Path Shelf 2012

[the prodogy]

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Anyone here take the Path shelf for 2012 yet? Any hints and tips?

 

[ijn]

Yeah, I took it about two weeks ago. I ended up watching all of Pathoma in 5 days to prepare for it. If I could do it over again I'd review some more on infectious diseases. You're going to see lots of stuff beyond First Aid but I don't think there's really any good way to prepare for it. Just try to reason through it and eliminate the stuff you know can't be true. I ended up with a scaled score of 85.

 

[link2swim06]

That thing sucked...alot. I will get my score back tomorrow but it was the hardest shelf yet. I wasn't expecting a ton of micro and got killed by the time (but I am a slow test taker).

In terms of nbme shelf exams for me its been:
Hardest ---- path>physio>micro>biochem>icm>pharm --- Easiest

My study strategy was to memorize the blue column points in golijan...this was not detailed enough. A good chuck of the questions are at the level of the actual text of golijan or are micro questions.

They choose atypical presentations of alot of diseases (not the textbook patient demographics). I did a ton of guessing, but I will update tomorrow after I get my score. I felt confident on 1/3, educated guessed on 1/3, and rushed through the last 1/3 answering obvious questions.


If you basically remember everything in golijan and review micro you will do well...

 

[deano5709]

I took it last month and I was surprised at the difficulty, definitely the hardest shelf I took this year. It seemed like there was more pharm and micro on the test than I was expecting. I think they did a pretty thorough job of making it a test that is hard to cram for. I took it with the intent of helping myself out on Step instead of shooting for the highest score I could (i.e. using FA and some of my class notes even though I knew I could get more info out of RR Path or other more detailed resources). Only using FA actually went pretty well, but I think if you did well throughout the year in path that will be the thing that helps you the most.

 

[link2swim06]

Update....just got my score back, i did average on the thing.

I guess it really depends how much time you have to study for it. If its a week Id try to re-read golijan cover to cover and read the micro section in first aid. If you have less time than that I'd pick areas you are weakest in and focus on them (too much info to go over in a day or two). Regardless its a hard test with alot of weird questions.

 

[grotto]

To anyone reading this in the future: use BRS for ALL shelf exams including path. Read it twice and you will be good.

 

[link2swim06]

To anyone reading this in the future: use BRS for ALL shelf exams including path. Read it twice and you will be good.

Isn't BRS path like double the length of the other BRS books? You are only a little bit shorter than golijan at that point.

 

[elmariachi]

I read BRS Path in the weeks before the shelf, did most of the UWorld Path questions, and got a 660. I'll take it and run.