Official Internal Medicine Shelf Exam Thread

[Depakote]

how much neuro did you all study for the exam?
also is the length of questions similar to that of uworld?

I didn't put any special time in for neuro on this... just whatever was in UWorld and MKSAP. The test was long enough ago and rapid fire enough that the specifics are a blur... but I definitely didn't walk out wishing I'd studied more neuro.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Guile]

Not too much neuro on the exam that I can recall, if any. Question stems are long, really long. I would say longer than UW. I had the hardest time finishing medicine of all the shelfs.

 

[Depakote]

Not too much neuro on the exam that I can recall, if any. Question stems are long, really long. I would say longer than UW. I had the hardest time finishing medicine of all the shelfs.

agreed.

I definitely recommend doing your practice questions by reading the last sentence first then skimming for pertinent info fast so you can get into the habit of doing this on the shelf. This is probably AS important as a good knowledge base for this exam... lots of people are pressed for time at the end, if you can have time to answer those questions, it'll put you up on the curve. [/stating the obvious]

 

[Guile]

agreed.

I definitely recommend doing your practice questions by reading the last sentence first then skimming for pertinent info fast so you can get into the habit of doing this on the shelf. This is probably AS important as a good knowledge base for this exam... lots of people are pressed for time at the end, if you can have time to answer those questions, it'll put you up on the curve. [/stating the obvious]

Completely agree with reading last sentence first and then skimming the stem. Great technique. And also I would do the last questions first because I thought those were the easiest ones. It would be bad to let those points go by not having enough time to think to get them right or worse, having to completely guess.

 

[sendwich]

..

 

[Guile]

Why'd you delete the question? It was legit. I would use UW for questions. MKSAP questions are decent for review and learning but UW are most representative of the real shelf. I would use UW. You don't need to worry about saving them for Step 2. You won't remember them and it will be good, early review for Step 2.

 

[sendwich]

Why'd you delete the question? It was legit. I would use UW for questions. MKSAP questions are decent for review and learning but UW are most representative of the real shelf. I would use UW. You don't need to worry about saving them for Step 2. You won't remember them and it will be good, early review for Step 2.

i realized it was addressed in an earlier post :X. thanks for the reply!

 

[Slide]

Just took it today and hoo boy, this sucker was tough. I barely finished when time was called, and even then it was because I made educational guesses on certain questions I reviewed. Just to echo my experience:
1) Several people didn't finish the test and resorted to guessing on the last 5-10 questions.
2) The questions can be just as long as UWorld, but more often they were 5-6 sentences. What was really tough was that the questions were not presented in how UWorld presents it; UWorld often gives a classic or near-classic picture of a disease or syndrome; the shelf will present with very sparse findings in the questions, usually limited to the typical or hallmark sign/symptom and will ask you to diagnose or work it up. If anything question presentations are almost like how a patient will present in the wards or in clinic - as a nontypical, nonclassic picture but enough information to suspect a diagnosis.
3) Forget about using racial or age IDs to figure out what a patient has; none were on my test.
4) Some questions were very random or came from other disciplines like OBGYN and surgery. It definitely helps more to have this test at the end of all your rotations.
5) Lots of diagnosing and "what would u do next/how to treat" questions.
6) Last, this test will have several random and obscure questions. Part of doing well IMO is just luck; you may get some obscure questions you remember, and some questions will be completely foreign to you.

Will update when I get my score back.

 

[Ihateverbal]

Took the test a week or two ago and just got my results.
The test was not too bad actually, despite what people say on here. I felt there were a bunch of antibiotics on the test. I.e. septic knee that was comm acquired (ceftriaxone or vanc), and meningococcus meningitis prophylaxis in people who were exposed to someone with it (rifampin versus ceftriaxone). etc. Not too much neuro but a few surgery questions and surprisingly, not so much cardio as I was expecting.

Barely finished the exam, with several questions I was unsure of (about 10).
Never someone that does well on shelf exams. I tried a new technique that people recommended. Read the last sentence of the question, skim through answer choice to narrow down the differential and then skim through the stem for pertinent info...THIS REALLY HELPED ME ALOT....it was probably the only thing I did different on this shelf exam compared to the others, besides use Uworld which probably added alot of points. Before, I used Kaplan QBank. UWORLD>>>> Kaplan Qbank in mirroring the shelf.

