Shelf Exams

[bigfrank]

I don't know. If AOA is done how it apparently is at your school, I don't have a chance in hell. But I appreciate your kind words.

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[scootad.]

the reason I say this is b/c these shelf scores as well as your USMLE scores get reported to your school. No matter how political the AOA selection process is at your school, it will be hard for them to ignore someone consistently getting obscene scores like 99 percentile, 260+ etc.

 

[14022]

I have my shelf in 10 days....

any thoughts of pretest vs appleton and lange?

which one would be better preparation???

 

[bigfrank]

I have my shelf in 10 days....

any thoughts of pretest vs appleton and lange?

which one would be better preparation???

A&L -- it very closely approximated my shelf exam, much better than PreTest. My friends that used A&L all got well above the 90th percentile on the surgery shelf.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

My surgery clerkship director finally got us our shelf exam results back today (5 months late, gee, thanks for all your hustle.). I ended up with an 84 raw and 94th percentile.

Throughout the rotation I used Surg Recall, read almost all of Lawrence, and also read through select sections of Current Diagnosis & Treatment for OR cases. I started to use the A&L question book, but found it riddled with errors (at least the Trauma section), so I gave up. I also read through Boards and Wards (Medicine and Surgery sections) the week before the exam.

Good luck everyone.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

Took the IM shelf at the end of March, got results back today.
Raw score 94, 99th percentile.

What I did:
I read Blueprints and some sections of Baby Cecils throughout the rotation, did MKSAP 2 (took notes on unfamilar concepts, which I studied the weekend before the exam), also did Pretest (2 weeks before the exam), and finally sold my soul to the devil.

To echo previous posters, I felt that some of questions were vague and clinical presentations unfamiliar. This kind of surprised me since I did so many practice questions. Anyway, just keep up with your reading and do a lot of questions.

Good luck everyone.

 

[tkim15]

For the Medicine shelf: I followed the advice of one of my classmates to study MKSAP 2 and take notes on the answers into the Medicine First Aid, and just study the first aid from there. I think i got through the MKSAP a couple times before the rotation was over. It took quite a bit of time but I was happy with the result I also read through pre-test quickly a few days before the shelf but I'm not sure how much that contributed....

 

[HiddenTruth]

IM: I am confused between which book to choose as a primary read. I'd like to read some of baby cecil's, but I am not sure, whether it's worth the time commitment. So, besides MKSAP and Pre-test, what do most people suggest reading? I've heard from lots of people that Blue prints is jus kinda' crappy. Would really appreciate some input.

 

[surfdevl02]

If you could only have enough time to read either Casefiles or Pretest which would you choose and why..what is more high yield for the medicine shelf? Thanks!

 

[HtSht2BoneDoc]

I got an 89 which was 97 percentile. Read First aid, blueprints, baby cecils except neuro section, did the mksap, and all step 2 qbook questions in IM.

All you need is First aid and do questions. MKSAP is pretty dam good. Its all about questions i felt that I either knew this stuff from step 1 or the wards. studying really didnt.

Just some thoughts.

 

[computeruser]

Hi friends

I'm new to this site. I am FMG (Foreign Medical Graduate), I haven't exactly graduated yet. I'm a 4th yr, and hope to make the residency match in 2007. Currently I am studying for the usmle step 2. I am completed all my 3rd yr cores, however not here in the USA.

I have just come to learn that US med students take shelf exams after each rotation. Also i found out that the shelf exams are made by the NBME. Are the question very similar to the kind that are asked on the step 2?

Also I read on the forum that MKSAP-II for Students is a good book for studying. Is this a question book or notes? I know that most students are mainly using it for IM, but does it have question for all the core rotations?

Is the MKSAP a good question source to use while studying for the step 2?

How do the question difficultly and topics correlate with the step 2 exam?

Does the MKSAP have questions for each step 2 topic - IM, peds, ob/gyn, surgery, or do I need to buy a separate book each time.

Does anyone know of any other good question study sources for step 2?

Thanks

 

[computeruser]

Where can i buy the MKSAP 13 part A & B

 

[betz]

Where can i buy the MKSAP 13 part A & B

MKSAP 13

MKSAP for Students (the book you are probably looking for)

 

[skidmark]

It seems like pretest and MKSAP are the way to go for questions. Is this correct? Any recommendation for texts (blueprints, First Aid, Step up?)?

 

[Samoa]

It seems like pretest and MKSAP are the way to go for questions. Is this correct? Any recommendation for texts (blueprints, First Aid, Step up?)?

Case Files Internal Medicine

 

[ideas]

I apologize if I'm repeating but,

Has anyone just studied MKSAP as their primary source and did WELL on the internal medicine shelf? I have 12 days left before my test and I'm doing MKSAP and taking notes on that, then reading step up sections that seem unfamiliar based on MKSAP questions. . . . I know two weeks isn't a lot of time, but I have also learned studying efficiently can give you the same result as studying for weeks upon end. . . Thanks for your thoughts on preparation.

 

[Reborn07]

How many hours per day should you study for this shelf. I have 6 weeks

 

[arthrodisiac]

read when you are in the hospital and have nothing to do, the hours add up over the long run. i did about 10 hours of reading per week, and scored in the 90's, tho that may not apply to you.