Totally confused

[C6789]

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We start third year on Monday and so far, my school hasn't really addressed how things are supposed to work. A rising MS4 gave me a bunch of his old books, but I wasn't home when he dropped them off and didn't get to ask questions. Looking through the books though, they're all questions/cases. Are we supposed to use these books to learn all the material or are they just for us to quiz ourselves about what we should have read in some other source that I don't know about yet? I guess I'm just not understanding where the material we're responsible for learning is supposed to come from?

Also, I've seen several people on here mention that UWorld for step 2 was really helpful for shelf exams. For Step 1, everyone pretty much said to not use it throughout the year and wait for your study period - am I right to assume this isn't the case for MS3/Step 2?

 

[cpants]

We start third year on Monday and so far, my school hasn't really addressed how things are supposed to work. A rising MS4 gave me a bunch of his old books, but I wasn't home when he dropped them off and didn't get to ask questions. Looking through the books though, they're all questions/cases. Are we supposed to use these books to learn all the material or are they just for us to quiz ourselves about what we should have read in some other source that I don't know about yet? I guess I'm just not understanding where the material we're responsible for learning is supposed to come from?

Also, I've seen several people on here mention that UWorld for step 2 was really helpful for shelf exams. For Step 1, everyone pretty much said to not use it throughout the year and wait for your study period - am I right to assume this isn't the case for MS3/Step 2?

On the first day of your clerkship you will have an orientation with the clerkship director and she will explain everything to you from your role on the team to the material you will need to know on the shelf. Most clerkship directors will tell you that they expect you to read a textbook for the rotation. This is generally impossible due to your time constraints, so I would ignore this requirement. Your prime reading will be from review books, and you can go to the text for clarification or to read more in depth about patients you are following.

There are two styles of review book, case-based and outline/text based. Either is fine. You will figure out which style you like better. Any of the major review books for a given rotation will cover all of the material you need to know for the shelf. Make sure you get through the review book and understand all of the material, and you will be fine. Doing questions is a good idea. USMLE world is good for some of the clerkships (medicine, surgery, OB/gyn) and mediocre for some of them (psych/neuro, peds, family med). MKSAP for students is a great resource for medicine questions as well. If the questions are lacking for a clerkship, get a hold of a Pre-test as a good source of questions.

 

[C6789]

Thanks! This is the kind of info I was looking for.

 

[Jccripe]

If you are in doubt or dont know what to do, you can always buy Blueprints and Case files for your current rotation. Yes some are better than others, and some are overkill. Blueprints are like textbooks trying to cover everything. Casefiles are exactly what you think and they are great for the last week of the rotation before the shelf.

 

[mglavin]

I guess I'm just not understanding where the material we're responsible for learning is supposed to come from?

Most of the material is probably already in your brain from m1 and m2, in fact you will probably find that being fresh off step I will give you a greater insight into the pathology of disease then most residents. On the other hand you wont know where the bathroom is or how to write notes or anything else that is useful on a day to day basis in the hospital. Review books and UWORLD are great tools for relearning and consolidating all the background information you have already learned so far. For studying stick with review books but read more in depth on your individual patients. For everything else you will be learning by experience which at least for the first coupel months of the year will be exciting then probably just annoying.

We start third year on Monday and so far, my school hasn't really addressed how things are supposed to work.

Expect to feel completely lost and have no idea what the expectations are for you frequently this year. By the time you feel comfortable the rotation will be over and a new even more confusing one will start. Good luck!

 

[cpants]

Most of the material is probably already in your brain from m1 and m2, in fact you will probably find that being fresh off step I will give you a greater insight into the pathology of disease then most residents.

This isn't true. Yes, you know a lot about disease and treatments in the first two years, but you learn almost nothing about diagnosis and disease management. Sure you remember that C. diff causes peudomembranous colitis, but do you know how it is diagnosed, the primary and alternative treatments, and how we assess if it has resolved? Probably not. You'll see. The background knowledge helps, but this is new material.