I'm using the Pre-test books for practice, but I'm not doing so hot...on SHELF, what % right usually for a pass? I heard surgery supposedly has a lower % needed right to pass, but for med, is it 50%?
Pre-test?
- Thread starter Lorraine
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My school required 70% to pass the Medicine shelf. I felt that Pretest was pretty representative of the question style and level; NMS Medicine is also a good general review text. Another point for the shelf is that you will pick up a lot of the information (from seeing and reading about your patients) as you work through your rotation. So if you've just started on Medicine, and you're already starting to study for the shelf, you won't understand as much of the medicine as you would later on in the rotation.
If you don't feel like you're doing well in your practice questions you should take a look at your school's grading policy and see how heavily the shelf is weighted. For example, at my school you could "fail" the shelf but if you had done well in your clinical evaluations you would still pass the rotation.
If you don't feel like you're doing well in your practice questions you should take a look at your school's grading policy and see how heavily the shelf is weighted. For example, at my school you could "fail" the shelf but if you had done well in your clinical evaluations you would still pass the rotation.
Pretest is good but there are better question sources. For internal medicine, the absolute best questions are MKSAP for Students. It provides excellent questions and comprehensive explanations.
i appreciate your insight and input, i am in the middle of med, and hopefully things will pick up for me 
I think that pretest is ok for IM. MKSAP is generally good but can be too detailed sometimes. I can't imagine some of their management questions being asked on the shelf exam.
If you are in the middle of medicine, i would say just continue to try to learn based on the patients you are taking of and if you haven't already get a good general review book.
Peter
If you are in the middle of medicine, i would say just continue to try to learn based on the patients you are taking of and if you haven't already get a good general review book.
Peter
Yup, I agree with this post. Pre-test is the best question book series out there for the shelves, but be sure to read up on your patients in Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment. Besides prepping you for any pimping, it will help you do well on your shelf. If you have time to do more questions after finishing pretest, I know that Blueprints recently started offering a new overpriced question book. It's very overpriced because it offers very few questions for it's price, but the questions are decent. Many of classmates actually took advantage of our campus bookstore's 1 week return policy by purchasing the book and finishing the questions so that they could return the book before the 1 week period had passed. It only takes a few nights to get through. Good luck!