Key sections in Toronto notes for MCCQE

[Alastriss]

Hi all,

 

I'm going through the pediatric section of Toronto notes and there are many sections that I expect to have "keys" but they are in fact not "keyed". Some of these include congenital heart disease, asthma, Strep pharyngitis, acute otitis media, varicella, etc are not keyed. Are they key sections reliable in the Toronto notes or am I missing something? I am using the 2010 version.

[rmorelan]

Hi all,

 

I'm going through the pediatric section of Toronto notes and there are many sections that I expect to have "keys" but they are in fact not "keyed". Some of these include congenital heart disease, asthma, Strep pharyngitis, acute otitis media, varicella, etc are not keyed. Are they key sections reliable in the Toronto notes or am I missing something? I am using the 2010 version.

 

that confused me as well - interestingly I cannot find an example of where any of those are actually listed a specific examples in the objective list on the MCCQE site either of something we need to know. Indirectly it comes up - e.g., failure to thrive can be caused by a heart malformation, but not directly.

[thebouque]

Don't rely on the ''keys'', trust your common sense. Reviewing asthma and strep throat is an excellent idea for the mccqe. It's unfortunate that we don't have good resources to study from in Canada... TO notes is quite mediocre.

[Alastriss]

Yeah, and the Cardiology section has like no keys in it, not even next to ACS . Ugh, hope they really curve this one.

[thebouque]

The Toronto Notes are garbage. You're using a review book written by people who haven't even experienced the LMCC I yet. .

Ahaha excellent. It would explain why its such a terrible review book (but an ok book for reviewing during clerkship). Are you sure that its not edited or partly written by residents though?

[rogerroger]

As a past chapter author of Toronto Notes I can assure you that there are no residents involved. But there are staff reviewers who provide advice and corrections.

[Alastriss]

As a past chapter author of Toronto Notes I can assure you that there are no residents involved. But there are staff reviewers who provide advice and corrections.

 

Any input from you about significance of they keys, and lack there if? I'm finding it a decent resource to brush up on what I've learned.

[rogerroger]

Any input from you about significance of they keys, and lack there if? I'm finding it a decent resource to brush up on what I've learned.

 

TNotes is great, but you gotta remember what you are reading. It is a compilation of notes made over many years of graduating UofT med students. The chapters are drafted from various sources, old Toronto meds class notes, different review articles, online resources etc.

 

It is a group project and volunteers rewrite and improve chapters yearly. Not all volunteer groups are equal and not all chapters as strong as others. I would not be surprised if the keys are just randomly assigned by someone who has volunteered to look into it.

 

Don't read the book like it comes from the MCC or like lecture notes provided during preclerkship. Read the book as a CC4 level comprehensive review of specific topics in medicine. It has more than you need to know. If you are studying for the MCCQE you are basically a doctor, you know what is important. Trust yourself on this one. You don't need a "key".

 

Plus, the MCCQE is random. Know the high yeild stuff, there will be questions that are very badly written or that most people won't get. The goal here is to correctly answer the majority of questions that are core knowledge. You know this stuff already if you passed your core rotations. Just read TNotes as a refresher. That is all it is meant to be.

[Laika]

Any input from you about significance of they keys, and lack there if? I'm finding it a decent resource to brush up on what I've learned.

 

The keys are next to important MCC or NBME objectives. Of course, there's no guarantee that a topic without a key isn't on the LMCC or USMLE...

[Alastriss]

TNotes is great, but you gotta remember what you are reading. It is a compilation of notes made over many years of graduating UofT med students. The chapters are drafted from various sources, old Toronto meds class notes, different review articles, online resources etc.

 

It is a group project and volunteers rewrite and improve chapters yearly. Not all volunteer groups are equal and not all chapters as strong as others. I would not be surprised if the keys are just randomly assigned by someone who has volunteered to look into it.

 

Don't read the book like it comes from the MCC or like lecture notes provided during preclerkship. Read the book as a CC4 level comprehensive review of specific topics in medicine. It has more than you need to know. If you are studying for the MCCQE you are basically a doctor, you know what is important. Trust yourself on this one. You don't need a "key".

 

Plus, the MCCQE is random. Know the high yeild stuff, there will be questions that are very badly written or that most people won't get. The goal here is to correctly answer the majority of questions that are core knowledge. You know this stuff already if you passed your core rotations. Just read TNotes as a refresher. That is all it is meant to be.

 

i figured as much. Pretty much going with my gut instinct on what's important to know even if it isn't keyed vs what I won't look at if it is keyed but something super rare/have never heard of.