OB-Gyn Shelf Exam

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Books Preferred for Ob-Gyn Shelf Exam

  • Blueprints

    Votes: 24 70.6%
  • NMS

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • First Aid

    Votes: 2 5.9%
  • PreTest

    Votes: 4 11.8%
  • Boards and Wards

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Appleton and Lange

    Votes: 2 5.9%

  • Total voters
    34
  • Poll closed .
Case Files for basic knowledge, Blueprints when I encountered a question that I needed more explanation on. For questions, I used USMLE World, Pretest, and the 100-Q exam at the end of Blueprints. Beckman was only for material that our clerkship required us to read for quiz prep. Got a raw 96 on my shelf! :)

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Just took this a few days ago so I don't have a grade back, but it didn't seem as daunting as some others and I felt fairly well-prepared. I just studied CaseFiles and did both the UWorld and Uwise Q's. There really weren't many questions that contained material I hadn't seen.
 
I kept it simple.

CaseFiles - 3x
UWise - 2.5x

Raw score - low 80's

In hindsight, I wish I had used one more source, either another question book or another review book. Either way, I can't complain. My only goal in ob/gyn was to survive.
 
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Hi all, I will be taking the Ob/Gyn shelf next Friday, April 15th. Is there any pointers? So far, I read Blue Prints 1x, some Beckman book a lot people liked 1x, First Aid 1.5x right now, did the 100 questions in the back of the Blueprints, then did about 100 questions from Uworld, and did about 50 questions from Uwise.

I also am nearly finished with the Case Files 1x.

Last questions, what was the exam like? Were there any simple questions or straightforward questions. I heard it is hard, but I would like to prepare for the worst.
 
Anyone have experience with these? I used the Kaplan Surgery vids (Pestana) during surgery because I was beat by the time I got home from the hospital and could not/would not open up a book. I like to just veg out and watch these lectures. I've gone through a couple of the OB vids and they seem pretty good.

I'll also be reading some Bluprints on the side and doing UWORLD/UWise questions as well as pounding through Case files toward the end.
 
Just finished blueprints.. maybe its just me being a worn out third year but damn that was such a waste of time, I don't understand why people think its so good.
 
Just finished blueprints.. maybe its just me being a worn out third year but damn that was such a waste of time, I don't understand why people think its so good.


what would your recommend?
 
read Blueprints 2x...sux...did not learn anything! should've gone with Beckmann since the beginning...much better at explaining and teaching. people from my group who used Beckmann did really well on the shelf
 
Blueprint x1, Case Files x1, Uworld/Kaplan/UWise x1

No need for Beckman unless you want to go into OB and are interested in the subject. Using the above will get you want you need on the Shelf.
 
Case Files x2, UWorld, Uwise each x1. 99 on the shelf. Not too bad.
 
I used Beckmann x1, Casefiles x1, and Uwise x2.

As usual, I felt sort of prepared.

There were some questions about genetics, and an embryology heavy question on mine. Only 2 FHR strips.
 
I used Beckmann x1, Casefiles x1, and Uwise x2.

As usual, I felt sort of prepared.

There were some questions about genetics, and an embryology heavy question on mine. Only 2 FHR strips.

I took it yesterday. I didn't think it was too bad. More OB than Gyn for sure. So far I've taken Medicine, which helped for Surgery, which has helped for OB. Lots of wound questions. I used blueprints, UWorld and UWise. Most of it (95+ questions) were bread and butter. Very few zebras, unlike other shelves.
 
Blueprints x2 + Uwise x2 + Uworld x1 + 1/2 Case Files + 1/2 First Aid = 92 raw, 97th percentile
 
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Anyone used Kaplan OBGYN Step 2ck notes in conjunction with their videos for preparing ob shelf? if so, was it adequate for preparing for the shelf?
 
Hi,
Beckman x1 B + I did Beckman becasue it is required in my school, overall a good source and chapters are short, but a 500 page book. If it is not required I do not recommend it, becasue most info can be taken from other sources
Case file x2 B As I mentioned on Med shelf, I have the habit of reading those, they are good summary and usually have some helpful charts
First aid step 2 x 2 A- Both OB and Gyn sections were good. This source give you the basics that you MUST know
Board and Wards x2 again good summary same as first aid
UWORLD x1 I felt these were easier than expected, very strigh forward in comparison to toher sections in UWORLD
Raw score 87, good enough to Honor in my school , but not as good as my other shelfs or Student Doctor forum students
Hope this help :)
 
So I got blueprints due to recommendation from upperclassmen, but our school gave us beckmann text for free. Do you think it's necessary to read both beckmann and blueprints? or is it better to read blueprints twice? Other sources that Im planning to use are case files and uwise qbank.

