Official Pediatrics Shelf Exam Thread

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YellowEmu said:
Does anyone have the PEDS raw score to percentile rank website/pdf/info?

I've seen the Medicine ones. Does NBME use that one for Peds too?

Thanks
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At my school, an 82 raw is considered "honors" for the shelf component of the evaluation (1/3 of grade). I've been that raw score is roughly 85th percentile +/- a few percentile points, I'm sure that 85th percentile rank claims a higher raw score as the year goes on as M3's tend to perform better on shelf exams.
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Peds shelf was the hardest test I ever took. I used Case files and world. I'll post results soon...
 
most recent administration, 67 raw. I actually didn't think the test was all that bad having done UW right before -- I expected to do a lot better....I thought the surgery shelf was crazy hard and got pretty much the same score...just goes to show you never know with these things...
 
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Yeah it was certainly tough. Luckily it is only 15% of our grade...

Update: Got mid 80s using CLIPP cases and Lange Q&A (it was the only review book on reserve at my library). I probably could have gotten a slightly higher grade if I read another book, but it wouldn't have effected my overall grade. Hooray for questions!
 
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raw: 90, percentile: 96.

I used blueprints, case files and USMLEasy questions.

really hard shelf. surprised that I did this well. I think a lot of the test was step 1 material rather than peds specific.
 
MCATMAN45 said:
raw: 90, percentile: 96.

I used blueprints, case files and USMLEasy questions.

really hard shelf. surprised that I did this well. I think a lot of the test was step 1 material rather than peds specific.
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Step 1 like pharm mechanisms? Phys? Pathophys? Would it be helpful to look over FA for Step 1?
 
zero pharm mechanisms. I don't think reading first aid would be that high yield. I stuck to blueprints and case files and it out worked out well. I'm told the questions on the back of blueprints are good but I never did these.

fyi everyone stressed memorizing the developmental milestones, but my test had only 1 question on them and the answer (I'm pretty sure) was 'normal for the patient's age'

work really fast, time will be a factor. I never have trouble finishing tests, and finished blocks comfortably during step 1, but this test had looooong question prompts.
 
Took it yesterday, and it was tough. So many questions had similar answer choices. At our school we only do Clinic Pediatrics, and no exposure to Inpt peds. Alot of questions I felt like were from the hospital aspect of Peds.

Used Casefiles x2. And did about 200 qs in Pretest. Casefiles was eh, should have tried to finish all of Pretest. I felt like alot of q's I answered were from recalling my step 1 knowledge and just applying it to kids.

I go to a DO school but we do MD shelf exams, and its worth 25% of our grade. I only taken the pysch shelf before this and it was a hell of alot easier. Hoping I passed!
 
Peds shelf was ridiculous. Albeit my first shelf, but getting this far Ive taken a lot of exams. Never really been one to feel rushed during an exam. Barley finished, only because I was FLYING through the question stems. Really tough due to lengthy questions + a lot of lab values and similar answer choices. Sometimes even a- L !

Used Case Files 3 X
Pretest 2X

Still hoping for just a passing score. :oops:
 
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PistolPete said:
Were Uworld questions helpful? What was the best review book for the shelf?
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Case Files was good, probably the best IMHO. I heard the Kaplan notes were good. USMLEWorld questions were really good. Very close to the real thing, I thought.
 
desijigga said:
Took it yesterday, and it was tough. So many questions had similar answer choices. At our school we only do Clinic Pediatrics, and no exposure to Inpt peds. Alot of questions I felt like were from the hospital aspect of Peds.
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Raw score: 78
Casefiles x 2 (I don't think this is a good source, barely covers the stuff)
Pretest - Did about 200 qs (I think this is the best source, def try to finish this book once. I made the mistake of looking at Pre test the night before my shelf)

This exam is very tricky, and I recommend not waiting till the last day or 2 to cram. I think alot of the q's I got were from just remembering stuff from Step 1. I thought I had failed the exam, but guess I got lucky... Good luck guys
 
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Received my score today, and quite honestly, I'm astonished by how well I did. I came out of the test thinking I had failed, and I still regard it as the most difficult test I have taken while in med school. I guess what I'd say to folks who haven't taken it is to remember that the reported scores are all relative to how everyone else does so you really have no way of gauging your performance until you actually receive your score. Anyway, just wanted to share my experience--best of luck to everyone taking it in the future.
 
