Path Shelf

[kate0834tkjn]

Hi everyone--I'm getting ready to take the path shelf in about a week. What's the best way to prep? I've been using BRS and listening to Goljan lectures, but haven't studied that much yet b/c we just finished another exam yesterday. Thanks for your help!

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[vtucci]

I took the path shelf a few weeks ago and did quite well on it (95% nationwide).

My recommendations:
1. Golijan's Rapid Review
2. Deja Review
3. If you already bought a qbank (Kaplan, UW, USMLERx), you should do the path questions in it.
4. Robbins Review
5. Webpath

 

[kate0834tkjn]

Congrats, what an awesome score! I don't think I can do that well, but I'm hoping to refresh my memory on enough to at least pass (it's also our final...). thanks for your quick reply!

 

[SoCuteMD]

I took the path shelf a few weeks ago and did quite well on it (95% nationwide).

My recommendations:
1. Golijan's Rapid Review
2. Deja Review
3. If you already bought a qbank (Kaplan, UW, USMLERx), you should do the path questions in it.
4. Robbins Review
5. Webpath

I'm curious because I have everything on this list besides Deja Review. Do you think it's really really really helpful?

Congrats on a kickass score!

 

[winsicle]

I'm curious because I have everything on this list besides Deja Review. Do you think it's really really really helpful?

Congrats on a kickass score!

No, unfortunately only really really...

actually i've never seen it, but Golj RR can answer just about every question you'll find on RROP and WebPath, and so I would imagine just about every question on the path shelf...

btw what exactly is the path shelf, is this only for schools on a non-systems curriculum?

 

[blz]

Yea I got a few friends at another school that have to take these shelf exams after their normal exams. What are these tests all about and how come there are a lot of schools that dont require it (my school included)?

 

[kate0834tkjn]

I honestly don't know a lot about it, but here's what I know....the NBME writes these tests for all the different subjects and the some schools use them a lot, a little, or not at all. For us, this is the first one that's counted for anything grade-wise (we took another one just for practice). Apparently, we're going to get these exams from the NBME and they'll be all sealed up. We'll take them and send them back to the NBME where they'll be graded against all the other people in the whole country who took the same form, then the scores will be returned to the school, and then given to us by the school. For our class, they'll tell us how we did compared to everyone nationwide, but then they'll figure out an average for our class and award class grades based on that. Supposedly, the NBME tests are supposed to be useful for boards, or so they tell us anyway. Not sure if that's the whole story, but that's how it's working here.... now I've just got to find a way to fit a massive amount of path into my head in a week!

 

[cromagnon]

the shelf exams are offered by the nbme for basic and clinical sciences. some schools (mine included) like to bone their students by making these exams part of the curriculum.

the questions are very similar to what is in the pretest series of books. based on what youve heard about using usmleasy (i.e. dont) to study for step1 you can see what a waste of time it is to have these cumulative (as in the whole year) exams weeks before boards.

they rank up their with the H,HP,P,F system for being useless and stupid.

 

[nasdr]

I took the path shelf a few weeks ago and did quite well on it (95% nationwide).

My recommendations:
1. Golijan's Rapid Review
2. Deja Review
3. If you already bought a qbank (Kaplan, UW, USMLERx), you should do the path questions in it.
4. Robbins Review
5. Webpath

congrats on an awesome score. i'm guessing a lot of it had to do with all the questions you went thru. which q's did you think were most representative (i.e. robbins q book, webpath, UW or Kaplan qbank)?

 

[deleted113029]

I took the path shelf a few weeks ago and did quite well on it (95% nationwide).

My recommendations:
1. Golijan's Rapid Review
2. Deja Review
3. If you already bought a qbank (Kaplan, UW, USMLERx), you should do the path questions in it.
4. Robbins Review
5. Webpath

super overkill...but good score nonetheless.

BRS Path and paying attention in class are all you need...netted a 99.7%ile on that shelf.

 

[kate0834tkjn]

Villin, that is so good to hear.... Congrats to you too on your great score!

 

[globallmedicine]

is there any pathophys on the path shelf?

if so, what book would address this well? brs doesn't do this really.

thanks!

 

[globallmedicine]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/archive/index.php/t-196922.html

 

[vtucci]

congrats on an awesome score. i'm guessing a lot of it had to do with all the questions you went thru. which q's did you think were most representative (i.e. robbins q book, webpath, UW or Kaplan qbank)?

Congrats Villin. That is awesome. I have never loved BRS and it sound like your path class was really solid like mine. I made suggestions for students whose class in pathology may not have been as good as what we experienced.

I would say that most of the sources I used for questions were more difficult (or nitpicky/detailed) than the questions written by NBME but if you understand the concepts (which you absolutely must to get Robbins review questions correct), that is what is important. I also perused pre-test and had done some of the questions in that series throughout the year, along with Kaplan Qbook and First Aid Q&A, for preparation of my course exams.

We had two days to study for our shelf (we had other shelf exams before and after path) and I am satisfied with the sources that I used. I used the Deja Review for Step I at that time because I did not yet have a copy of pathology Deja Review. I also used Golijan and did questions from both USMLEWorld and Qbank. I like the question/answer prompt format of Deja Review and the Recall series for quick memory retention. I glanced through FA and did not find it as helpful but it is not a waste of time IMHO.