I read Step Up to Medicine (skimmed through it) and did 1000 Uworld questions, a couple sections on MKSAP and read Case Files in the first few weeks of the rotation

Raw Score: 85
NBME Percentile: 91

Pretty happy..hope its enough to get honors

 

[owenmichael]

First off, thanks for all the tips on studying for this one on this forum.

What I used:
1) Step Up: Tried to read through the chapters quickly, and not get caught up in details
2) USMLE World: PLEASE use this. I did all 1500 medicine questions in tutor mode. It was stellar for this shelf. I tried to go back through and do the ones I got wrong too.
I was relatively hardcore because our rotation is only 6 weeks long, the majority of which involves frequent call... so getting through the above material required way more motivation than I usually have.

Impression:
The test honestly felt really easy and straight forward, I left scared that I had completely just not seen "tricks" in the questions or something. There are definitely some random questions here or there that come down to how well you remember them for Step 1. Almost frustrating at times because there were definitely straight forward questions that I knew I "Used to know" the answer too 2nd year and kind've had to go with instinct on in terms of answers. Overall I finished with about 10 minutes to spare and recheck the ones I wasn't sure about (probably about 15-20). Definitely felt more straight forward than all the other shelves I have taken this year (surgery was a beast!!)... If you know your ****, do World, you will do well!

Raw Score: 90
Percentile: 96th

 

[Somedaydoc]

How much does knowing Surgery, OB/GYN, Psychiatry, and Pediatrics help on the Medicine shelf? In terms of numbers of questions? Thanks so much!

 

[TheFranchise]

Hey guys, can you help me out? Do you basically just get the step 2 world questions and do the medicine section? I was wandering where these came from. Also, how many total medicine questions are there?

 

[Guile]

Hey guys, can you help me out? Do you basically just get the step 2 world questions and do the medicine section? I was wandering where these came from. Also, how many total medicine questions are there?

Yes. There are 1400 medicine questions.

 

[Igor4sugry]

Can someone provide input on my study plan. (I have a 3month IM rotation)

I plan on reading Step-up and relevant details in UptoDate, Cecils; and then spend a month on MKSAP4.

Is this sufficient time for Qs? Do you know how many Qs are in MKSAP4?

 

[DrVanNostran]

Has anyone used the Kaplan 2CK IM text to study for the shelf? Have you watched the Kaplan videos? How are these? Also, what about the Goljan or Conrad Fischer Audio that seems to be floating out there?

bump

 

[vir0n]

Took it about a week ago - I know...100%....without a doubt....I failed. The test dropped a huge bomb on me and I dropped a huge load in my pants. I am truly amazed by everyone's score on this exam. Thing again, you SDNers always amazing me.

I'm not even going to post what I did to prepare because it was obviously way wrong. In the mean time, I will just continue praying that I passed. My school is very picky. Failed test = repeat the entire rotation and retake. Fail again = kicked out. This is going to totally screw up my externships this fall.

 

[kdburton]

Can someone provide input on my study plan. (I have a 3month IM rotation)

I plan on reading Step-up and relevant details in UptoDate, Cecils; and then spend a month on MKSAP4.

Is this sufficient time for Qs? Do you know how many Qs are in MKSAP4?

Reading Step-Up plus Cecils is rather ambitious. If I were you I'd probably do just one or the other (and personally Id stick with Step-Up). I'm sure Cecil's is great, but the point of this thread is to learn efficiently over the course of your IM rotation the info that is necessary to do well on the shelf - and Cecil's is more of a textbook than a review for shelf exams. I'm sure you can search online to see how many questions there are on MKSAP4, but I can tell you right now there is not enough to take up a whole months worth of time. I'd recommend buying USMLE World and doing those questions if you have a month to spend on them because theres like 1500 questions and they are dead-on for this shelf. I personally thought MKSAP was crap.

