Thoughts on The Micro Shelf Exam

[omarsaleh66]

I took this the other day, and I thought it was pretty tough. So i just want to share some thoughts on how people who are going to take it.

There was a lot of genetics on there. Like PCR, restrcition enzymes, etc... I dont know what to use for this; maybe skim some of the DNA tests in HY Molecular Bio?

The tests was really heavy on viruses and bacteria, and Immuno. Alot of the questions seemed more like they were Immunopathology, instead of immunology. It was very low yield on parasites. I got some hard fungi questions.

For viruses, u really gotta take it 2 steps. U will get the clinical symtom, but the answer isnt what virus is causing it, u need to know the virus on your own based on the clinical presentation and then u have to choose if its -/+ sense, segemeted/nonsegmented, DNA/RNA etc..

Everything that is in First AID is super HY. Know it. Even some of the stuff that is Low Yield is HY. For example, every knows that Strep Pneumonia causes Pneumonia, but u gotta know what people w cancer will get infected with and Pneumonia and that's Staph Aureus. That kind of stuff is in First AId and it seems low yiled but its very High Yiled.

Also, I used Qbank micro questions to prepare, First Aid, and Micro Made Simple. I got advice to use Med Microbiology from on here and read it as well, but couldnt finish it. Also, I think Underground Clinical Vignettes were very good. Also, I have heard that the Platinum Vignettes for Micro by Adam Brochert are really good too, and I would check those out.


gluck and thanks to everyone that gave me advice for the exam.
Omar

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[sapience8x]

That was one tough exam! But i did well. I'm beginning to think i do better when i guess!
anyway i also used qbank, and actually the kaplan micro book. many people in my class used ridiculously simple but i didn't use it much. i also used appletone and lange micro questions and pretest. i think i learned alot from the quetsion explanations more than anything else!
i'm not sure where some of those tests came from and some of those questions were waaaay too long!
i go tot he poitn where i coudl associated a typical symptom with a disease. iw as suprised to find that actually worked!

 

[Pox in a box]

What kind of pictures can you expect on the micro shelf?

 

[omarsaleh66]

What kind of pictures can you expect on the micro shelf?

I didnt get any pictures of bugs or viruses or anytihing, but the stuff that killed me was the pictures and diagrams dealing with genetics.

 

[Pox in a box]

I didnt get any pictures of bugs or viruses or anytihing, but the stuff that killed me was the pictures and diagrams dealing with genetics.

What stereotyped conditions and epidemiologies (ethnicities, country of origin, profession, foods eaten, etc.) are important to know?

 

[omarsaleh66]

What stereotyped conditions and epidemiologies (ethnicities, country of origin, profession, foods eaten, etc.) are important to know?

yeah they all show up

S. America; throwing up blood - yellow fever
Rocky Mountains hiking trip - giardias
small town gets diarrhea - cryptococcus
Ohio - Histoplasma
Arizona, HIV patient - Coccidoides
sandfly bite, africa - Leishmanias
baby eats honey - Clostridium botulinism

A lot of buzzwords; more than i expected but that's why I thought First Aid and maybe those charts at the end of each chapter in MMRS are really good for these kind of facts. So yeah, to answer ur questions, it would help to know these things. Also this is where UCV are really good.

 

[Pox in a box]

yeah they all show up

S. America; throwing up blood - yellow fever
Rocky Mountains hiking trip - giardias
small town gets diarrhea - cryptococcus
Ohio - Histoplasma
Arizona, HIV patient - Coccidoides
sandfly bite, africa - Leishmanias
baby eats honey - Clostridium botulinism

A lot of buzzwords; more than i expected but that's why I thought First Aid and maybe those charts at the end of each chapter in MMRS are really good for these kind of facts. So yeah, to answer ur questions, it would help to know these things. Also this is where UCV are really good.

Any more good stuff you can think of?

 

[omarsaleh66]

Any more good stuff you can think of?

Yeah just let me know and Ill take the exam for u when i get some time.

 

[Pox in a box]

Yeah just let me know and Ill take the exam for u when i get some time.

Sorry, I just get nervous I'm not preparing in the right way and studying the wrong things. The path shelf was pretty immuno-heavy to me and I was trying to get a feel for whether the micro one would be like that too.

