which study material for internal medicine boards

[msjk]

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hey guys....i wanted to know which study material are better for IM boards.
any advice would be appreciated

thanks

 

[ucla2usc]

I just got First Aid for the Internal Medicine Boards...it's awesome. It's entirely written by UCSF fellows/faculty and it is very well written, complete, w/ explanations, yet concise enough to go through quickly. I would also recommend memorizing Pocket Medicine by MGH (the blue book everyone has). Since i'm only an MS4, don't trust my advice too much.

 

[P Diddy]

hey guys....i wanted to know which study material are better for IM boards.
any advice would be appreciated

thanks

all i did for boards were MKSAP questions. did read some of the MKSAP books during residency - these are nice to study from during elective rotations, but not essential. there's a MKSAP CD that some programs have and you can burn it. study for 2-3 weeks from that and you're golden.

p diddy

 

[DrNick2006]

This is what I did:

Step 1:
-First Aid for Step I
-NBS Pathology
-NBS physiology
-Pre-test question books in:
physiology
pathology
pathophysiology
microbiology
pharmacology
histology
behavior
-NBME questions

I spent 8 weeks doing this.

Step II
-First Aid Step II cs and ck
-Kaplan Qbank
-pretest Peds, Medicine, OB/GYN, Surgery

I spent 3 weeks studying for step II

I scored 248, 254

 

[P Diddy]

This is what I did:

{a lot of awesome stuff}

I scored 248, 254

i'm confused - i thought the OP wanted advice on Internal Medicine boards, not the Steps.

p diddy

 

[msjk]

i'm confused - i thought the OP wanted advice on Internal Medicine boards, not the Steps.

p diddy

you are right....i wanted books for the boards, not steps. i have seen john hopkins and massachussetts books that come in one or two volumes.
i didnt know which one to take. i have seen medstudy and medscape....but dont know which to take. so i wanted to know which material for boards and during residency

anyone got more experience?
lemme know
thanks in advance

 

[crockpot2005]

you are right....i wanted books for the boards, not steps. i have seen john hopkins and massachussetts books that come in one or two volumes.
i didnt know which one to take. i have seen medstudy and medscape....but dont know which to take. so i wanted to know which material for boards and during residency

anyone got more experience?
lemme know
thanks in advance

Try something called frontrunners Q + A...it seems to be a pretty easy read, and people have said good things about it.

 

[quidnunc]

I've also heard MKSAP is pretty good. Since I'm a book junkie (for good deals, of course!), I've already stocked up with Harrison's IM Review Book, Cecil's, and Kelley's. Now, having the time to go over them during residency will be a different story. 🙂 If I have time (yeah, right), I might also check out the Mass Gen or the Hopkins IM Review.

BTW, for those already in residency, what do you guys think of the in house exams they make you take every year? How difficult are they? Do you even prepare? Do they use that score to see if you get nominated for chief residency? All I remember when I would talk to the interns and residents about it was that it was a big pain in the arss.

 

[P Diddy]

BTW, for those already in residency, what do you guys think of the in house exams they make you take every year? How difficult are they? Do you even prepare? Do they use that score to see if you get nominated for chief residency? All I remember when I would talk to the interns and residents about it was that it was a big pain in the arss.

i thought the in-house exams were good approximations of the difficulty of boards. they were not overly difficult and I did not prepare for them other than my baseline studying during residency, which mainly consisted of reading MKSAP, MedStudy and pertinent articles. i highly doubt they use these scores to choose chief resident, at least at my program, as I know a chief who didn't do that well on their exam intern year.

BTW, i forgot to mention that MedStudy is a great resource for board preparation. i think the optimal study approach for boards would be reading MedStudy and doing MedStudy and MKSAP questions. the MKSAP books themselves aren't great for learning the material. i didn't find the mayo clinic review very helpful and the harrison's questions had some esoteric shiz that wasn't on boards.

p diddy

 

[quidnunc]

Thanks for the quick reply P Diddy. BTW, how $ are the MedStudy and MKSAP materials? I know they sell the medical student MKSAP for about $40, but is that the same one you're referring to for residency? I think I've seen somewhere that there's a more comprehensive MKSAP set for the IM boards. Am I right?

-Q

 

[P Diddy]

Thanks for the quick reply P Diddy. BTW, how $ are the MedStudy and MKSAP materials? I know they sell the medical student MKSAP for about $40, but is that the same one you're referring to for residency? I think I've seen somewhere that there's a more comprehensive MKSAP set for the IM boards. Am I right?

-Q

the MKSAP for students is different than the 'adult' MKSAP. first of all, MKSAP for kids is green. who likes green? also there is only one book. MKSAP for adults is blue and consist of 12 books or so. the price is ~ $300 for pimp MKSAP (books only, book+CD ~ $400), but I wouldn't pay it. I would find someone who has the MKSAP CD ROM and burn it. burn it. then buy them a beer. one skein of advice in studying from MKSAP - I learned so much from the questions because I read the entire explanation, which can be quite involved. that way you learn not only the concept the quesiton is trying to illustrate but also the 'differential' for that specific scenario. if you do buy the entire MKSAP, the articles posted evidence in the margins are key.

medstudy costs ~ $395 for the print version. for me it cost ~ $0 bc my ex-girlfriend copied it from someone else in med school. i really like medstudy as a study guide; the info is well organized and pertinent. i think they send in spies to boards to lift questions. for cheaper versions of medstudy, try ebay or amazon.

p diddy

 

[retroviridae]

So I am only an intern and have not taken the boards ... but I hear that MedStudy is the bomb. I have it myself and I have to say it rocks! My program gave it to me, but I think it is a couple hundred for the set. Really not that bad at all.

 

[DrNick2006]

wow should pay more attention before assuming the post is about usmle

I have no idea how to study for IM boards, but I hear there are intensive review courses that some programs give. It seems that studying for IM boards is a chronic condition rather than acute.

 

[IntMed]

So I am only an intern and have not taken the boards ... but I hear that MedStudy is the bomb. I have it myself and I have to say it rocks! My program gave it to me, but I think it is a couple hundred for the set. Really not that bad at all.

do you find it helpful as an intern or would step 3 info be better for intern yr? just wondering ... thanks for any info. 😳

 

[retroviridae]

do you find it helpful as an intern or would step 3 info be better for intern yr? just wondering ... thanks for any info. 😳

step III stuff is good for step III, but not terribly useful for the practice of medicine in general. I have found MedStudy great for what I need to know as an intneral medicine resident. Of course, I have only really been able to read the thing on elective or light rotations. Interestingly, it contains a lot of the pimping questions you get asked on the wards (at least the pimping questions with some clinical utility).