 

[astrocreep96]

Question for you guys (and/or girld): when referencing UWorld Qbank - were you using UWorld Step 2 CK, specifically the IM Questions (which I have been lead to believe number in the 1400+ )?

Thanks! I only just finished Step 1 and already I have to pick up another UWorld Qbank.

 

[kdburton]

Question for you guys (and/or girld): when referencing UWorld Qbank - were you using UWorld Step 2 CK, specifically the IM Questions (which I have been lead to believe number in the 1400+ )?

Thanks! I only just finished Step 1 and already I have to pick up another UWorld Qbank.

Yes people are referring to the USMLE World Step 2 CK Qbank. Honestly the IM questions are golden in my opinion. UW was great for other rotations as well, but there are significantly fewer (i.e. <200) questions for most other specialties, so take that into consideration if you're thinking of buying it for a whole year.

 

[Depakote]

Question for you guys (and/or girld): when referencing UWorld Qbank - were you using UWorld Step 2 CK, specifically the IM Questions (which I have been lead to believe number in the 1400+ )?

Thanks! I only just finished Step 1 and already I have to pick up another UWorld Qbank.

I tried to average 1/2 block (22 questions) a day through the course of my 90 day IM clerkship. That's an easy pace to finish the IM section of UWorld for Step 2 and get plenty of other studying done.

 

[astrocreep96]

Thanks, kdburton and Depakote.

I'll have to think about how to arrange my study schedule. I believe my rotation is 10 weeks (not sure, I have orientation next week and I'm a pretty disorganized individual with things like schedules).

I've been thinking about picking up MKSAP 4 in the next week and using that as a learning tool. Reading through this thread, it seems like people have mixed feelings on it in regards to its value as a Qbank, so we'll see.

I'd like to use UWorld as much as possible, but I'm wondering about the possibility of starting it half-way through my rotation. I will take a guess and say it probably has value as a learning tool much as UWorld for Step 1 did, and I don't want to start too early and forget much of what I studied early on.

 

[Depakote]

I'd like to use UWorld as much as possible, but I'm wondering about the possibility of starting it half-way through my rotation. I will take a guess and say it probably has value as a learning tool much as UWorld for Step 1 did, and I don't want to start too early and forget much of what I studied early on.

Stuff you studied early > Stuff you ran out of time to study

 

[Guile]

Stuff you studied early > Stuff you ran out of time to study

Words to live by...so true, so true.

 

[Somedaydoc]

Just wanted to ask if you guys think going through the relevant chapters of Step up 2 step 2ck (most of the book) + UW is just as good as going through step up to medicine + UW. I tried going through step up to medicine but there is a lot of detail and I don't retain as much, but if this is the better book and the best way to do well on the shelf, please let me know. Thanks so much. I always appreciate the sdn advice!

PS. I have about 26 days till the shelf and will be starting my outpatient month, and haven't done any studying thus far while I was on inpatient, there was just no time.

 

[Instatewaiter]

Can someone provide input on my study plan. (I have a 3month IM rotation)

I plan on reading Step-up and relevant details in UptoDate, Cecils; and then spend a month on MKSAP4.

Is this sufficient time for Qs? Do you know how many Qs are in MKSAP4?

Drop Cecils.

Use UTD only for what your patients have (and related conditions).

The breadth should come from step up and MKSAP/UWorld

Just wanted to ask if you guys think going through the relevant chapters of Step up 2 step 2ck (most of the book) + UW is just as good as going through step up to medicine + UW. I tried going through step up to medicine but there is a lot of detail and I don't retain as much, but if this is the better book and the best way to do well on the shelf, please let me know. Thanks so much. I always appreciate the sdn advice!

PS. I have about 26 days till the shelf and will be starting my outpatient month, and haven't done any studying thus far while I was on inpatient, there was just no time.

I vote step up to medicine. Honestly, step up to medicine really helped for step 2 as well. It behooves you to go through step up to med at least once.

For you, I'd recommend reading some step up each day and also doing questions everyday. In a month, you should be able to make a big dent in USMLE world and get through a lot of step up.