Also when you guys are doing questions from uwise/uworld, where do you guys annotate? since there's no central text like FA for step 1.
 
Would it make sense to just do UWorld OB/Gyn ques (total of 205) x2 and some medicine questions if I only have 1 week before the shelf? What's the one other thing or specific couple sections in Blueprints that people would recommend? Thanks!!
 
Blueprints was excellent - for questions, maybe do USMLE World
 
Ob/Gyn was my last rotation of 3rd year, so Blueprints and Case Files were just way too long for me to even bother considering to open. I decided to keep it simple and I feel like High Yield Ob/Gyn was awesome. It's a short read (only about 1 day) and covers most of what is tested on the shelf...

UWorld (x1) + uWise (done half-assed during week of exam) + High Yield Ob/Gyn (read through weekend before) = 96.

Feels good to be done with shelf exams forever!!
 
How many uWise questions are there in total?


probably like 500 or something. They are broken up in to block of 10, by subject, so thats nice.

I took the test a few weeks ago - awaiting results. Used blueprints, casefiles, uwise, uworld all x1. Felt good about it i guess, hard to tell cuz this is my first 3rd year shelf. Lots of congenital malformations caused by some external factor that you had to know based on symptoms/features of the baby.
 
Is it just me or are some of the uWISE questions incredibly poorly written?

It's not. I've only done like 10 or so, but out of the ones I did 2-3 had pretty terrible wording. Makes me want to skip them and do PreTest instead. I've already finished the UWorld questions, which were great. If you guys could pick between PreTest and uWise, which would you do?
 
It's not. I've only done like 10 or so, but out of the ones I did 2-3 had pretty terrible wording. Makes me want to skip them and do PreTest instead. I've already finished the UWorld questions, which were great. If you guys could pick between PreTest and uWise, which would you do?

uWise. But that's just my $.02
 
It's not. I've only done like 10 or so, but out of the ones I did 2-3 had pretty terrible wording. Makes me want to skip them and do PreTest instead. I've already finished the UWorld questions, which were great. If you guys could pick between PreTest and uWise, which would you do?


pretest sucks. There were questions that were pretty much identical to uwise on the shelf. And ones that I got just by reading the answer explanation.
 
Are random statistics important for this shelf? Like, What % of X tumor are bilateral?
 
Are random statistics important for this shelf? Like, What % of X tumor are bilateral?


nope...knowing that X tumor can present bilaterally might help when you read the vignette and you are trying to figure out what they have, but Ive never had a shelf exam that asked me trivia questions like the type you mention, thankfully.
 
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I used Kaplan notes/videos. Uwise 2x, world questions 2x

Raw 84
Percentile 90

exam was pretty straightforward and focused.
 
pretest sucks. There were questions that were pretty much identical to uwise on the shelf. And ones that I got just by reading the answer explanation.

I gave up on pretest after 50 questions because the questions seemed ridiculous/stupid and I just didn't have the time.

I should have put in more effort for this shelf. Read the summaries for case files, did UW once and repeated incorrect/marked, and the 2 kaplan q book tests. Did most of the Uwise questions throughout the rotation (class quizzes).

I did reasonably well (83, 88th percentile) but it was my lowest raw score and 2nd lowest percentile score all year so I think my method of studying was probably suboptimal considering many people say it is an easy shelf.

Don't underestimate the difficulty of it (not hard but requires some work) especially if you need to do well. I would recommend doing more than just questions like I did
 
Blueprints is the clear leader for a reason.

Man, that shelf suuuucks. Start early.
 
I took the shelf today and thought it was very different from the sort of questions I saw on Uwise. A lot more management and treatment related. Surprisingly, urinary incontinence was a good chunk of my test. I used Beckmann, blueprints for gyn cancers (got tired of reading Beckmann after 450 pages and the last 50 pages were going to kill me), read half of case files (wish I'd finished reading this, this book is great for the shelf), Uwise questions, and all of First Aid Obgyn. It's hard to say in retrospect, especially without knowing my score, but it seems like reading Beckmann was pointless. It's a huge book and if you're reading throughout chances are you won't remember a lot of what you read in the beginning at the end of the 2 months. It's better, in my opinion, to read something like Case Files and Blueprints twice and supplement with Uwise + other questions. Don't get me wrong, Beckmann is a great book and explains everything flawlessly but this isn't a semester long course and with OB hours there just isn't time to read a 500 page book and review.