Good luck all.

 

[domer621]

Just took the shelf today, and all I can say is you better know your micro!

 

[G0S2]

I grabbed it and bent it over to show it who's boss! Again, to the non believers, Goljan is the man !!!!!!!!!

 

[domer621]

haha agreed!

 

[Sureshot83]

I just took the path shelf, and my school uses it as 1/3 of our grade for pathology, giving it equal weight to the two midterms we had. My question is, how are they scored? Does the NBME give any sort of numerical score between 0-100 that the profs can use as our final exam grade?

It seems from this thread that the NBME only reports percentiles, but that wouldn't make sense for grading. Like if someone did exactly average, it wouldn't make sense to mark them as a 50 on the final, since that would be a failing grade.

As far as I know our pathology course director has not told us that the school has any system for converting percentiles. This is what he told us about the grading for the final:

The exam is graded by the National Board using its proprietary protocol; your grade will NOT be a raw score of percentage correct. Usually our students receive a grade on this exam that is comparable to what they received on the first 2 exams.​

 

[akpete]

I just took the path shelf, and my school uses it as 1/3 of our grade for pathology, giving it equal weight to the two midterms we had.

Holy cow! Only 3 exams for path - talk about pressure to not screw it up. Our school has path all year long, divided into 8 blocks/exams with the last block having a cumulative portion.

They had thought about giving us a shelf this year, but backed out. We don't have any shelf exams here until 3rd year.

 

[globallmedicine]

how much micro and pathophys is on the path shelf?

should you look at CMMRS to review micro?

 

[N-Surge]

Just took the shelf today, and all I can say is you better know your micro!

QFT!

 

[nasdr]

would FA micro be insufficient?

 

[Pianoboe01]

How much micro could there really be though, when the NBME says micro is only 1-5%? http://www.nbme.org/PDF/NBME2003SubjExams.pdf

 

[domer621]

How much micro could there really be though, when the NBME says micro is only 1-5%?

It says straight micro is 1-5%, but you're forgetting about the micro that goes along with all of the other systems, especially reproductive/GI/respiratory.

 

[Pianoboe01]

It says straight micro is 1-5%, but you're forgetting about the micro that goes along with all of the other systems, especially reproductive/GI/respiratory.

Right - I wasn't thinking about it that way. So do you think FA micro is sufficient? I take it on Friday.

 

[Friendly]

No way. I promise you that microbiology was easily 45% of my exam...in-depth stuff, too. Robbin's Review was like the best source I used. BRS pathology was good, but not enough. First Aid was a joke for this test.

 

[Friendly]

Update: so I scored in the 80th percentile nationally.

Note to people taking this exam: you will feel like you failed it. It's very hard. The NBME must use a 'fudge factor' before releasing the score.

 

[N-Surge]

No way. I promise you that microbiology was easily 45% of my exam...in-depth stuff, too. Robbin's Review was like the best source I used. BRS pathology was good, but not enough. First Aid was a joke for this test.

I also had a number of micro questions. Maybe a dozen or so. Felt like more. But that is how it is when one gets hit with some factoid Qs one isn't too prepared for or has to at least dig deep to scrounge up answers.

Review of Pathology would've been good. I simply ran out of time with RR Goljan. Path Pre Test is also hot for this thing! Yet another source I wasn't able to get too.

 

[Colba55o]

I just took the Path shelf a few hours ago, I wouldn't say micro was 45% of it, though there was quite a bit. If I could go back and study again I would focus more on STDs than general micro. There were no questions on worms, malaria, but more than a couple dealing with lesions on private parts, and what biopsies of the lesions would show. Other than that the micro was pretty basic. (pseudomembrane on the back of the throat of a 8 yr old girl, a group of people got bloody diarrhea after drinking out of a fountain contaminated with sewage) the STD stuff was tricky, though so know it well.
More than micro I wish I had gone over immuno better. There were detailed questions on complement, T/B cell activation, and the like that you will not be able to figure out unless you know it cold.
Another area I got tripped up on was derm stuff. I was kinda pissed cuz my school loves vasculitides and (glomerulonephritides?) which I studied up on and there wasn't a whole lot on there. There was a q? or two where you had to know crescentic, focal segmental etc.

 

[Friendly]

I just took the Path shelf a few hours ago, I wouldn't say micro was 45% of it, though there was quite a bit. If I could go back and study again I would focus more on STDs than general micro. There were no questions on worms, malaria, but more than a couple dealing with lesions on private parts, and what biopsies of the lesions would show. Other than that the micro was pretty basic. (pseudomembrane on the back of the throat of a 8 yr old girl, a group of people got bloody diarrhea after drinking out of a fountain contaminated with sewage) the STD stuff was tricky, though so know it well.
More than micro I wish I had gone over immuno better. There were detailed questions on complement, T/B cell activation, and the like that you will not be able to figure out unless you know it cold.
Another area I got tripped up on was derm stuff. I was kinda pissed cuz my school loves vasculitides and (glomerulonephritides?) which I studied up on and there wasn't a whole lot on there. There was a q? or two where you had to know crescentic, focal segmental etc.

I had those questions, too.