 

[Perrotfish]

Please rate my study plan for 8 weeks of IM rotation. For reference: I had trouble just passing Step 1 (will find out for sure July 14th), not sure I even passed the friggin psych shelf after much studying, and seem to remember no pharm at all.

5 (free) days before the rotation starts:

-2 days learning how to read EKGs with lots of practice
-3 days mad dash through case files.

During the rotation:

-Read about patients
-15 pages Step up to medicine/day
-30 UWorld questions per day
-Conrad Flash cards throughout the day (there are 600 of them, so I guess I want to memorize 15/day?)
-MKSAP in the last two weeks.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Also I have MKSAP 4, is it really worth it to try to track down 3?

 

[kyley3k]

-
2 days learning how to read EKGs with lots of practice
-3 days mad dash through case files.

During the rotation:

-Read about patients
-15 pages Step up to medicine/day
-30 UWorld questions per day
-Conrad Flash cards throughout the day (there are 600 of them, so I guess I want to memorize 15/day?)
-MKSAP in the last two weeks.

Also I have MKSAP 4, is it really worth it to try to track down 3?

I used MKSAP4 and it was great; however, I wouldn't use it during the last 2 weeks. I would have probably done it first, because it got me out of a test taking rhythm and I felt very rushed on the medicine shelf. Its also a great resource to start out with because it gives very long detailed answers for each question.

Use UWorld solely for the last few weeks, I think it was a great resource, I probably would have done more if I could have. Use it to time yourself. I had to do the last 40 questions of the shelf in 30 min, probably because I stopped doing UWorld questions in favor of MKSAP for the last 2 weeks.

Step up is good, if you can sort through it. There is a lot of info and the shelf isn't that detailed. The medicine shelf involves a lot of thinking about problems and probably favors the proverbial 'good test taker' so if you're not a good test taker... read this book. Also, if you do read this book, and start running out of time on the shelf, just skim the question and go with your best guess from step up knowledge because you're probably right. This helped me (89/92).

I think your initial plan is very ambitious. EKGs are really important, especially if you're on a cardio service. The details are not important for the shelf. Major problems are, details (e.g. strict criteria for LVH) aren't. Don't stress yourself out if you don't get through every little detail.

 

[psych]

Just started clinical rotations. I bought a bunch of 3rd year books from another student who told me it was all I needed for the shelfs. I guess I should have researched before I was ripped off but anyway I have a few questions.
Should I even use blueprints, recall, or pretest for the medicine shelf? I didn't read this entire thread but it seems like everyone suggests UW + step up to medicine. I also have case files which appears to be recommended. I guess I need to buy step up and a UW subscription. Grrr I hate buying books I don't end up using and having to buy additional books when I thought I was set!

Also I'm sorry if this is addressed elsewhere but what's the deal with MKSAP? Is that a qbank? Is that necessary to purchase too?

 

[Guile]

Just started clinical rotations. I bought a bunch of 3rd year books from another student who told me it was all I needed for the shelfs. I guess I should have researched before I was ripped off but anyway I have a few questions.
Should I even use blueprints, recall, or pretest for the medicine shelf? I didn't read this entire thread but it seems like everyone suggests UW + step up to medicine. I also have case files which appears to be recommended. I guess I need to buy step up and a UW subscription. Grrr I hate buying books I don't end up using and having to buy additional books when I thought I was set!

Also I'm sorry if this is addressed elsewhere but what's the deal with MKSAP? Is that a qbank? Is that necessary to purchase too?

Yeah I wouldn't have bought all those books without getting reviews. Regardless, I would dump Blueprints, Recall, and Pretest for the medicine shelf. UW + Step Up is the best plan. I thought Case Files was pretty good but definitely does not cover everything that Step Up does. Case Files is good for the beginning of the rotation.