Did anyone read the Kaplan notes for this? Should i read them or just do case files a second time. I don't really feel like I'm getting enough out of case files but that's most likely because I haven't started pretest yet
 
Case Files is good for early in the rotation. It is not sufficient though. I would say pass on PreTest. Too much minatiae. I thought Kaplan was pretty good for each rotation.
 
Took the test yesterday. Compared to Internal Medicine it was easier. I had more time left over after finishing this test compared to the former. I used CASE FILES x2 and PreTest x1.5. I'd say that I really didn't see any curve balls on this exam compared to medicine. It was pretty straight forward.

Not a whole lot of weird diseases, syndromes, or situations that I'd never heard of b4. I'd recommend spending more time with PreTest than CASE FILES and especially memorizing the nitty gritty of what seperates one disease from another. Ex Testicular Torsion vs Epididymitis, Intusucception vs Meckel's, ect. If you can do that then the test is pretty much cake.

I went in feeling underprepared but half way through I realized that the resources I mentioned above were more than adequate to do well. Good luck
 
I took the peds shelf on 09/30. I used:

BRS Peds X2
Pretest X2
Lange Q&A X2

On the second time going through I only redid questions I had missed the first time. I spread the studying out quite a bit, reading some every day from 08/14-09/29. No cramming.

Raw score: 84
Percentile rank: 90
 
desijigga said:
How do you guys figure out your % rank? Our school only gives us the raw score..
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Your clerkship director gets a raw score to percentile conversion. Some automatically share it. Others won't but will probably give it to you if you email them and ask nicely. (There's really no reason not to share it so they would have to be lazy or mean not to.)
 
My clerkship director gave me my percentile rank when I called and asked. I actually had two, a national percentile ranking and a percentile ranking calculated using only the peds shelf scores of other students in my class this year. So I guess a school percentile ranking. My national percentile was 1% lower than my school percentile.
 
I found that the best resources were Peds Casefiles, UWorld Questions, and PreTest
After going through pretest and UWorld, if there were questions or topics you didnt get right, go back over those questions again.
The test sucks, but remember it sucks for everyone, so how you do is based upon how everyone else does...
 
I just took this shelf and found it to be the easiest of the shelfs I've taken thus far.

I thought it was very straightforward and there were very few "wtf?!" type questions. I'm also glad I didn't waste a ton of time on developmental milestones as they were only 1-2 questions on the test.

As far as materials I used: Lange Q&A, Pretest Pediatrics, NMS, and First Aid for Pediatrics. I didn't subscribe to UWorld just for pediatrics because there are only 300 questions in the bank. There are far more through the Q books I mentioned.
 
I agree the test is straightforward and doable if you use some good resources. I got lazy and used CLIPP pdfs alone and that was definately inadequate. I didn't feel comfortable at all, but there were only 1-2 questions where I had zero clue what they were getting at. Hopefully I did average, but I'll have to wait a few weeks to get results.
 
I figured I would post what I did for this one because it was my best shelf. 99 raw. I took this one a while back so I'm trying to remember exactly what I did. I know I read all of case files and like 2/3 of BRS and then I did all the UWorld questions, so I guess those must have been good. I thought the test seemed hard, but you never can tell how you did on these things.
 
Are there any Kaplan audio or videos out there to go along with the Peds book. Something like Pestana or Goljan?
 
I ended up doing well.

I should have also mentioned I did all UWorld and 50% of pretest qs. I think the secret to all these shelfs is doing as many q's as possible.
 
Jolie South said:
I just took this shelf and found it to be the easiest of the shelfs I've taken thus far.

I thought it was very straightforward and there were very few "wtf?!" type questions. I'm also glad I didn't waste a ton of time on developmental milestones as they were only 1-2 questions on the test.

