When do shelf scores come back

You find yourself going from being tested on random factoids related to the basic sciences to answering more real life albeit somewhat ideal clinical scenarios.

And then you get your first or even second score on your Shelf exam and it was not as good as you had hoped. But what about Step 2 CK? If you did this poorly, barely scraping by with a pass, you are bound to bomb Step 2 CK on your big test day You're going from the books to the wards, and while you had up to 8 hours a day to study before, you now have to settle for an hour or two, but you are so SO tired after a long day of rounds or retracting in the OR.

Plus, even when you're fully caffeinated on your fifth latte of the day, you can barely find the energy to go through a single UWorld question. Still sounding familiar? Here's the good news:. If you did well, you know what you need to keep doing. If you did poorly, it's time to troubleshoot and start some real learning.

Each rotation has its own core curriculum and it's up to you to figure out how to master its content within the timeframe of your rotation while trying to learn how to work clinically. Just like studying for Step 1, 2 CK or 3, a strategic schedule and plan is the way to go. What did you do right? UWorld as usual is still your friend here because within each clinical rotation you will find a rich list of questions that will prepare you well for the subsequent Shelf.

Also, getting started early will get you in gear for Step 2 CK at the end of the year. It reviews the content in bullet form but also adds another high yield source of over board-style questions to your arsenal.

Well, they work just like they do for Step 1. In fact, you can use those you toiled so hard to make each day while you were studying for Step 1; only now, just add the clinical correlation you need to hammer down as a third year med student. So those individuals who manage to get a 99 on their shelf exams have no way of knowing exactly how much they outperformed their peers, nor is it publicized how much better you have to do in terms of percentage correct in order to get these scores.

For this reason, your NBME shelf exam percentile is not as reflective of your performance compared to your peers as it would be for the USMLE exams, when all takers have the same amount of skin in the game. Nice article, good job summarizing all the circumstantial explanations that come up when you google this. The links are very helpful too, with the exception of the Normal Percentile Calculator would everyone quit trying to make me remember stats already, geez! Hi Ben, thanks again for putting up the info for shelf.

The consequences of a burn out are far more devastating and destructive as compared to missing out on a scheduled reading for your Pediatrics shelf exam. Relax and take a breather. Check out this post where I shared simple and proven approaches on how to study for your shelf exam efficiently and effectively!

Just the UWorld question banks alone are not enough to honor your shelf exams. Hitting case files and even old-school textbooks are your best bets for digesting more information in preparation for the shelf exams.

However, just as mentioned before , mastery of the materials are derived from doing question banks as much as possible. This allows you to improve on question interpretation and conditions you to answer under timed conditions.

Unfortunately, using UWorld as your sole question bank is not enough. This may not be the case for your Internal Medicine rotation since UWorld adequately assesses you on this one. It is widely used by med students to study for Step 1 as there are pre-made decks tailored for the needs and preferences of different students.

Such pre-made decks for Step 1 include Zanki. Thankfully, there are also high-yield pre-made decks that can be used for the shelf exams. These include flashcards from the Step 1 Neurology and Behavioral deck and Pharmacology deck.

Of course, you have the power and freedom to add more cards into these decks if you encounter questions from UWorld that you want to review further later on. The purpose of flashcards is to remember key concepts , so make sure to utilize it really well.

If you feel more comfortable doing your own decks for the shelf exams, go for it. These pre-made decks were most likely made to cater to the needs of the one who created it. These little minutes of going through the decks all add up in the end. A passing shelf exam score is set by your medical school.

Whether you pass your shelf exams is highly dependent on whatever arbitrary score your school has set and their requirements.

Still, the shelf exams are graded on a national average. It depends on your school. Some medical schools take at least one to two weeks to release shelf exam results. The turnaround time also varies for each core rotation. Some could take longer amounts of time to be accessed from the NBME and released by your school. There are also medical schools that simultaneously releases shelf results and final clerkship grade.

As we have already mentioned before, shelf exams are important. How influential your shelf exam scores are is dependent on whatever criteria your school has decided on how to grade you. If your school somehow weighs in your clinical performance more than the shelf exams, then doing extremely well within the wards is understandable and would not harm your final clerkship grade as much. On the other hand, if your entire clerkship is based solely on the shelves and the attending feedback will just be a part of your record, the situation could be daunting for you.

Take your shelf exams seriously. I know that certain situations are way out of our control. But please as much as possible, work hard on building an application that will capture the attention of residency program directors. I hope you have found this blog post insightful to help you gear up for your shelves. We wish you good luck as you conquer your rotations and shelf exams altogether. If you have enjoyed this post, how about checking out some of our other blog posts for more great content?

If you want access to our full library of guides and free courses for med students, check out the Med Vault! I also want to share with you my best strategies and tricks on how you can succeed on your medical journey with my best selling Triple Bundle Books!