Studying for EM shelf/final exam: I've bought all the resources, would love resident advice

[theWUbear]

Hi all,

I am a student who just started my EM rotation. I did well on my medicine shelf by sticking to Step Up to Medicine (which was, to me, the perfect level of depth vs ability to get through the book), and doing UWorld questions. My surgery shelf was rougher because I didn't find that book that hit the sweet spot - using Pestana didn't do it for me I suppose.

I am going into EM so I have bought all the resources. I have

• Step Up to Emergency Medicine (2016): up to date, might hit that sweet spot, seems very redundant to medicine but perhaps that is the focus of the shelf? Or maybe I haven't delved deep into the book enough to see the finer points
• Emergency Medicine Secrets, 6th ed (2016): up to date, a little more information
• Pretest Emergency Medicine (2016): up to date, for questions
• Kaplan Qbank Emergency Medicine Questions
• Pocket Emergency Medicine

I am taking the NBME shelf exam at the end of the month and want to knock it out of the park, willing to study every second. I tend to be slow at getting through books. I would love to hear your proven strategies for studying for the EM shelf and what you might recommend I use. Thanks for your advice

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[KinesiologyNerd]

Do you do better with doing questions or actually reading a book? Answer that question and then just pick one of your books. One.

 

[doggydog]

Scored well on the test last month. Just did Rosh review.

 

[racerwad]

Agreed with @KinesiologyNerd. Identify your study style and focus on mastering one or two resources. By your own admission, you go through books slowly - having almost a half dozen texts to go through doesn't seem like the best way to approach it.

Like @doggydog, I used Rosh and did well (I think, never actually got a score...).

 

[Jlaw]

Do the SAEM practice tests

 

[phialpharaider]

I did all of case files, most of pre-test, and about 100 ?'s of rosh review (thought it was a waste of time so I stopped, I don't recommend). My NBME scaled score was 99. I finished CK a couple months before exam so I think that helped. It was my best NBME. Usually score mid 80's scaled.