Book Review: OUP Clinical Medicine & Specialities MCQs

A new feature to the website and to our members; read below for a book review of Oxford University Press Clinical Medicine and Clinical Specialities Multiple Choice, AMK style Question Booklet.

Price: £16.50 on Amazon (use the links above to support this site)

These books, set to be released in January 2010 as the first in a series of booked by Oxford Assess and Progress, contain over 450 AMK style questions each, including answers and explanations.

In the short time that i've had with these books, I can say that they are definitely worth your while. Questions are split into sections depending on system area i.e. cardiovascular and Endocrinology etc. in the Clinical Medicine Book and Paediatrics and Dermatology etc. in the Clinical Specialities Book.

Each section has around 40 AMK style questions, with full vignettes and stats i.e. temp, BP etc. The vignettes are diverse and varied and have 5 multiple choice answers that don't lead you too much to the right answer but make you think.

Accompanying vignettes are detailed ECGs and Pictures which help give a more clinical feel to the questions and these are printed in full colour.

At the end of each section, there is an "Extended Matching Questions" set, which challenges you to think of the causes of certain presentations e.g. Q) Causes of Skin Lumps, which is the followed by 8 types of causes and 4 vignettes which you are to match them to.

Each section is also followed by Answers. These are extensive in Clinical Medicine but a little rushed in Clinical Specialities (although probably due to the nature of the questions changing), giving you not only why the correct answer is right, but also why the other answers are wrong, helping you to understand why one answer is better than another. They are referenced to some of the latest research and have been hugely useful.

If I had to find any criticism with the book, is that the answers could provide a mini-learning section on the disease in question, whereas normally it just confirms how the presented symptoms relate to the disease. However, this is normally sufficient or at least can direct your extra learning.

Conclusion

These small, handy little books contain AMK gold! With 450 questions in each, spanning all considerable topics, you'll be hard stretched to find any reason not to like them. They are elegantly presented and provide extensive answers as a learning tool, and for those looking for more AMK practice, both books contain relevant questions that could easily come up in a future AMK!

A Good Buy! (Price TBA)