Physiology Shelf Exam

[getunconcsious]

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Hey all, I have to take the Phys shelf final next week. Any helpful hints from people who have taken it before would be greatly appreciated. Is it a lot of clinical vignettes like the other shelf exams? Are there a lot of arrows, a la biochemistry?

 

[USCTex]

I took biochem, anatomy, phys, and I'm about to take micro. The physiology shelf is a huge amount of pathophys. At least at my school I would've needed to have had second year path to do well on it. Luckily that was taken into consideration by my school.

As a first year there was a helluva a lot I had never heard of on that test as compared to the other shelf exams I've taken.

 

[getunconcsious]

I took biochem, anatomy, phys, and I'm about to take micro. The physiology shelf is a huge amount of pathophys. At least at my school I would've needed to have had second year path to do well on it. Luckily that was taken into consideration by my school.

As a first year there was a helluva a lot I had never heard of on that test as compared to the other shelf exams I've taken.

eep....sounds like I'm about to get ARROW'D!!!!!!


Ow, my grade!!! 🙁

 

[bigdan]

Yeah. Wish I had better news, but I got pwned by it a coupla weeks ago.

If I could do it over again, I'd have prayed ahead of time.

dc

 

[cromagnon]

yo...i just took that **** and it sucked big time.

without a doubt the hardest exam i've ever taken.

 

[PoorMD]

Hey all, I have to take the Phys shelf final next week. Any helpful hints from people who have taken it before would be greatly appreciated. Is it a lot of clinical vignettes like the other shelf exams? Are there a lot of arrows, a la biochemistry?

Review the calcium/phosphate balances.. Parathyroid hormone versus calcitonin and the regulation. This topic was HEAVILY tested on the phys shelf exam, out of 125 questions, at least 25 were regarding pathology due to poor calcium absorption, secretion, bone modification, etc..

 

[rdunba]

agreed, it was absurdly difficult. biochem was pretty fair though.

 

[thayman]

Is BRS physio the best way to prepare for the shelf? or is it not adequate?

 

[stewarzi]

eep....sounds like I'm about to get ARROW'D!!!!!!


Ow, my grade!!! 🙁

I hate to be the bearer of bad news...

I am not an idiot. I did VERY well on all my school's exams in phys (I ranked in the top 10 of my class for every exam but one). Additionally, I usually do pretty well on NBME's (97%tile in Biochem). Going in to the NBME, I was pretty confident.

Still, I studied really hard for it in the week our school gave us to prepare. I got to the point where reading the BRS, it felt like I was reading a 3rd grade text.

Despite all this, the NBME ripped me a new one (or two). I have never felt so grossly unprepared for a test. I didn't even finish. Maybe your experience will be different, but, if I had it all to do over again, I would not have even studied for it. I would have spent my time studying for something else that might actually yield some returns.

 

[NCF145]

Is BRS physio the best way to prepare for the shelf? or is it not adequate?

Rapid Review Phys is the way to go. Has a lot of pathophys in it. That is what I used and I got in the 95th percentile when I took it last year. Even with RR, it is still a very tough test.