Official Surgery Shelf Exam Discussion Thread

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I studied Pestana and Kaplan qbank surgery...went thru all q's twice. Already had IM.
Felt great going in to the shelf and felt bad coming out. Half the q's had nothing to do with surgery in any way. Mine had questions from OB, Pysch, IM, Peds.....and they were not Peds as it might relate to surgery in some circumstance, it was Peds in no way related to surg...and the same for the other subjects.

Half of us gathered outside the test-hall and were all like "WTF was that?"
I literally looked at the cover of my test book twice to make sure it said Surgery.

It made as much sense as taking a driving test as part of your Pysch shelf.

Hopefully someone will correct the surg shelf someday.
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OldManOkie said:
I studied Pestana and Kaplan qbank surgery...went thru all q's twice. Already had IM.
Felt great going in to the shelf and felt bad coming out. Half the q's had nothing to do with surgery in any way. Mine had questions from OB, Pysch, IM, Peds.....and they were not Peds as it might relate to surgery in some circumstance, it was Peds in no way related to surg...and the same for the other subjects.

Half of us gathered outside the test-hall and were all like "WTF was that?"
I literally looked at the cover of my test book twice to make sure it said Surgery.

It made as much sense as taking a driving test as part of your Pysch shelf.

Hopefully someone will correct the surg shelf someday.
Click to expand...

I had a very similar experience to yours, except my surgery shelf was very renal heavy (many of the questions honestly didn't even try to disguise themselves as being surgical). Very bizarre...
 
kept it simple and worked fairly well

pestana ~200 pg notes (which is actually the kaplan CK notes combined with his vignettes into one word doc - super quick read): 4-5x
UW surgery: 3-4x, mostly doing marked and incorrects after 1st time through

raw 87
 
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Kaplan/Pestana notes x3
NMS casebook x1
Lange Q&A x1 (did not find it very helpful and would not recommend unless you really want to do more questions and not reading)
USMLEWorld surgery+GI+hepato x3

Basically, knowing the Pestana notes and doing the UWorld questions made me feel comfortable enough to pass. The other stuff is really supplemental reading and also having already taken the medicine shelf. If you've taken the medicine shelf, keep it simple. If you haven't taken medicine, well, you might consider doing the MKSAP questions as well.

Raw 91
 
Could someone explain the difference between the different versions of the Pestana review that are floating around?

I have a PDF file that is called "PESTANA-Review.pdf". It is 76 pages long and begins with a section entitled "INTRODUCTION". The first sentence reads "The following outline was created by Dr. Pestana at the University of Texas Health Sciences at San Antonia [sic], Texas to assist medical students with the review of clinical surgery."

I also have another PDF file that is called "Pestana_extended.pdf". It is 194 pages long and the first page is a scanned image of a yellow, white, and black book that says "Kaplan Medical USMLE Step 2 Lecture Notes, Surgery, 2005 - 2006 Edition".

Which one of the two of these should I read and study? Is one of the versions newer or more up-to-date than the other? Also, I have 18 *.mp3 files entitled "Surg01" to "Surg18". Which of the two texts do these audio lectures correspond with? Is there another version of these out there that I am not aware of?

Thanks for the help! :D
 
UWorld -- random blocks
Kaplan QBook
Pretest (just read the answers)
Read all of NMS Textbook
Read some sections of NMS Casebook (avoid obviously out of date stuff)
Step Up to Medicine -- reviewed the book; focused on relevant chapters
Kaplan Notes, not Pestana
Reviewed First Aid Surgery quickly

Scaled 99; Percentile 99
 
RadicalRadon said:
UWorld -- random blocks
Kaplan QBook
Pretest (just read the answers)
Read all of NMS Textbook
Read some sections of NMS Casebook (avoid obviously out of date stuff)
Step Up to Medicine -- reviewed the book; focused on relevant chapters
Kaplan Notes, not Pestana
Reviewed First Aid Surgery quickly

Scaled 99; Percentile 99
Click to expand...

hhhow did you have time to get through all that Oo?
 
should we study for this any differently for the DO/COMAT exams?

Is the Pastena review enough? thanks
 
I have 2 weeks until my shelf. So far I have completed Pestana Notes x 1 and UW Surgery x 1. I used Step Up as a resource to look up facts/annotate new information I learned. Reading through this thread, I see people mentioning there is lots of Medicine on this shelf exam. From what I understand, PreTest Surgery and Lange aren't the best resources for shelf-like questions.