A random piece of advice if anyone wishes to experiment with it: The ACOG bulletins are very helpful for the management type of questions.
 
I just took this exam and I thought it was a piece of cake. Did every uWise question 2X, something like 300 PreTest questions the night before, and read maybe 25 Case Files. My rotation was also amazingly busy with attendings who loved teaching and no residents.

I had already seen 60% of the questions in one way or another, at times seemingly verbatim from uWise. Had like 5 urogyn questions, and 4-5 STD questions that were a bit tricky because they withheld information I would've liked to know. Cancer, labor, & delivery were straightforward and I had 2-3 questions on amenorrhea for teenage girls. The only thing I wish I would have looked at a little better went along the lines of "if mom has this, what is the baby most likely to develop?" -- I finished with half an hour to spare.
 
do people feel that this shelf exam is "curved down," meaning that because everyone does so well, you need to get more than 70% right to get a 70 raw?
 
do people feel that this shelf exam is "curved down," meaning that because everyone does so well, you need to get more than 70% right to get a 70 raw?

The score that everyone calls "raw" isn't the number correct, it's their scaled score. Similar to a 221 on step 1, in that both represent some artificial scoring system.
 
I'm not able to get access to the UWise questions and have done Pretest. Would it be a good idea to do questions from Casefiles and out of Blueprints? I really hope they aren't as ridiculous as some of the Pretest questions
 
I'm not able to get access to the UWise questions and have done Pretest. Would it be a good idea to do questions from Casefiles and out of Blueprints? I really hope they aren't as ridiculous as some of the Pretest questions

I thought case files was excellent prep...
 
I'm not able to get access to the UWise questions and have done Pretest. Would it be a good idea to do questions from Casefiles and out of Blueprints? I really hope they aren't as ridiculous as some of the Pretest questions
Yeah, casefiles and blueprints question's were pretty good. Let this be a lesson to you, avoid pretest at all costs. Don't be fooled by what some people say, it always sucks!
 
anyone use the lange question book? any good?
 
Little late posting but I wanted to share my experience. I ended up with a 92 in the 98th percentile :D . I am no genius and I think my study plan helped a lot. I carried around case files on the wards and studied during down time.

1. Did Case Files first
2. Did Blueprints
3. Kaplan Master The Boards (best book IMO)
4. Kaplan Qbank (just as good as UW and much cheaper)
 
Blueprints is very thorough and useful for the Ob/Gyn Shelf. I would say read this once through and do practice questions from USMLE World (205 Qs) and the ACOG uWise questions (500 or so Qs). That should get you a pretty high shelf exam score.
 
I took this shelf exam about 8 days ago and I'm a little nervous. Women's Health was one of my weakest subjects as a 2nd year.

Most of the folks at my school recommended Blueprints. However, when I tried doing the uWise questions I got torn to pieces. Turns out that a lot of the people who were recommending Blueprints were people that liked OBGYN or did very well in the course. I ended up switching to the Beckman book a little late in the game. The Beckman book helped me out with my uWise score. UWorld QBank helped out a lot too in general.

Pretest was absolutely ridiculous.
 
if somebody doesnt mind could they explain what uwise is? thanks
 
if somebody doesnt mind could they explain what uwise is? thanks

A question bank put out by APGO which is a 2nd choice to UW questions ... most schools actually buy it for their students; I know mine did.

You can google UWise & it should come right up.

UW of course is the best resource to use to practice for the shelf but UWise is also invaluable. I highly recommend it. Would I pay for it myself though? Nope. I think it's like $300 or something. In lieu of UWise I would do UW, Lange, Pretest, and Blueprints Q&A if you're really trying to do as many practice problems as possible.
 
Do you guys know what percentage correct corresponds to passing? I heard like 60% correct was 5th percentile and passing in family med, which I was amazed at.
 
i did blueprints to start, then case files x2 and then lots of questions between uworld and uwise. it was still hard as hell but i did well enough to honor
 
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