Customer Reviews

Pediatrics PreTest Self Assessment and Review, Eleventh Edition

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Relevant, quick, and useful questions. Having used the Pretest series before with great disappointment (Surgery, Psych, Ob/Gyn), I decided to ditch Pretest except that I heard several good comments on med student forums. Much to my surprise, the questions in this book covered pertient facts. Unlike other Pretest books, this one omits most of the picky and numerical based questions that don't show up on exams. The 500 questions are organized in sensible fashion to allow you to target weak areas. While the questions still don't simulate board-style (clinical vignettes) for the most part, they tend to target the important aspects of knowledge. If you tend to distrust Pretest, give this one a shot.

If there's only one book you can master in preparation for the pediatrics shelf exam, this is definitely the one. I used this book in conjunction with case files and got my best shelf grade ever. Here are some things I noticed:

1. The material covered in this book is relevant, with the appropriate level of detail, and almost all inclusive of the shelf exam. Many of the questions I encountered in this book were almost the same as the ones I saw on the exam.

2. You can do these questions to test your knowledge after studying or simply as a learning tool (without any studying). Because the answer explanations are so well written, you'll learn the info either way.

3. The question style resembles the shelf, although the shelf ones are a bit longer.

4. This book is not as expensive compared to other resources.

So in conclusion ... get this book and go through it twice if you can.

This is probably the best single source for pediatric prep for step 2. I've gone through the Lorin book and found it to be too picky vs. the step 2 exam. If you want to go into peds, the Lorin book will help you later, but for shear step 2 prep, this is the book to get. Pertinent questions and nothing esoteric. Fast read. I think i bought if for about $20. Well worth it. Trust me. I scored > 2 sd above the mean.

Don't waste your time with blue prints.

I thought this book did a really good job of covering a broad variety of topics. Plus, it doesn't take long to get through the book, so it's a good last minute source, too. There were actually questions on the shelf exam that covered the exact same concepts.

I felt this book did a very nice job in preparing me for both my shelf exam and my boards

This book was not only excellent preparation for the shelf exam, I found its explanations useful for learning the main clinical points for various diseases. I used it in conjunction with Blueprints Pediatrics and read both cover-to-cover over the course of the clerkship.

While there is no perfect way to study for the NBME at the end of your third year clerkships, there are ways that are more effective. I recommend reading this book in the days just before your peds test. I do not recommend relying on it alone to study, read it after doing a review book and a cases book.

I used PreTest Pediatrics as my sole study aid for the Pediatrics recertification board exam, which I took yesterday. In all my years of taking medical exams (med school, residency, fellowship, and now recertification) I have never seen so many questions on the actual exam that so closely mirror the questions I studied. Without counting, it seemed that a quarter of the exam questions were nearly identical in vignette and answers to questions from the PreTest book, and several of the questions even had the multiple choices in the same order.

McGraw Hill advertises that "All questions are reviewed by students who have recently passed the exams." I believe it. Kudos on a low-cost book that is relevant to USMLE Steps 2, 3, and beyond.

I was very disappointed with my recent purchase from this seller. The question book was advertised as used but in very good condition, with some markings. It was a question book. When I received the book, every answer was circled, and wrong answers indicated. The book had writing THROUGHOUT and was totally unusable. It was a waste of my money and extremely disappointing because I had planned to use the book to prepare for my pediatrics shelf exam in the last two weeks of my clerkship. I did not have time to purchase and use a new text, which could have negatively impacted my performance on my exam. I would never have sold that book with those qualifications, and plan to throw it away. Poor form.