Ob/Gyn Shelf (and other Shelf exam advice needed!!)

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bt9099

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Hi guys.

I'm not big on reading books to study for an exam, and usually prefer notes and outlines.

1. For the Ob-Gyn shelf, would it be enough to study the First Aid Step 2 CK sections and perform adequately on the shelf?

2. Are the shelf questions in Ob-Gyn from the same pool we will see on the Step 2 exam?

3. If yes to #2, then would it be a good idea to do the UsmleWorld questions in Ob-Gyn in lieu of reading a book as a way to prepare for the Ob-Gyn shelf?

4. Are the Ob-gyn shelf questions more or less hard than the Ob-gyn related questions on the Step 2 exam?

Thanks!

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1. For the Ob-Gyn shelf, would it be enough to study the First Aid Step 2 CK sections and perform adequately on the shelf?

I wouldn't. I don't think that FA Step 2 CK is thorough enough for ANY of the shelf exams.

2. Are the shelf questions in Ob-Gyn from the same pool we will see on the Step 2 exam?

Not as far as I could tell.

3. If yes to #2, then would it be a good idea to do the UsmleWorld questions in Ob-Gyn in lieu of reading a book as a way to prepare for the Ob-Gyn shelf?

"In lieu of"? No. In addition to? Yes.

USMLEWorld is designed to help you REVIEW for Step 2. Even the answer explanations aren't enough to TEACH you stuff for the shelf exams. The shelf exams go in MUCH more detail than Step 2 does - they have 100 questions devoted to a single rotation.

4. Are the Ob-gyn shelf questions more or less hard than the Ob-gyn related questions on the Step 2 exam?

I felt that they were slightly harder. The shelf questions also focus on diagnosis, whereas Step 2 focuses almost exclusively on management and treatment.

If you really don't like reading textbooks, try reading Casefiles instead. They're short, quick, easy to read, and you could get by by reading 2-3 cases a day (which would take you, at most, 30 minutes). But don't rely on only First Aid and UWorld. They're just not detailed enough.
 
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So far I've heard that diagnosis/staging of gyn cancers is a big topic on the test.

Any other further advice?

By the end of the rotation I would have read through Case Files, BluePrints, and done the 200+ ob/gyn USMLEWorld questions.

My questions are:

Is that enough questions?

Does UWorld question bank accurately represent the shelf, and if not what question source would be better?

Any other good resources you guys found?

Thanks!
 
No staging on my shelf

OB/Gyn shelf was so much easier than psych. I used case files + some blueprints and Uworld questions

That prepared well.

For shelf you also need common sense (stuff they test could be general medicine too so yea)

read fast and know common stuff (well covered in CF) and you should break 90+ raw
 
just took the beast today. it was ROUGH (barely finished with 2 minutes to spare, and having a lot of question where I narrowed it to two answers).

the uwise questions were excellent, and helped me a lot. I had the chance to skim through blueprints and casefiles, but chose not to.

our clerkship director also provided us with a list of topics that were likely to show up on the shelf, and all of the questions that i had on my shelf were on topics that were in that list. so i highly recommend that you look through it.
 

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  • Suggested Reading Topics for ObGyn shelf.pdf
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For OBGYN, there are relatively fewer topics that the field encompasses (relative to something like Medicine or Surgery). Thus, the idea is you need to know stuff COLD like the normal progression of labor (what to do if it deviates) all the types of fetal loss, pregnancy bleeding, all vaginal infections/STD's.

The key to OB/GYN is focus, I think.
 
which one is better for the shelf - blueprints or first aid for OBGYN?
 
How much fetal heart rate/IUPC is there one the shelf? Is it enough to know reassuring vs nonreassuring, or is there much about accels, decels, variables, causes, etc?
 
How much fetal heart rate/IUPC is there one the shelf? Is it enough to know reassuring vs nonreassuring, or is there much about accels, decels, variables, causes, etc?

i had a couple of questions where I had to interpret FHR tracings....variable decelerations and sinusoidal rhythms and such
 
So far I've heard that diagnosis/staging of gyn cancers is a big topic on the test.

It's not a big thing, but those questions tend to stick out in people's minds because they're so nitpicky. I can't remember if I had a staging question or not on my exam, but if they were there, there were no more than 2 or so.

Ditto on uwise being a great tool. I also used pretest but don't think it was so great. Personally I thought it was a pretty hard test, and I was rushed for time (and I'm a person who finished Step 1 in like 4 hours -- I hardly ever have time problems). Don't blow it off or rely just on FA.
 
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got my score back - 90 raw :eek:

this is what you need: Case files + Case files

I only did the "free sample" uwise questions and they were sooo good. wish I had access - my cheap ass school doesn't get it. do Uwise. Uworld is also good, but uwise mimics the shelf question lenght and style the best.

I had a question though - for OB/Gyn there is Uwise, for Pediatrics there are clippcases. What i'm getting at is that these sources are very comprehensive and "atypical/outside the box/" in the sense that they cover material outside of whats found in blueprints or other review sources which I believe is 1/2 the shelf (yes you can forget buzz words)...is there any such resource for Internal medicine and Surgery? lanky, Peepshow, Dwayne? anyone?
 
I am on OB/GYN now and my school doesn't give us the uWISE questions. Would anyone be kind enough to pm me to allow access? Thank you so much in advance. The pretest questions really suck and I am struggling to find a good question source for this rotation.
 
Did anyone use the textbook Obstetrics and Gynecology by Beckmann? Any input on whether it was good for the shelf or not?

Also, would anyone recommend using Kaplan Lecture notes/videos?

Thanks in advance.
 
was wondering if people could post some challenging topics or key nuggets of info that helped on their ob/gyn shelf (tips like to distinguish X and Y its important to look for Z, or when confronted with X, the best step is to do Z). intermediate level so beyond the basics like delivery for preeclampsia, etc.
 
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After reading some threads about Ob/gyn shelf I'm gathering that most people think:
-Blueprints for learning the theory
-case files for 'cases'
-UW for the questions

However, I noticed that UW 12 month subscription is $399 and pretty steep and I'd think that it'd be more useful during the last few months before step 2 rather than buying it at the beginning of 3rd year (what do you think?). So, how does Blueprints Q&A (the 200 questions version) prepare you for the SHELF (not step 2 ck) in comparison to UW?
 
I just took the Ob/Gyn shelf. I thought it was very straightforward. Not very many tricky questions.

I used:
Case Files x 2
Blueprints when I was still trying to understand the basic info
APGO questions

My school has lots of lectures and a departmental exam, so I'm sure that those also helped me with preparation.
 
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