Has anyone used Kaplan Qbank surgery? I have the kaplan Step 2CK Qbook and plan on doing the 2 surgery sections (~100 questions) and repeating Pestana notes and UWorld surgery questions.

Im wondering what other source I should go to for qestions. I have Lange Qbook with 1000+ questions. Are there any sections in there I should focus on? What do you guys remember being higher or lower yield? Also, are UWorld GI/Hepatology sections worth completing? I don't find it feasible trying to do all of Uworld IM...there are just too many questions. What are the highest yield sources that I should focus on at this point? Unfortunately I am a very slow reader and take several hours to do a block of questions. I like to keep sources to a minimum, but know them very well.
 
I think it would be a huge mistake to study for IM instead for the Surgery exam instead of actual surgery texts such as Lawrence or First Aid for Surgery. Just browse MS kap questions and answer choices and Q bank or Pretest Surgery questions and answers choices and you will see the difference. Of course you have to understand medicine well in order to perform well on the Surgery shelf but medicine is covered in appropriate surgery texts but what to do as a surgeon in such cases won’t be covered in IM texts.
 
Hey everyone. My shelf exam is in 2 days and I am freaking out

I wish I would have looked at this sooner

what on earth is the NMS book?

So this is what I did to study during the rotation: I alternated reading surgery FA and lawrence text book chapters. We had 2 departamental exams so those were basically my sources. I used the recall to review the night before my tests. I also did all the questions on the lawrence website more than once but they were not that useful because they never had explanations.

For the shelf exam I have been reading case files and I did Uworld surgery once plus I did my incorrect questions again and I did about 100 internal medicine endocrine, hepatology and GI questions.

I was thinking of reading as much as I could of the kaplan lecture notes from here to friday. Any better suggestions?

Is this a hopeless case?
 
Those of you who have used the Kaplan Pestana Step 2 CK lecture notes in 2012, are you guys using the 2008-2009 version? I cannot find a more recent version on the various fringe download websites that come up when I do a google search.
 
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I'm a person who learns by doing questions so I am considering using pretest for the shelf (already finished uworld questions + incorrects). Is it really that bad?! I feel like world questions honed in on trauma and ortho so the rest of my surgery knowledge is a little weak.
 
Dawkter said:
I'm a person who learns by doing questions so I am considering using pretest for the shelf (already finished uworld questions + incorrects). Is it really that bad?! I feel like world questions honed in on trauma and ortho so the rest of my surgery knowledge is a little weak.
Click to expand...

I've heard nothing but terrible things about pretest surgery. There are some kaplan surgery questions from the Kaplan Step 2 CK Qbook that were written in line with the pestana notes. There are only 100 of them, but they are very good and worth your time to do.
 
Where can a person find the full version of the Pestana notes. I search google and found some, but I am not sure if it is the full version. Basically I need somebody to give me the link to the complete version if they could. I would greatly appreciate it!
 
Zback said:
Where can a person find the full version of the Pestana notes. I search google and found some, but I am not sure if it is the full version. Basically I need somebody to give me the link to the complete version if they could. I would greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...

Seconded... I'm unfamiliar with Pestana... starting up Surg in a few days.... scared crapless... I have Surgical Recall, Uworld, and NMS Casebook.... I really could use some advice on lectures to watch/listen to in order to not look like a complete idiot the first couple days, weeks, rotation, and pass my shelf O.O PLEASE HELP ME :) I <3 You guys :)
 
I'm not sure but I'd guess the Full Version of Pestana notes are actually just Kaplan Surgery notes. The 75 page document that floats around the web is sufficient.
 
Does the NMS Surgery Casebook have a current edition? The only one I'm seeing on Amazon is 2002.
 
Bumping this for those taking the exam fairly soon. I don't take mine until Sept 30th, but it's still in the back of my mind.

Anybody prepping hardcore for this now?
 
When people say they did NMS casebook, are they referring to the surgery one or the medicine casebook?
 
I lurked in this thread during my surgery rotation, so here's my 2 cents.

1. It was my first rotation/shelf
2. I used Kaplan notes x3, NMS casebook x1/2, Uworld Surgery questions x1, a smattering of Uworld Medicine questions (GI, electrolytes, ENT), short pestana notes x1 (the vignettes in the Kaplan notes are identical and written with less typos than the pestana notes so just do those instead)
3. I started studying about 3.5 weeks left in the rotation (which is about when I discovered the Kaplan/Pestana notes)

To be honest - I felt that only Kaplan notes and the Uworld questions helped at all. The NMS casebook is good for the rotation, but not really for the shelf. Also, don't feel like you need to do the medicine questions or buy the medicine textbooks already.