 

[metallo]

Just took the shelf last week, so I thought I'd share my experience. My first 10 or so questions were just ridiculous. A few were WTF questions, and there were a few where I basically knew what they were getting at, but I could still only narrow it down to two answers... very frustrating! After that, the test seemed much more reasonable. This was my last shelf, so I'm definitely familiar with the format at this point, and I think there was a higher proportion of "most appropriate next step in management" questions on this shelf than the others, with fewer straight diagnosis questions. The management questions can be tricky because it sometimes seems like there are multiple reasonable options -- one that you have seen done on your rotation and another that you think is probably the better "textbook" answer. There were also a few Step 1-like questions involving mechanisms of disease at a molecular level. I also noticed that there are some topics they really seem to like... there was one particular pulmonary topic that was asked 4 different ways on 4 different questions (and that's not an exaggeration). Speaking of pulmonary, I thought it was the most heavily tested topic on my exam, complete with a few x-rays that you may or may not have needed to answer the question. Cardiovascular and renal were the next two best represented topics. Overall, though, all the expected topics were covered on the exam, plus a few extras like straight Surgery or OB/GYN questions. I would advise you not to be tempted to neglect the smaller topics in order to cover the big three, because I still had several questions on derm (definitely study this!!!), rheumatology, ophthalmology, the nervous system, etc. However, I was surprised by the lack of outpatient topics -- I only remember a couple of questions where I was asked to manage uncomplicated hyperlipidemia or hypertension.

Overall, it really wasn't an unfair exam, but it still had its bizarre moments for me. Some of the question stems are VERY long (as in >1/2 a column), so be sure to work quickly (I definitely recommend the method of skimming the question and answers first to get your head in the right place). The NBME has apparently just increased the standard shelf length from 2 hrs 10 mins to 2 hrs 30 mins for the upcoming year, so that will be very helpful on this exam for all of you new 3rd years. Also, the last 4 questions are the diagnosis questions with the very short vignette and like 15 answer choices. They were very easy compared to the rest of the test, so make sure you don't run out of time on those. One more thing... unlike one of the earlier posters, I didn't think the age/gender of the patient threw me off on any questions -- I definitely didn't see any 20 year-olds with CLL or 70 year-olds with Sickle Cell, so the ages and genders were generally helpful, if anything.

 

[deleted103644]

That's far too much time studying EKGs. You should know all you need to already from getting pimped on the wards - there is usually only one EKG, and on my test you could answer the question without looking at the EKG at all. I really don't understand the point of images on these tests - they are to cheap to put enough in the exam, and then the ones they do often are completely unnecessary. I'm pretty sure my test was designed by Tyler Durden, considering there was a completely unnecessary full color half-page image of a penis. You could see people blushing all around the room.

Please rate my study plan for 8 weeks of IM rotation. For reference: I had trouble just passing Step 1 (will find out for sure July 14th), not sure I even passed the friggin psych shelf after much studying, and seem to remember no pharm at all.

5 (free) days before the rotation starts:

-2 days learning how to read EKGs with lots of practice
-3 days mad dash through case files.

During the rotation:

-Read about patients
-15 pages Step up to medicine/day
-30 UWorld questions per day
-Conrad Flash cards throughout the day (there are 600 of them, so I guess I want to memorize 15/day?)
-MKSAP in the last two weeks.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Also I have MKSAP 4, is it really worth it to try to track down 3?

 

[Deferoxamine]

Score: 94
Resources Used: Step Up To Medicine x1 (Read Cardio, Pulmonary and fluids/electrolytes chapters twice), about 75% of USMLEworld Step 2 internal medicine questions, random glances at Pocket Medicine/Uptodate when in the hospital
Prior rotations completed: Peds, Surgery, Family Medicine

I thought USMLEworld questions were really helpful. One thing I remember about this exam was that the questions were very verbose...speed/efficient reading is a must, and don't get caught up on any one question. Questions themselves were OK.

Similar approach to me, with identical score.

Used: Step Up x1, MKSAP 4 x2, ~600 Q's in UWorld Step 2 qbank.
Raw Score: 94
Percentile: 99

Second the UWorld questions. MKSAP is great for the bread and butter stuff, but the IM shelf struck me much more like a Step test in that there was a fair share of truly random off the wall questions, which UWorld better encapsulated.

Well I guess some scores are contagious here.

