How to Study for the Medicine Shelf Exam. Try scheduling your Medicine and Surgery exams in succession of each other, if possible, as there tends to be some overlap in the topics covered. Students who take Medicine first do tend to be better prepared for Surgery. Cover as many practice questions and different cases as possible, as the Medicine Shelf like the discipline itself is extremely broad. 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!
Check out how I went from barely passing my exams to graduating med school with a 3. It worked for me and it could also work for you! This site is supported by our participation in affiliate programs.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. With this said, our opinions are always our own and we do not recommend products we do not like. Because this is the broadest shelf exam, I chose a more comprehensive text.
Medicine is the largest category on UWorld, so there are plenty of practice questions to work through. What makes this one of the best shelf-prep texts for any rotation is a case-based structure that not only explains the reasoning for the most likely diagnosis and treatment but also why other diagnoses and treatments are less likely or appropriate. It will feel like reading a medicine text, but remember — the Surgery Shelf is about knowing which treatment options to exhaust before choosing surgery, as well as pre- and post-op care.
For learning about specific operations and the questions you might be asked in the OR, read Surgical Recall. At the beginning of each rotation, I identified the resources I wanted to use and tried to divide the number of pages to read or the number of questions to work through by the number of days available for studying. I had a daily goal to work towards, which was really helpful because it gave me a sense of whether I was covering enough material daily.
I always tried to leave a couple of days right before the shelf for dedicated studying, and I tried to work in an NBME practice test 1 to 2 weeks before the shelf.
Any progress is better than no progress! I was amazed at how many times I used my clinical experience to answer questions on shelf exams and Step 2 CK. Despite the best planning and strongest commitment to a study schedule, there were many days where it was just not possible to meet my daily goals. When I missed a day, I tried to make up the missed work over the next day or two. Bigger schedule disruptions required a more thoughtful evaluation of my progress and goals before reworking my study plan.
In some cases I could increase my daily goals for the rest of the rotation, but there were a couple of times where I had to completely rework my study plan for the time I had left before the shelf.
These were times where I had to think about which resources were highest yield for me personally and then focus on those for the rest of the rotation. For example, I might focus on more detail-oriented resources in a rotation where I felt comfortable with the fundamentals, or I might choose to abandon a nitty-gritty, nuanced resource in order to make sure I had a grasp on the core concepts in a rotation where I was having trouble learning the material.
Flexibility is key. Even though 3rd year schedules are busy and unpredictable, I recommend setting specific daily study goals. Work hard to meet your goals daily, and use days off from clinical duties or free time to catch up or work ahead.
To use these daily goals effectively, you have to make peace with the fact that you will frequently miss your daily goals due to factors beyond your control.
But the advantage of having running daily goals is that it gives you a concrete sense of how far ahead or behind you are in your studying. Shelf exams for medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery occur on the following dates throughout the academic year. You should follow the exam schedule that works with your clerkship palette. Friday, January 29, neurology Friday, February 12, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery Friday, February 26, neurology Friday, March 26, medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery.
Friday, April 30, neurology Friday, May 14, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, psychiatry, pediatrics Friday, May 28, neurology Friday, June 25, medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery.
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