Overall, just try to keep it simple.

Raw: 88

@Belleza: I'm referring to this: http://www.amazon.com/Surgery-Caseb...45148079&sr=8-1&keywords=nms+surgery+casebook
 
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PowerButton said:
I lurked in this thread during my surgery rotation, so here's my 2 cents.

1. It was my first rotation/shelf
2. I used Kaplan notes x3, NMS casebook x1/2, Uworld Surgery questions x1, a smattering of Uworld Medicine questions (GI, electrolytes, ENT), short pestana notes x1 (the vignettes in the Kaplan notes are identical and written with less typos than the pestana notes so just do those instead)
3. I started studying about 3.5 weeks left in the rotation (which is about when I discovered the Kaplan/Pestana notes)

To be honest - I felt that only Kaplan notes and the Uworld questions helped at all. The NMS casebook is good for the rotation, but not really for the shelf. Also, don't feel like you need to do the medicine questions or buy the medicine textbooks already.

Overall, just try to keep it simple.

Raw: 88

@Belleza: I'm referring to this: http://www.amazon.com/Surgery-Caseb...45148079&sr=8-1&keywords=nms+surgery+casebook
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link!
 
I need opinions...I have the surgery shelf in 1 day. So far I have read NMS Casebook, Kaplan Pestana notes, and done all of the Uworld Surgery questions.

Would it be best on my last day to:

1.Read through the Pestana Vignettes again?

or

2. Read GI section of Step up to Medicine?

Thanks for your help!!!!
 
I just did USMLERx, UWorld, Kaplan QBank, and Pretest

Didn't touch other books

I got a 93.


But I know far less surgery than you fine folk. (Not meant as a backhanded compliment, just saying I took an easier exploit of the test path and bypassed real surgical knowledge, which is fine because I do not want to do surgery)
 
HelloGoodbye said:
I need opinions...I have the surgery shelf in 1 day. So far I have read NMS Casebook, Kaplan Pestana notes, and done all of the Uworld Surgery questions.

Would it be best on my last day to:

1.Read through the Pestana Vignettes again?

or

2. Read GI section of Step up to Medicine?

Thanks for your help!!!!
Click to expand...


Any body else????
 
rotatedline said:
I'm taking it on Friday. Finishing a second pass of Uworld and doing a second pass of Pestana.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply! Are you just repeating the surgery questions or are you doing some of the gi stuff as well?
 
What are you guys referring to when you reference the "long Pestana notes"? I have a 79 page document- what am I missing?
 
Alright, surgery bros. Is the magic formula still UWorld + Pestana + NMS Casebook? I went through a little bit of Pretest but threw it aside in disgust.
 
Kaputt said:
Alright, surgery bros. Is the magic formula still UWorld + Pestana + NMS Casebook? I went through a little bit of Pretest but threw it aside in disgust.
Click to expand...

I hope so. Still need to finish up NMS casebook and Pestana. Finding it very difficult to study at the hospital or in free time.

Did anybody else here have some trouble with the Uworld surgery questions? I only finished at 50% and it worries me. I was mostly doing them when I was on subspecialties and hadn't started general surgery yet (I'm on gen surg now though), but I'm not sure if that was the problem.
 
How many Pestana videos are there? where can i find them? i have a few and they are roughly about 18 mins each. are those the ones? i am missing a couple. Thanks! :)
 
Hi everyone,

So I am starting my third year rotations October 1st (due to some personal family issues) and I am going to begin with anesthesia then surgery. I have 3 weeks of nothing to do, and I want to make use of my time, especially since I will know nothing compared to everyone else that began this summer.

What is the best way to study for this thing, considering all this free time I have?
 
Qtchic1118 said:
Hi everyone,

So I am starting my third year rotations October 1st (due to some personal family issues) and I am going to begin with anesthesia then surgery. I have 3 weeks of nothing to do, and I want to make use of my time, especially since I will know nothing compared to everyone else that began this summer.

What is the best way to study for this thing, considering all this free time I have?
Click to expand...

It's probably a bit too early to start preparing for the actual exam, but the NMS Casebook has great summaries of most of the major gen surg topics.
 
My shelf is Friday. I just finished the UWorld surgery questions for a second time and noticed serious improvement after actually reading things like NMS and Pestana notes. Currently trying to finish the Pestana notes.

Should I find another source of questions (like Pretest, case files, etc) or do the Uworld ones again? I just don't want to have to read something to go along with the questions.