Raw score = 94
Percentile > 95th

To be honest, I have no idea how the hell on God's green earth I pulled this one off. My stress level in the final 7-10 days of this rotation was terrible, to the point where I was vomiting up my breakfast several times in the week of the shelf exam. Could not eat. Could not sleep. Could not relax. Seriously counted down the hours until my exams and all of 3rd year were done for good. Regardless, fought through the pain and kept studying whenever I could. Proof positive that what they say really is true - never give up, no matter how bad things become.

I used Step-Up to Medicine (x 1.5 - I re-read the higher-yield sections), did about 1200 of the Internal Medicine UWorld questions, did all 8 of Kaplan's QBook practice question sets (50 Q's each). While doing UWorld, I became mad when so many random Epidemiology, Neuro, and Ophtho questions would pop up, but figured UWorld just had no place else to put them except under "Internal Medicine", so I just read through them anyway - certainly paid off on the shelf.

Exam wasn't bad, but that's probably a relativity thing because it was my final shelf exam of 3rd year, so I knew the answers to all the Surgery-ish and Ob/Gyn-ish questions. Exam content seemed particularly heavy in Renal and Pulmonary topics. Stems were so long, I just skimmed most of them to save time, I'm certain I missed a few random details, but oh well. Knew walking out of the exam that there were at least 2 questions I missed.

Glad this one is over. Big thanks to everyone in this thread for pointing me in the right directions. There really is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work.

 

[RisingSun]

Resources: UWORLD, MKSAP 4, Medicine casebook (this was really good, I can't stress how great of a resource this was. Much more tolerable than STM, which I bought but never used)

Raw Score: >80

UWorld was key.

Well I guess some scores are contagious here.

Raw score = 94
Percentile > 95th

To be honest, I have no idea how the hell on God's green earth I pulled this one off. My stress level in the final 7-10 days of this rotation was terrible, to the point where I was vomiting up my breakfast several times in the week of the shelf exam. Could not eat. Could not sleep. Could not relax. Seriously counted down the hours until my exams and all of 3rd year were done for good. Regardless, fought through the pain and kept studying whenever I could. Proof positive that what they say really is true - never give up, no matter how bad things become.

I used Step-Up to Medicine (x 1.5 - I re-read the higher-yield sections), did about 1200 of the Internal Medicine UWorld questions, did all 8 of Kaplan's QBook practice question sets (50 Q's each). While doing UWorld, I became mad when so many random Epidemiology, Neuro, and Ophtho questions would pop up, but figured UWorld just had no place else to put them except under "Internal Medicine", so I just read through them anyway - certainly paid off on the shelf.

Exam wasn't bad, but that's probably a relativity thing because it was my final shelf exam of 3rd year, so I knew the answers to all the Surgery-ish and Ob/Gyn-ish questions. Exam content seemed particularly heavy in Renal and Pulmonary topics. Stems were so long, I just skimmed most of them to save time, I'm certain I missed a few random details, but oh well. Knew walking out of the exam that there were at least 2 questions I missed.

Glad this one is over. Big thanks to everyone in this thread for pointing me in the right directions. There really is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Resources: UWORLD, MKSAP 4, Medicine casebook (this was really good, I can't stress how great of a resource this was. Much more tolerable than STM, which I bought but never used)

Raw Score: >80

UWorld was key.

What's STM? Also, anyone have opinions on MKSAP 3 vs 4?

 

[RisingSun]

What's STM? Also, anyone have opinions on MKSAP 3 vs 4?

Sorry, probably used the wrong abbreviation. I meant step-up to medicine.

I only used MKSAP 4, thought it was pretty good.

 

[Deferoxamine]

I must say, looking back on 3rd year, it sure has been nice to see so many people from the May/June 2009 SDN Step 1 crew rocking most (if not all) of these shelf exams - Slide, Depakote, burton, Zag, RisingSun, among many others.

Way to represent.

 

[Depakote]

I must say, looking back on 3rd year, it sure has been nice to see so many people from the May/June 2009 SDN Step 1 crew rocking most (if not all) of these shelf exams - Slide, Depakote, burton, Zag, RisingSun, among many others.

Way to represent.

 

[radiodoc99]

Is there a difference between the MKSAP 4 book and CD version?

 

[Depakote]

Is there a difference between the MKSAP 4 book and CD version?

