UW vs Step Up vs Mksap for IM

[Phenytoin]

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Hey forum,

For IM, 10 days left, barely studied at all thus far, should I do UW or read step up or Mksap?
Thanks!

 

[mumd2011]

I would read as much as you can in Step Up...the UW questions are pretty representative of what is on the exam but there are 1400+ so it would be pretty difficult to get a good representation of the questions unless you just fly through them (and, don't learn anything). You may just want to do a couple sets to get a feel for how long the vignette is for the shelf exam. I didn't find MKSAP all that helpful but I know some people did like it.

 

[simian]

same question for me - i have a month left to study for my IM shelf. A lot of kids at my school are buying uworld2 and doing the respective section during that rotation. So far I've bought MKSAP but really haven't started using it. I'm reading step up right now.

keep using mksap? or get uworld anyway and do both?

 

[Perrotfish]

I meant to use UWorld and Step Up, but ended up using MKSAP and Internal Medicine Essentials ust because of portability issues. I can't bring my laptop to the hospital. I'm hoping that wasn't a terrible decision.

 

[Phenytoin]

I think I'm gonna try to do Step-Up and some UW then. I did a few UW questions and they seemed pretty hard. Are they more difficult than the shelf?

 

[mumd2011]

The shelf is kind of a mix. I felt like there were some questions that had literally been "cut and pasted" from UWorld, some questions that were equally hard as some of the UWorld questions, and then definitely a few that were shorter and easier (in my opinion). There weren't too many things that were completely out of left field. I also didn't feel like they were trying to trick me as much as UWorld does.

I think if you get through as much of Step Up as you can and really know the fundamentals (at this point it probably isn't going to be possible to have a grasp on a lot of the little stuff) and then try and get through some UWorld questions, you will be fine. The medicine shelf exam is hard but not impossible.

 

[SuitcaseLife]

If you don't have much time left until shelf, I suggest you do only UW questions. MKSAP is much easier and may be a waste of time.

It's a little late to read Step Up. It's a good book, but don't waste too much time on it now. UW will help you the same or more so if you really take the time to read the explanations.

Some of the UW questions may be tough, but you have to get the concepts down that are in the explanations. For now, UW is your best resource.

Good luck!

 

[Phenytoin]

I can't seem to get over 65% on World Qs. Any idea of where that stands regarding the shelf? Kind of getting concerned that I'm not gonna pass, which is a requirement to pass the rotation....

 

[mumd2011]

What's required for passing at your school?

What other prep did you do?

I know I was getting anywhere from 50-70% (and, a few outliers like the lone 35% 🙁 and 80%). I was probably averaging around 60-65%. I did fine on the shelf (honors in a lot of places depending on the school).

This shelf is hard but not impossible. I think I said this before but I didn't feel like they were trying to trick you as much as UWorld does. I also think that most questions were not as difficult as UWorld. There were some with pretty long clinical vignettes so get comfortable reading them rather quickly and interpreting lab values. I know that memorizing some of the normals (electrolytes, ABG's, CBC) made this exam go much quicker because I wasn't flipping back and forth as much.

Any other questions, feel free to PM me. I don't check this forum as much but I just took the medicine shelf in the spring so it is still pretty fresh.