Thanks in advance.
 
metallica81788 said:
My shelf is Friday. I just finished the UWorld surgery questions for a second time and noticed serious improvement after actually reading things like NMS and Pestana notes. Currently trying to finish the Pestana notes.

Should I find another source of questions (like Pretest, case files, etc) or do the Uworld ones again? I just don't want to have to read something to go along with the questions.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I think the pestana/kaplan notes r by far the most helpful for this random test and worth looking at for a second or even third view but literally nothing you r going to do will really make a difference if you've done NMS/pestana/uworld. I found uworld to be nothing like the shelf in terms of difficulty/quality of question. I have not heard pretest or case files being of much use but I didn't use them.
 
I kinda wish I had used Pretest more. Pestana and Uworld put so much focus on trauma but i think it was probably only 30% of my test. The rest felt like random details from different specialties which is kinda what Pretest is all about.

But maybe that was just my version of the test
 
What is the format of the online exam like? Is the screen similar to Step 1?
 
Ilovewater said:
What is the format of the online exam like? Is the screen similar to Step
Click to expand...

Just took it on Friday. Format looks like NBME self assessments if anyone is curious. Also, that test sucked. I did Pestana x 2.5, UWorld (surgery, GI, endo, hepatobiliary, electrolytes), and NMS casebook x 1. Nothing really helped. Felt like I was guessing for half of the exam. Completely random questions. I hope I passed. :(
 
Ilovewater said:
Just took it on Friday. Format looks like NBME self assessments if anyone is curious. Also, that test sucked. I did Pestana x 2.5, UWorld (surgery, GI, endo, hepatobiliary, electrolytes), and NMS casebook x 1. Nothing really helped. Felt like I was guessing for half of the exam. Completely random questions. I hope I passed. :(
Click to expand...

I completely agree.

Did Pestana 2-3x, Uworld surgery x2, NMS casebook x1. Thought it was really bad. I feel like the only thing that could have helped was reading the entirety of Step Up to medicine or all of First Aid again.

That was rough.
 
This does not bode well. Was it just all over the place? I feel like I need to supplement my World/Pestana/NMS now with some medicine review books, but that seems so broad that attempting it would be ineffective.
 
Ilovewater said:
Just took it on Friday. Format looks like NBME self assessments if anyone is curious. Also, that test sucked. I did Pestana x 2.5, UWorld (surgery, GI, endo, hepatobiliary, electrolytes), and NMS casebook x 1. Nothing really helped. Felt like I was guessing for half of the exam. Completely random questions. I hope I passed. :(
Click to expand...

Got the scores back today. NBME score is 83 and 82th percentile. Not that great, but I'll take it.
 
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Hi everyone I am re-taking the exam for the second time and I have a lot of pressure on me! The first time I scored a 62 raw :( I had to guess about 15 questions it was awful. This time I already took step 2 ck in August and scored in the 240s yay so I have a better background than I did last time hopefully the knowledge is still there.

What I have done to prepare so far: Read the kaplan notes/vignettes once
Read FA surgery once
Have done Uworld surgery once plus random IM blocks and I am doing incorrects now
Done about 3/4 of pretest so far
Watched the Trauma, ER and Critical care DIT videos

My test is in a week. I am thinking of doing uworld surgery again and reading through the kaplan vignettes at least once more. By the way what is the difference between the pestana notes and the kaplan vignettes?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Several people have asked on this thread, but I have not yet heard it answered:
I know of a Kaplan/Pestana 199 page notes version and a 240 page "book" - what is the difference? Which is better? Can someone please paste an Amazon link to put the actual book (240 pager)? Would REALLY appreciate it.
 
Geez, based on these posts, you'd wonder how any does well on the surgery shelf. Is it worth doing a refresher on anatomy? That seems pretty lacking in most of the review sources I've been using.
 
Ilovewater said:
Got the scores back today. NBME score is 83 and 82th percentile. Not that great, but I'll take it.
Click to expand...

Sheesh since when is 82nd percentile "not great"? I'd love to get that.
 
Bbon said:
Geez, based on these posts, you'd wonder how any does well on the surgery shelf. Is it worth doing a refresher on anatomy? That seems pretty lacking in most of the review sources I've been using.
Click to expand...

There was no anatomy question on my exam. Everything was about management or most likely diagnosis.

Kaputt said:
Sheesh since when is 82nd percentile "not great"? I'd love to get that.
Click to expand...

I was hoping for a little better because this one "big-name" attendings at the ophtho program I'm interested in kept telling me how important it was to get 90+ percentile on the shelf a few days before I took the exam. Probably should have avoided that conversation haha.
 
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