Psychiatry Shelf Poll - Study Materials

[Betsy]

Feel free to elaborate below about how you prepared for the Psychiatry shelf exam.

Here is a link to a useful thread on SDN regarding the psych shelf.

Psychiatry Shelf Exam Thread

[beaudubbs]

I think first aid has good material in it for the shelf...it just doesn't do a good job of preparing you. I also needed Q's and went with Pretest because I had heard that it was the best simulation of the actual test. My opinion now is that Pretest Psych was really nothing remotely like the shelf and time would have been better spent elsewhere. I would advise using FA and NOT PRETEST! Check through some of the other Q books. I don't know if they are helpful or not.

[Eileen]

First Aid is very helpful. I read through it once slowly around week three/four/five, and again the day before the test (150 pages...6 hours...just read straight through). I felt that First Aid along with everything you learn on the wards (or through independent study about your patients) was enough for the material portion (again, they always ask some questions that are not found in any review books). And as far as the question/stamina portion, I used Pre Test. Actually, some of the questions in Pre Test are almost identical to questions on the exam, but Pre Test also had a bunch of extraneous info that wasn't on the test. I think the tests may vary, but a HUGE majority of the information on my test was in First Aid. There was information covered in Pre Test that wasn't in First Aid (for example on people and history) and I didn't see even one question on any of it. I also had heard there was a 'bunch of neuro' on the test...I had only one question I thought belonged on a neuro test. Every question is a large paragraph...so prepare for that. You get 2 hours and 10 minutes for 100 questions. The only thing I would have done differently (other than possibly read First Aid a third time) would have been to get an additional question book--I got through Pre Test in two weeks (it has 500 questions). I thought this test was cake compared to the family medicine shelf! ;D

[giannucci]

I used First Aid, PreTest, and High Yield...lots of reading time during this rotation...however, I thought this was the hardest shelf exam that I had taken to date (vs. OB and Peds). I think it would probably be worth your time to review some neuro (not extensively)...as the neuro questions are more straight forward (imaging) vs. psych ("clinical diagnosis"), but I would aggree with Eileen in that there is not a ton of neuro on this exam. Also, some of Pretest was very good (and almost verbatim for some of the questions), but do yourself a favor and skip trying to memorize Piaget, Erickson, and other people who attached their names to descriptions of munchkin development. Time is definitely an issue on this exam...lots of superfluous information in every question.

[Betsy]

I agree with Glen. I was really surprised with how hard this shelf exam was. I thought it was going to be easy from what I have heard, but it was tough. I read through First Aid, the Kaplan psych book, and also Pre-test. I felt like these were all good, but pre-test was easier that the shelf. And Glen mentioned this, but dont worry about what person said what, etc. This is not on the exam.

There is not alot of neuro, but you definately should do a quick review. There was a ton of pharm, so you need to know all of the psych drugs cold including adverse reactions. Also heavily tested was substance abuse, eating disorders (I thought), childhood disorders, and mood disorders. I was surprised as to the amount of treatment questions other than drugs, like therapy and the different types of therapy. Also know what is normal behaviors vs abnormal in children. I didnt have questions on defense mechanisms. Hope this helps. You just really have to do alot of thinking with these questions because they are not straightforward. Good luck!

Also, see the link that I posted above at the top. I thought it was helpful.

[hnaggarmd]

Here's a good link about the types of questions asked.

forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=189944&highlight=psych+shelf

Always keep in mind of organic causes first. I did well on the test and the resources I used were 1st Aid for psych (read about 2 times) and the green Clinical Psychiatry pocket book. The pocket book was great with differentials and how to distinguish b/w similar diagnoses (like MDD with psychotic features versus Bipolar).

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