Same questions. The CD version does let you do the questions in a random order and keeps track of your right/wrong answers.

 

[Deferoxamine]

I must say, looking back on 3rd year, it sure has been nice to see so many people from the May/June 2009 SDN Step 1 crew rocking most (if not all) of these shelf exams - Slide, Depakote, burton, Zag, RisingSun, MortalLessons, among many others.

Way to represent.

Added another that I realized I forgot. Again, I'm sure I'm missing some others.

Right back at ya.

 

[JustRelax]

A lot of ppl are saying that MKSAP4 is horrible. I took IM as my first shelf/rotation of 3rd year, studied less than a month: read step-up 2-3x and did MKSAP4 twice. Didn't touch UWorld. Just got score
Raw 89
Percentile: 96-98% (depending on what quarter u look at)

That was fine for me...may not be fine for others of you out there.

This is just to say that MKSAP4 IS FINE! If you did well on your boards, you should trust that you're smart and that you just need some gentle jogging of your memory to help grease the wheels again. No need to freak out and pay hundreds of dollars for UWorld

 

[jackieMD2007]

For the record, medicine was my first clerkship of last year...

I did all of the MKSAP questions, read along in MKSAP essentials and looked through probably about 1/2 of Step-Up to Medicine.

I flipped to the back of the test (where the matching was) and did that first which saved some time and was lucky (I bet the matching isn't always last...)

Score=80

I guess I kind of winged it. At that point I hadn't even considered using UWorld but I bet I could have improved my score had I thought of it.

To be honest I was so tired from Step 1 I didn't want to go back to a q-bank!!

 

[Deferoxamine]

I have to admit, after third year clerkships, "Scrubs" became MUCH funnier.

Oh, I definitely agree with this.

Also, is your avatar a photo of you? If so, I need you to give me eleven more so that I can make myself a wall calendar. kthxinadvance.

 

[jackieMD2007]

Def,
No it's not. It's Kate Beckinsale, who people tell me I look like in real life
I'm guessing you're not a smoking baby either.

 

[Deferoxamine]

Def,
No it's not. It's Kate Beckinsale, who people tell me I look like in real life
I'm guessing you're not a smoking baby either.

Humble B-List Celebrity Jackie <3 (if that is your REAL name )

 

[fergustsi]

Just got my shelf grade back.

Took it back on june 18th.

"Raw" - 100 (my school curves so i dont know what the real raw score is)
percentile - 99 (not curved)
This was my last rotation in MS3, and since i was taking CK a month later I was basically studying for both at the same time. For IM I used Step Up to Medicine and Case Files the first month and the second month I used MKSAP and internal medicine essentials 2. For a Qbank, my school requires we do the "special" Kaplan IM qbank with 750+ questions. No Uworld used until prepping for step 2 after the shelf.

Specifics on the exam - it was 6 weeks ago and hard to remember. some people were worried about neuro and yeah there was some stuff on there, but nothing too tricky that wouldnt be in the review books above. A few random questions. kinda heavy on rheum. everything else was pretty evenly distributed.

 

[jackieMD2007]

Humble B-List Celebrity Jackie <3 (if that is your REAL name )

Well that totally is me.
And my name actually is Jackie.

 

[anony mouse]

Oker dokes, let's say that other than reading about your patients' conditions and doing a few UWorld questions you haven't done any intensive prep for the shelf. Now you have 5 days left to pack as much info into your noggin as possible, what would your plan be? Go through all of Step Up and try to get to as many UWorld questions as you can? That is what I am leaning towards, Other strategies?

 

[fergustsi]

Oker dokes, let's say that other than reading about your patients' conditions and doing a few UWorld questions you haven't done any intensive prep for the shelf. Now you have 5 days left to pack as much info into your noggin as possible, what would your plan be? Go through all of Step Up and try to get to as many UWorld questions as you can? That is what I am leaning towards, Other strategies?

Case Files can easiley be done in 5 days and i would do uworld questions when not reading.

 

[NewAndImproved]

Silly question.

When you guys say "raw score 95", has that number been in any way adjusted by the NBME? In other words, did you only miss 5 out of 100 on the shelf?