Note: I was not paid for any of this and this is not suggesting what to buy, I just know when I wanted to look at others opinions of review sources, I couldn't find a very good thorough review of anything.

I wanted to share my opinions on some study materials I used for the exam this year and provide some comments on the quality of items tested as people start buying study materials for their certification exam.

Note: I am not good at studying simply by reading, I am more of a do questions/flash cards to keep information focused, but I do discuss the books below.

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• MKSAP "Best for teaching you to be a knowledgeable Internist"
  • Pros:
    • Books are decently detailed and has questions to go with the sections,
    • Qbank is a nice size and tests on a wide variety of questions
    • Comes with Board Basics Book: Highly Recommended as a First Aid style book to quick review; especially if you are not a great reading learner.
    • Very current with new practices, but some things tested would still be considered too recent to be included in the exam.
    • Highlight feature lets you make quick one liner fast facts for review both in Qbank and books
    • Virtual Dx is a quick and easy on the brain testing of what is this picture of in hopes you can do quick recall.
  • Cons:
    • Expensive, Cheaper if you buy an ACP membership (go figure)
    • Books can be too lengthy
    • Flash cards are a bit on the brief side and focus on pure recall; sometimes obscure topics
    • Hospitalist questions appear to have a running theme of "Here is a presentation of something common and we are going to list the normal answer, but we are also going to offer up a select small detail/exception and that will be correct" >90% of the time so you can learn to get in the habit of just skipping the normal answers.
    • Often not many repeat questions on the same topic, so not quite able to do repetition like other options
    • Heavy on obscure Heme/Onc, hoping not similar to the real exam, but its a common complaint of the QBank
    • Sometimes the points taught are TOO new, conflicting with other sources that have not quite caught up with the change or gives opinions of multiple societies and does not clarify which would be considered on the exam (if any since it is conflicting)
    • Does not show you how you are doing with your peers
• UWorld "Best for learning to approach questions, especially those 2nd and 3rd order presentations"
  • Pros:
    • Good for making the questions purposely obscure for 2nd and 3rd order
    • Cheaper price since it is only a Qbank
    • Has several questions on the same topics to allow users to approach things from multiple ways
    • New Anki Style Flash Card feature that allows you to put in the tables directly
    • Shows you how you are doing compared to peers
  • Cons:
    • Questions can be quite difficult and discouraging
    • No book; sources often used from pubmed and need an account
    • Often puts in a "grey-area" value for temperatures (100F which depending on society is or is not a fever) or lab values for added difficulty. Real exam won't do that
    • Continues to list lab values and tests without providing reference values, which the real exam does
    • Some of the tables and graphs do not look like they have been updated
    • For some reason loves aspergillus and TSH testing.
    • Some questionable "correct" answers for ethics questions
• Medstudy: "Good books, Good high yield flash cards"
  • Pros:
    • Very good books, some say they are the easiest ones to read; nice pretest and post test questions to make sure you got what you read.
    • Can purchase Books, questions, a skin exam bank, and flash cards. A lot for your money in the bundles
    • Good Flashcards to review high yield topics and not stray too far into the weeds.
    • Questions seem a bit more on the OK side, not bad, but also not my first choice
  • Cons:
    • Many people asked felt they gave too many buzzwords in the question stem, allowing you to get it on the third one.
    • Flash Cards are very busy for IM. Sometimes they will cram 5-6 different facts onto a card because they are usually presentation based rather than make extra cards.
• Medstudy Review Videos "Great in smaller chunks if that's your learning style "
  • Pros:
    • Good comprehensive reviews more focused on what usually tested and explanations
    • Comes with a review book to follow along
    • Questions to keep you following along
  • Cons:
    • Very Expensive
    • Dense; You really do need a copy of the book as it includes the slides
    • A lot of the information is based on what is on the screen and not just what is being said, so not going to get full impact just listening without watching
• ***NEJM Knowledge+:"Smaller Stems with target review of struggling topics, good for anki style learners starting early"
  • Pros
    • Comes with NEJM subscription
    • Focuses on topics that you answered feeling like you "somewhat know" versus "don't know" etc
    • Not overly expensive
  • Cons:
    • New, hasn't quite gotten the status of must have review source among my colleagues
    • More of a first order question bank
• *PEAC Modules: "My program was not very strong in outpatient and I want something less dense than uptodate"
  • Pros:
    • CHEAP
    • Very thorough review of outpatient practices for those looking to do a hammer home common problems and approaches
    • Has pretest and posttest questions
  • Cons:
    • Basic setup is here is pretest, read a chapter and then post test; not the best style for everyone
    • Can be bland, long and dense depending on the subject
    • Not completely comprehensive but talks on the most common topics
    • Bullet point summary of facts and approaches is not as detailed as I would like

*Denotes material I did not finish during my review for my exam, only my impressions

YMMV, only use things you feel like would work for you!

What would I personally consider going back:

3 years out: I would honestly just get a basic set of review questions or flash cards, too busy to do detailed study this far out and would not recommend using any of the major 3 Qbanks yet as people inherently remember the questions on their second time through and not necessarily why they know the material. Can give a false sense of security. Probably something like NEJM Knowledge+ to do targeted review if I was to get anything not provided by my residency or flash cards.

2 years out: Depends on your learning style, I would recommend something Anki style; whether that be NEJM Knowledge+ or taking notes from Medstudy/MKSAP/UW and turning them into Anki review material. Consider reviewing the MKSAP Board Basics book if you are not a huge reader, otherwise would recommend reading the Medstudy books for focused exam material rather than a slimmed down Harrison's like MKSAP.

1 year out: Uworld and MKSAP; getting through both Qbanks. Or choose another QBank, there are many more out there. Those are just sort of the front runners for "Gold Standard" when discussed among peers.

6 Months: Questions, Questions, Questions. Personally I need something that I haven't done before, so I would consider a different Q bank over doing the same one again, but that works for some people.

Hopefully this helps some people going forward!