psychiatry shelf

[Noeljan]

hey everyone

quick (or not) question. I started psych this past week. I casually went through all the psych questions on Uworld (149 or something is a nice nice break from medicines 1400 or so Anyhow, I found the psych questions to be on the easier side and similiar to step 1 study material for psych (or course material). However, I heard from a few people they found the shelf challenging but used appleton and lange questions. For anyone who used UWorld, were the questions at all indicative?? Were the questions similiar to Uworld? What other sources did you use?

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[NikoNLS8]

Also curious about this.

 

[hollahollaholla]

exactly like world. just did world + FA psych and had recently taken step I, that was enough for 99th percentile, never touched an outside resource during the rotation not even for presentations etc.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I didn't use UW but I thought this shelf was one of the easiest of the year. One of the key things to know is how to distinguish the syndromes that are close to one another.

For instance know how to differentiate schizophrenia, from schizofreniaform from brief psychotic episode from schizoid personality d/o. Or how to distinguish mood disorder with psychotic features from schizoaffective or from schizophrenia alone.

I was surprised that the material seemed very, very close to the stuff from step 1. There are no surprises or hidden material you are not studying (at least not on my shelf). The hardest part of the shelf is that they dont give you all of the DMS IV criteria so you kinda have to pick the most likely choice, which when you are differentiating between the close syndromes can get tricky. Compared to step 1, I thought they had a lot more similar distractors in the answer choices.

Good luck

 

[Cakemeister30]

i thought the UW questions were easier than the actual shelf questions

just make sure you know the DSM-IV criteria for each of the diseases and be able to differentiate between them (i.e. adjustment disorder vs. MDD -- there were questions where I second-guessed myself... maybe I'm just dumb? ... for UW questions, the diagnosis is much more clear)

i did some questions from A&L and i thought pretest and UW questions were better because some A&L questions were heavy on the different testing criteria (i.e. WAIS, Beck Depression, etc.) which I can't even remember if they were on my test... and other A&L questions dependend on your answer to a previous question which never happens on a shelf

just get one or two sources like FA or BP and a question bank/book and read them at least twice and do a lot of questions... you'll do fine

and one last thing, everyone told me to know drug side-effects but this did not show up to the degree I was made to think it will on my shelf -- but i would still study them as much as I did anyway

not a bad shelf overall... i felt prepared for this one unlike all the other ones i've taken

 

[Cakemeister30]

oh, btw... just to let you know i just took this shelf a week ago and i don't know how i did

 

[gstrub]

Are any MRI/CT findings high yield (i.e. findings in depression/OCD/vascular stroke/schiz/Picks) etc? Also I am wondering if I should memorize these children milestones...

 

[gstrub]

I have deep thrust dyspareunia after that shelf.

 

[swtiepie711]

Are any MRI/CT findings high yield (i.e. findings in depression/OCD/vascular stroke/schiz/Picks) etc? Also I am wondering if I should memorize these children milestones...

I don't remember MRI/CT stuff appearing on the psych shelf, and I didn't think childhood milestones appeared there either. I would make sure I know the core material very well before branching out. GL!

 

[Nematode]

Does anyone have a guess on the curve on the exam, or was the raw pretty close to what you feel was your actual score?

 

[ROBINHOOD001]

?

 

[medstudentORE]

I agree- mine was pretty difficult too!

 

[ROBINHOOD001]

yep

 

[lacesoutdan]

meaning how many questions and how much time?

 

[McGillGrad]

meaning how many questions and how much time?

It was 100 question with MC and matching style questions (like most shelfs).

It was more difficult than UW and has more long vignettes that include 'medicine' as a primary base instead of just straight psych.

 

[FranklinBluthMD]

Does anyone know the average turn around time for getting your grade on these exams?

 

[McGillGrad]

Does anyone know the average turn around time for getting your grade on these exams?

A couple weeks...maybe?

 

[NCgirl85]

Does anyone know the average turn around time for getting your grade on these exams?

Slightly under 2 weeks for me. Depends how long your school takes to email you the results though.

 

[Disinence2]

Its all about andreasen and black "Introductory textbook of psychiatry"

If you need a 95+ read this book twice, then go through FA a few days before the shelf.

It has everything you need.

Best of luck!

 

[desijigga]

This worked for me..

For the shelf, just read case files and the treatments section of blueprints. I only had 2 days to study because my USMLE was the Sunday before, but that is all you need seriously. 60-65% of the test was diagnosing, 25% of the test was whats the first treatment, The rest were drug OD/withdrawal, Alzheimer, Parkinson, Transmitters...