 

[lola]

Sorry, I just get nervous I'm not preparing in the right way and studying the wrong things. The path shelf was pretty immuno-heavy to me and I was trying to get a feel for whether the micro one would be like that too.

i didn't study immuno for the micro shelf, because our class wasn't taking the immuno portion at the end of the test so i figured there wouldn't be any immuno. oops. that was wrong! you need to know your basic immuno. it wasn't super hard immuno stuff, but you should review it.
overall i didn't think the micro shelf was that hard. it was challenging, but i didn't think it was nearly as hard as the physio shelf last year.

 

[Pox in a box]

i didn't study immuno for the micro shelf, because our class wasn't taking the immuno portion at the end of the test so i figured there wouldn't be any immuno. oops. that was wrong! you need to know your basic immuno. it wasn't super hard immuno stuff, but you should review it.
overall i didn't think the micro shelf was that hard. it was challenging, but i didn't think it was nearly as hard as the physio shelf last year.

What was your best study resource or what would you have done differently if you did it again? By the way, it seems like immunology creeps onto every exam of 2nd year!

 

[omarsaleh66]

Sorry, I just get nervous I'm not preparing in the right way and studying the wrong things. The path shelf was pretty immuno-heavy to me and I was trying to get a feel for whether the micro one would be like that too.

No prob, but Im actualyl serious Ill take ur micro exam. U take my path exam. haha

for real tho, I cant help u too much cuz i havent gotten my score back, but someone on this forum recommended the medical micro book by Lange. Another buddy of mine got a 93 and he used FA and MMRS. I guess one regret I have was not covering FA enough. WOW what a great book. I learned my lesson and will use it for step1.

PS - yeah, there is alot of immunopath (u should know it from path; and just look at the immuno in FA.) I didnt use anything for immuno (just FA and immuno qbank questions; but I felt good about immuno) Just make sure u put the most time into viruses and bacteria. A quick review of the other stuff should be enough.

later
Omar

 

[omarsaleh66]

Got my score: raw 80, adjusted 93.

Im pretty happy with it. Use First Aid, things in there will pop out at you and know it well. But you should know all those facts with pretty good detail so definiety supplement with other sources like MMRS and clinical vignettes. Alot of q I know I missed were in First Aid in some form. Know the clinical presentation and complications of disease; not just the primary one.

Ex: Thye wont ask you about orchitis or enlarged parotid glands with Mumps, it will be encephalitis (which many people wont be prepared for)

Still dont know how to prepare for the genetics and lab test part. but definity spend most time on the bacteria and viruses.

later

 

[Ramoray]

Does anyone know if Lange Micro/immuno review is sufficient or good for micro for step 1 or these shelf test?

 

[omarsaleh66]

Does anyone know if Lange Micro/immuno review is sufficient or good for micro for step 1 or these shelf test?

I cant say anything about step 1 but for the shelf, yeah this book is awesome. I heard the questions are really good too. I read quite a bit of this book, didnt do the questions. U can go with either this book + class notes or MMRS and class notes and still be good to go.

 

[Ramoray]

I cant say anything about step 1 but for the shelf, yeah this book is awesome. I heard the questions are really good too. I read quite a bit of this book, didnt do the questions. U can go with either this book + class notes or MMRS and class notes and still be good to go.

thanks omar, do you mean that either of those books arent sufficient enough for the shelf w/out class notes? I was planning on just using lange for both and never touch my class notes again as i hated them! thanks again!

 

[omarsaleh66]

yeah i think either of these could be sufficient. I didnt use class notes to study for the shelf (I just used class notes to learn it once) and then used the review books (either lange or MMRS) and First Aid. Use Lange to consolidate it and then use First Aid as a quick review (2-3 hrs).

And if u do those questions in Lange, (I didnt do these; I did micro + immuno qbank instead) then that will be really good.

So Lange + questions. Then for a qucik review use the chart at the end of Lange for the important bugs +First AId as a qucik review. That sounds like a good plan.

 

[Ramoray]

yeah i think either of these could be sufficient. I didnt use class notes to study for the shelf (I just used class notes to learn it once) and then used the review books (either lange or MMRS) and First Aid. Use Lange to consolidate it and then use First Aid as a quick review (2-3 hrs).

And if u do those questions in Lange, (I didnt do these; I did micro + immuno qbank instead) then that will be really good.

So Lange + questions. Then for a qucik review use the chart at the end of Lange for the important bugs +First AId as a qucik review. That sounds like a good plan.

THanks omar! I hope your board prep and alll is going well, I know you are a smart kid! thanks again

 

[omarsaleh66]

THanks omar! I hope your board prep and alll is going well, I know you are a smart kid! thanks again

anytime man, gluck to u too, I'm sure u'll rock it.
later

Omar