and it pretty much said study BRS and expect lots of pathophys.

I've been studying BRS + FA (both phys and path) + Questions from Qbanks (UW + Rx + Kaplan).

Has anybody taken this exam last year? How much time is given for the test. I know it's 125 Qs and is supposed to be hardest test!

Please let me know what your experiences were regarding preparing for this exam and taking it.

I think the institution determines how much time you are given. Seems like we had 2 hours and it was pushing it to get done. We did not do the neurophys section. So far for me, it has been my highest NBME score of the year. We've taken phys, biochem, gross/developmental anatomy, and histo and still have neuro to go.

As far as prep, I used BRS and Guyton's pocket book and Guyton's question book.

 

[ArcGurren]

Honestly nothing I did for this exam prepared me for it when I took it. It has a ton of pathophysiology on it and it was tough to prepare for no matter what. I felt worse taking this exam than when I did taking my Step 1 because I had all of 4 days to prepare for it and still got blindsided by it.

 

[Alvarez13]

Honestly nothing I did for this exam prepared me for it when I took it. It has a ton of pathophysiology on it and it was tough to prepare for no matter what. I felt worse taking this exam than when I did taking my Step 1 because I had all of 4 days to prepare for it and still got blindsided by it.

Eep...we have ours coming up right at the beginning of July and our school only gives us 1 day after finals to prepare for it. Too rough med school, too rough...

 

[jdh71]

http://www.amazon.com/Physiology-Cases-Problems-Board-Review/dp/0781724821

Costanzo's cases and problems + the BRS should have you golden

 

[ArcGurren]

http://www.amazon.com/Physiology-Cases-Problems-Board-Review/dp/0781724821

Costanzo's cases and problems + the BRS should have you golden

I strongly disagree that it should keep you golden for the exam. This is exactly what I did and it was not anywhere NEAR enough. Your Mileage May Vary upon the difficulty of the exam but I for one thought it was too hard to be answerable solely through knowledge of physiology and required a whole lot of pathophys knowledge as well.

However it's not difficult to pass (depending on how your school grades it).

 

[godchaser1016]

Honestly nothing I did for this exam prepared me for it when I took it. It has a ton of pathophysiology on it and it was tough to prepare for no matter what. I felt worse taking this exam than when I did taking my Step 1 because I had all of 4 days to prepare for it and still got blindsided by it.

Are the pathophys questions pretty classic ones like emphesema and restrictive lung disease? Were there hematology questions too?

How many questions should I get right to obtain average score (50%)?
I know it's gonna be different for different exams, but in general.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[jdh71]

I strongly disagree that it should keep you golden for the exam. This is exactly what I did and it was not anywhere NEAR enough. Your Mileage May Vary upon the difficulty of the exam but I for one thought it was too hard to be answerable solely through knowledge of physiology and required a whole lot of pathophys knowledge as well.

However it's not difficult to pass (depending on how your school grades it).

The case book covers the pathophys nicely. I did excellent. You would probably make the case I just had a very easy version of the test?

 

[ArcGurren]

The case book covers the pathophys nicely. I did excellent. You would probably make the case I just had a very easy version of the test?

It's possible. I thought my exam was ridiculously hard because in class we didn't cover much pathophys and I thought the cases and problems book wasn't enough.

 

[ArcGurren]

Are the pathophys questions pretty classic ones like emphesema and restrictive lung disease? Were there hematology questions too?

How many questions should I get right to obtain average score (50%)?
I know it's gonna be different for different exams, but in general.

Thanks again for the input!

Yes, there's some obstructive/restrictive stuff

The really tough questions to my recollection involved things like renal function and abnormal cardiac sounds etc... keep in mind this is when I hadn't a clue what an S3 or S4 was or the difference between volume overload/pressure overload. If I had taken this exam after pathology or after listening to some goljan, i'd probably have done better

 

[thesauce]

The case book covers the pathophys nicely. I did excellent. You would probably make the case I just had a very easy version of the test?

I'll have to agree with him here. I was strong in physio and knew Costanza cover to cover and thought this test was on a whole different level. I didn't do poorly, but I didn't feel confident in 50% of my answers.

And at this point, I'd like to bring back this little gem of a thread:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=285121&highlight=email+physiology+shelf

 

[2012mdc]

I will be taking physiology shelf exam as a part of the remediation process. I read other posts from the past and it pretty much said study BRS and expect lots of pathophys.

I've been studying BRS + FA (both phys and path) + Questions from Qbanks (UW + Rx + Kaplan).

Has anybody taken this exam last year? How much time is given for the test. I know it's 125 Qs and is supposed to be hardest test!

Please let me know what your experiences were regarding preparing for this exam and taking it.

Physio at my school is pretty solid and I felt well prepared for the exam. I knew Costanzo cold from it being the source for us during the year. I found the Guyton Hall question book a great source of difficult questions that prepared me for the exam. Didn't use BRS, FA, or any Q banks. Scored in the low 90s for percentile

 

[ArcGurren]

Physio at my school is pretty solid and I felt well prepared for the exam. I knew Costanzo cold from it being the source for us during the year. I found the Guyton Hall question book a great source of difficult questions that prepared me for the exam. Didn't use BRS, FA, or any Q banks. Scored in the low 90s for percentile

In retrospect I agree about Guyton and Hall, its an excellent textbook

 

[meerkatmd]

im goign to mirror what ArcGurren said, i took the phys nbme a couple weeks ago as a final for my phys class. knew the brs pat, read it cover to cover three times before the test. i thought that the phys nbme was the hardest test ive ever taken, and was totally bewildered by some of the questions. my class did a lot of pathophys too, so its not that i wasnt exposed to pathophys.

with the curve, though, i did pretty well on it. so it probably all depends on how the test is curved. best of luck to you.

 

[godchaser1016]

Thanks guys for all your replies. I have two days left. I am going to re-read BRS quickly and do practice pathophys questions in UW and Kaplan as you guys say there are many pathophys questions.

So Cardio, Pulm, and Renal are the big chunk right? I wasn't sure if I had to do Heme. But I think I am just gonna study the big topic from here on.

Was the time an issue? I tend to run out of time. With many pathophys with analysis questions, I expect to run out of time. I guess I just have to move on quickly.

 

[ArcGurren]

Thanks guys for all your replies. I have two days left. I am going to re-read BRS quickly and do practice pathophys questions in UW and Kaplan as you guys say there are many pathophys questions.

So Cardio, Pulm, and Renal are the big chunk right? I wasn't sure if I had to do Heme. But I think I am just gonna study the big topic from here on.

Was the time an issue? I tend to run out of time. With many pathophys with analysis questions, I expect to run out of time. I guess I just have to move on quickly.

There was no hematology (there's not much actual physio in heme anyway) but yes, cardio/pulm/renal are the big ones, resp/endocrine are a little lower yield. In cardio, i would know vascular dynamics in and out.