“ Pocketbook Medicine: have one in your coat. I definitely foresee myself using it for my STEP 2 studying.”
Just start early because it takes a while. The QuickHits on the margins are great for questions on the wards and to jog your memory.
That said, it’s pretty high-yield and useful for other rotations like Gen Surg. You’ll ask yourself midway if you’re actually learning or retaining any information. It was very basic and I feel like it did not add much to my knowledge.” “I was disappointed in this book and ended up not using it much for studying for my medicine shelf. I’d definitely suggest using practice questions from Kaplan or UWorld as an adjunct, but Step-Up was great for getting an outline of things to review.” It’s definitely more of a general outline of most topics, but will jog your memory about many things and show you what you don’t remember quite as well. “I used Step-Up to Medicine as my primary review book and it worked great as that resource. Again, it's great for studying but be sure to supplement with study questions for best results.” It's a fabulous outline to annotate during your clerkship and not have to write the whole book from Cecil's in your pocket book. “Step up to Medicine is wonderful- it's detailed enough for the test though not necessarily for a patient you are working up. I definitely feel that the content and question bank prepared me for the Shelf exam. I did not have to tote around 2 books and was able to login with my iPad or any computer that was available. “MKSAP for Students 5 Digital, enhanced with Internal Medicine Essentials - I decided to purchase the online version of MKSAP 5 with Internal Medicine Essentials mainly for convenience. Gives a great overview of the diseases encountered in internal medicine, and MKSAP 5 helps drive home the most important aspects in question form.” It's in paragraph form which makes it an easier read than some of the bullet-type study resources we’re used to. Start early and work through steadily by reading a chapter and doing the correlated questions right after. “Internal Medicine Essentials for Students + MKSAP 5 is a 1-2 hit knockout for the clerkship. Internal Medicine Essentials for Clerkship Students Overall, it’s a great resource to get in depth info about a topic but a little too thick to use as a major study resource, in my opinion.” It’s also a big help when you’re asked to give a presentation during the clerkship. It’s a bit too dense to read as a study book for the actual shelf itself, but if you want to really know the background of a disease process for pimping during rounds, it’s definitely the way to go. “Cecil’s was a great resource to use to read up on patients that you had during the wards/consults months. Not to mention that it has great charts for last minute studying when you are flustered.” For example, if you know you will be assigned an infective endocarditis the next day, Cecil's will make you look thorough and fabulous.
It's a wonderful book to help understand pathophysiology and gives a great list of important questions to ask for key history, useful labs, and a realistic Ddx. It's a go-to that you can't go wrong with, though clearly it's too big to read through. “Baby Cecil's is a fabulous home resource book. The department offers a wonderful list of recommendations however, below are reviews written by students based on their own experiences with the LSU medicine clerkship. Be sure to pick the one that best suits your style and needs. Not all students have the same experiences with the same books. Hopefully, this will help make your decision a little bit easier and wiser. The Medicine shelf is notorious amongst students as one of the hardest and most encompassing of your third year exams. Starting a new rotation is always a difficult experience, especially when it comes to choosing your study material for rounds and the shelf exam.