Friday, October 03, 2008

Preparing for MRCP?

Ok since there are quite some questions on how did I prepare for my Part 1, hmm probably I'll just show you what have I got for my preparation:




The top and the bottom form the essentials. Many seniors told me that the minimum requirement is to finish Oxford handbook and K&C Clinical Medicine..cover to cover. To be honest, it's true. Painstaking and time-consuming but, this is what MRCP is about!


And the rest of the books that I displayed, are the supplementary. (Disclaimer: I'm not the best person to recommend which books to get, I'm just sharing my opinions) After the exam, I would now sort the books by their "usefulness" like this:


1. "Best of Five" - The questions' format are quite close to the exam's, hence a good practise book.


2. "An Aid to the MRCP" - Fantastic mnemonics! Though the facts provided are quite limited, but the mnemonics are helpful for quick revision.


3. "Update for the MRCP" - I think this is a should-get. Up-to-date information is essential when you sit for the exam, which you'll be tested on the latest facts!


4. "Basic Medical Sciences for MRCP" - This book I'm planning to sell it. Anyone's interested? (oops I hope the author is not reading this). Well, my humble opinion is, maybe the facts are somewhat inadequate and contents are not focused enough on Part 1=)


Beside books, I do have somemore things to share.


From USMLE Step 1, to Step 2 then now Part 1, I have to confess that, yes, I did use magic in my exams. HEHE. They're called "Darren's magic medicine formulas".
I'll share about the "formulas" in my next posts. Hope you all will find it useful!=)

19 comments:

Zzzyun said...

oh u use K&C clinical med...

i bought Davidson's Clinical Med.. have u used it before? i find it simple to read la..

i also have the oxford handbook of CM.. do u have the Clnical Specialties version? i heard its good..

sing said...

uiseh! doc+magician+tutor! haha! salute! kekekeke..

Anonymous said...

i have the An Aid To The MRCP PACES,is grey color 1..but i flip davidson more than it..=P

Jing said...

clinical specialties not good... imhho.

Anonymous said...

I actually read a lot of review articles when I prepared for both parts, which helped me tremendously as a clinician too. May I also recommend Acute General Medicine by Kumar and Clark, published by RCP? The scenarios presented were quite similar to those in the exams.

Pingu said...

Magician + Doctor, How coOL if we can use magic in exams ! give some tips !!

Zzzyun said...

jing> hey, dunno if u rmb me.. i came into sem 1 when u were sem 5. u were in the student rep ma..

erm can u tell me why you think the oxford clinical specialties is not good? just to hear ur reasons so i can make a decision lo.. thanks ya!

Anonymous said...

Hi darren,

I am currently a med student in IMU, sem 4 now, and was wondering on ur opinion on when is the best time to take my USMLE step 1 exam. Before entering phase 2, or after phase 2?

Jing said...

err... hehe... i am sure i can regocnise u when i see u... of if i dont... tap on my shoulder... lol

err... i think it's just personal preference... there were anumber of times where i tried to search for some clinical conditions and they werent there! since then, the book was kept in my home in KL till now... haha... but according to few of my friends, they dont like it as useful as the OHCM also.

the choice is yours! =)

Darrenmagic said...

Hi tan,
If the rule still unchanged then i remember that you can sit for step 1 after 2 yrs of study ie after sem 4. But that'll be a bit too ambitious coz I think it's a pretty difficult exam unless you really hav got very adequate time to prepare for it. And actually no rush to take it unless you're going PMS in US.

I sat for it during my Sem8, when the time we have like 3 months elective. I think that's the best time to study and sit for it?=)

Anonymous said...

Ahh true. Thanks alot. :)

Zzzyun said...

Jing> haha its ok. i think we never official met. but i knew u coz u were in student rep ma.

anyway, i have the same problem with the OHCM too. there were quite a few things that I cudnt find when i searched. so u are saying the OHCS is the same as well?

do u have any recommendation on any other better pocket sized book on Specialities to carry in the wards? thanks!

Darren> wow looks like a lot of ppl from imu are starting to read ur blog :P hehe kinda nice to get to know more juniors eh! ^^

Darrenmagic said...

zzzyun: Must thank for your promotion la hehe=)
but true la i also noticed that. So better watch out for my contents if not IMU will come after me..hehe=)

Jing said...

PDA is the best! lol for me... can go online with it... find the latest literature if u want to... i usually go for cochrane review cuz it saves time and has the highest level of evidence... lol... yeah other than that, i suppose u can use it in the wards... but for each specialty, it has got different recommended book... so it really depends on u... personal preference i would say. ^^v

Jing said...

haih... i am using darren's blog to reply u... i am sure he doenst mind. =)

haha... or does he? ^^

Zzzyun said...

Darren> haha i dunno whether they came from my blog or elsewhere... but good la, ur blog gaining popularity ade! :P

Jing> i think he doesnt mind..right? haha i think i shld be the one in trouble coz i started asking u Qs here first lol.

wah PDA very expensive, have no money to buy.. =( i think i'll browse the book more b4 considering buying it then.. thks for ur advice :)

Anonymous said...

scoliosis? (I'm not a doctor lol, just guessing :D )

Darrenmagic said...

dn: You sure you're not a doc?=)
Ya you're right..some degrees of degenerative scoliosis are there. There might also be a dextrocardia, or concurrent lung infection. It's really an interesting Xray. Probably one day i'll show this to radiologist and get his opinion and get back to here=)

Anonymous said...

my guess is right upper lobe lung collapse with mediastinal shift, and that's why cardiac is pull to the right side of lung.....

jz my guess lo

BTW, do u have the answer for that liao?i m curious :p

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