As far as materials I used: Lange Q&A, Pretest Pediatrics, NMS, and First Aid for Pediatrics. I didn't subscribe to UWorld just for pediatrics because there are only 300 questions in the bank. There are far more through the Q books I mentioned.
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Holy hell. I just found out I got a 96 on this shelf.
 
.
 
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Peds Raw score = 97

1. Pretest 2.5 times
2. Blueprints 2 3/4 times
3. UWorld one time through then incorrect questions again

Best resource was blueprints. Skipped the cardio chapter and studied cardiac stuff in first aid and in goljan rapid review pathology. Second best resource (very close second) was pretest. World was good too, but third best. Also did 5 or so clipp cases, these were cr*p.
 
hawk126 said:
Also did 5 or so clipp cases, these were cr*p.
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Wow, I thought they were pretty good. Hard to argue with your score though. Well done. :thumbup:
 
Guile said:
Wow, I thought they were pretty good. Hard to argue with your score though. Well done. :thumbup:
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Thanks. To each his own. Cr*p was probably too strong a word, but, IMO, far less helpful vs. world, pretest and BP's.
 
took the peds shelf late last year, didn't score so well eventhough I thought the shelf was the easiest I had taken. I had only read blueprints half way through, did all of uworld and all of pretest. In retrospect I would have read BRS completely or blueprints twice. I guess I felt overconfident with the material since we were lectured almost every day on the rotation.
 
blueprints, pretest, and case files are what I used and did fine
 
anyone else here take this exam recently wanna share your scores and study plan? I'm really tempted to read BRS and blueprints +/- Case Files. I have 6 wks and this is my last rotation; will be taking step 2 in 4 wks afterwards.
 
Took the test in March. Used case files and uworld peds questions x2, which was enough to get me a 90 (93rd percentile).
 
Read Blueprint x2, Case File x1
Did PreTestx1, Kaplan Q's, UW Q's, BRS Q's only (didn't read the book)

All this was VERY doable in 2 months. Ended up with a 96.

If I had to simplify this, I would've omitted the Case Files. Questions were definitely the most high yield. BRS is too long to read.
 
vicinihil said:
Read Blueprint x2, Case File x1
Did PreTestx1, Kaplan Q's, UW Q's, BRS Q's only (didn't read the book)

All this was VERY doable in 2 months. Ended up with a 96.

If I had to simplify this, I would've omitted the Case Files. Questions were definitely the most high yield. BRS is too long to read.
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Hey vicinihil, it seems like your second sentence at the bottom got cut off. What questions were the most high yield? Thanks.
 
NYMS86 said:
Hey vicinihil, it seems like your second sentence at the bottom got cut off. What questions were the most high yield? Thanks.
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It looks like he was saying that doing questions in general was the most high-yield vs. reading a text.
 
Just took the shelf - definitely one of the hardest shelf exams I have taken. This was my last shelf and I expected it to be much easier, especially with the knowledge base from previous exams, but it was tough.

It was all over the place. I think the best time to take this exam is right after doing Medicine. There were lots of IM questions...and I completed my IM core about a year ago, so I forgot a lot of the details. I used casefiles and world...waiting to get my scores, but don't underestimate this exam!
 
wow i'm stunned. just got my score, raw 99. i thought the exam was rather difficult but not impossible

case files x1 (reviewed summaries and questions in the last few days)
pretest x1
uworld x1 (plus review marked/incorrect)

u dont need to know immunization schedules. 2 easy developmental questions. plenty of random info
 
jmayer said:
wow i'm stunned. just got my score, raw 99. i thought the exam was rather difficult but not impossible

case files x1 (reviewed summaries and questions in the last few days)
pretest x1
uworld x1 (plus review marked/incorrect)

u dont need to know immunization schedules. 2 easy developmental questions. plenty of random info
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Congrats!
Which would you most recommend between UW and Pretest?
Also in terms of difficulty, were these sources easier or harder than the actual exam?
Thanks
 
Just for the record, I got a 79 using only UW and not giving a crap about the shelf since it wasn't going to affect my grade. If you wanted to score in the 80's, you could easily do it if you knew UW cold.
 
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