Books for Prep | |
 - Fair Warning5th edition and still riddled with errors -- grammatical, factual and editorial. I spent more time second-guessing the explanation for the 'correct' answer than I did gaining any preparation for the shelf. Plus, the material and question structure covered in this book are not representative of the shelf exam. This one hit the recycling bin a while ago. Rating:  - Not a good resource during M3 clerkship.I can't say how these questions might compare to the surgery shelf exam, because I haven't taken it yet. I can definitely say that this book isn't good preparation, because the explanations don't make any sense. The first chapter is Trauma. I read my assigned textbook's chapter on trauma, attended my rotation's trauma lecture, and then tried my hand at this book. The questions didn't have anything to do with what I'd read in the textbook or heard in lecture. Question 1 deals with proper used of a Steimann pin for a supracondylar fracture. What??? The explanation didn't give any more info above saying that this fracture should be treated with a Steimann pin... didn't mention WHY that answer choice was correct, why the other answer choices were incorrect, or what a Steimann pin was. If you're looking for a question book that will actually teach you something, look elsewhere. Rating: - ErrorsBook is full of many, many errors. Not worth your time. I didn't like Pre-test, either, as it seemed too detailed. Surgical Recall is GREAT but it contains no questions. Case Files is also useful. I have yet to find a useful surgery question book. Rating: - Try Pretest insteadThe purpose of doing questions, in my opinion, is to get better at doing questions like those on the shelfs! People say that they expose holes in your knowledge as well, but that is not always useful information because people generally study as much as they can in the time they have. This book is not good at training you to answer questions correctly because the questions were way too difficult. By difficult I mean that you couldn't use your brain to figure out the answer with the knowledge you've accumulated, you had to have known the completely random fact that they decided to write a question around. In summary- buy PRETEST, much more useful for the shelf, in fact, there were at least three questions on my shelf directly out of the book! Rating:  - Helpful Prep BookI found this book very helpful for the Surgery shelf exam. I used this book and Surgery Recall (a must in most surgery clerkships) and felt well prepared for the shelf. I scored well above the national mean and the class mean. The only other factor was that our clerkship had a strong didatics aspect and that we were taught very well during lectures. In association with Amazon.com | |