Official Internal Medicine Shelf Exam Thread

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Originally Posted by xxRJxx

We had 2hrs 30 min for the shelf (an improvement I've heard from the 2hr10min previously given). I have never, ever in my life felt pressed for time on an exam...not the MCAT, DEFINITELY not STEP1...but this exam left me sweating!! I had 4 questions left when ten minutes was called and I did NOT think I could do it.

Yeah, last year it was 2 hr 10 min. Imagine not having 20 of the minutes you did have. It was near impossible to finish.

Originally Posted by Guile

Yeah, last year it was 2 hr 10 min. Imagine not having 20 of the minutes you did have. It was near impossible to finish.

We had 2hrs 30 min.

I thought this test was brutal. I only did World and ended up HP thankfully.

Originally Posted by TheCatinTheHat

Just wanted to take a poll, how much time do you get for the internal med shelf at your school??

we get 2 hrs 30 mins for all our shelves

We got 2 hours 30 mins, probably needed 2 hrs and 15-20 min

Just dropping in to give more props to UWorld for the medicine shelf. It's all I did. I bought Step Up to Medicine, but I didn't have time to open it besides referencing a few things from UWorld. I went through the questions once and jotted down some notes and it was good enough for 92%ile.

I think we had 2 hrs 15-30 mins for our shelf to answer the question above. It would have been plenty of time, but I drank a low-carb monster and had to get up in the middle and pee, lol. Still worked out OK. UWorld will speed you up, because you will recognize things.

Would agree that Step-Up and UWorld are the best tips for this shelf. Did all the UWorld Q's (tried to go back through the ones I missed previously but it just wasn't feasibe). I read through Step-Up once and went back through the cardio, pulm, GI, and ambulatory chapters again. This worked well.

So far I have read Step-Up (2 chapters left) and plan to finish the last 2 chapters this week. I've done 670 UWorld qs and half of MKSAP 3. My average on UWorld is averaging about 55 percentile. Is this super concerning? I have been working my ass off. My strategy was to do MKSAP 4 and finish UWorld in my last month. I am wondering what I should prioritize and how I should optimize my time. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I would keep chugging. You have a month left and can def bring that up with more studying. I wouldn't just do UW alone but would also be reading intensely in the chapters you find yourself to be weaker on. MKSAP 4 and MKSAP 3 are very similar in terms of questions just organized differently. The Essentials book that accompanies MKSAP is also good supplement to Step up and has variable treatment for topics it finds important.

Originally Posted by TheCatinTheHat

Just wanted to take a poll, how much time do you get for the internal med shelf at your school??

we get 2 hrs 30 mins for all our shelves

Isn't the time given standardized by the NBME?

We got 2 hours 30 minutes for the IM shelf. Finished with 10 minutes to spare - though the vignettes seemed longer than UWorld.

Is this exam curved? I'm scared of failing it. Felt like **** coming out of it.

Yeah it's curved. You're just compared to how your peers did. (Even though it reports a "raw" score.) Most people feel pretty awful coming out of it. It's tough.

I think different schools have different policies. We are compared to the rotation group that took it same time last year so we are not pitted against one another.

Originally Posted by vicinihil

I think different schools have different policies. We are compared to the rotation group that took it same time last year so we are not pitted against one another.

Yes, your raw score is probably compared to the group who took it last year. But what the poster above was asking about was how the raw score is generated, and that score is curved because it is based on how test takers did during previous administrations.

I have my shelf friday and I was wondering if anyone has suggestions of a quick review to look at just to refresh my memory? I did all of the MKSAP4 and Uworld questions and read through certain sections in Step up and others in NMS medicine casebook (awesome btw).
Is FA for Step2 the medicine part a decent quick review?
thanks

Originally Posted by Deucedano

I have my shelf friday and I was wondering if anyone has suggestions of a quick review to look at just to refresh my memory? I did all of the MKSAP4 and Uworld questions and read through certain sections in Step up and others in NMS medicine casebook (awesome btw).
Is FA for Step2 the medicine part a decent quick review?
thanks

During the last few days I went through all of my incorrect/marked questions in UW. If I found I still didn't truly "get" something I read about in Step Up as well as wrote down the concept on a sheet of paper. Reviewed those notes as well as notes from the Kaplan Q book q's I missed a few times the morning before the test (1:30 exam time). It helped a lot to solidify my weak areas.

I re-read through First Aid for the Wards (quick) and looked at Step 2 Secrets. Thought that was helpful because quick overview of everything and in case I missed anything, I'd cover it then.

Originally Posted by vicinihil

I re-read through First Aid for the Wards (quick) and looked at Step 2 Secrets. Thought that was helpful because quick overview of everything and in case I missed anything, I'd cover it then.

Definitely forgot I did Secrets. It was helpful and I wish I would have finished skimming through it. One question was straight off the first page of the nephro chapter and I didn't get to it

In the last 2 weeks before the SHELF, how would you capitalize off your time?

1. Finish the remainder 450 questions on UWorld
2. Redo MKSAP 4 (I would have done it once by end of next wk)
3. Redo MKSAP 3
4. Step Up second round

Originally Posted by Delilah

In the last 2 weeks before the SHELF, how would you capitalize off your time?

1. Finish the remainder 450 questions on UWorld
2. Redo MKSAP 4 (I would have done it once by end of next wk)
3. Redo MKSAP 3
4. Step Up second round

anyone?

Originally Posted by Delilah

anyone?

UWorld on repeat...

Anyone using First aid step 2 CK and found it as a good resource? I'm also finding contradicting information in step-up to medicine. Also is ob/gyn and peds on there or no? (I'd rather not have to read through it).

Originally Posted by Delilah

In the last 2 weeks before the SHELF, how would you capitalize off your time?

1. Finish the remainder 450 questions on UWorld
2. Redo MKSAP 4 (I would have done it once by end of next wk)
3. Redo MKSAP 3
4. Step Up second round

Always finish new questions before going back through. Look at which areas you are weaker in and review those chapters. Then go through the old questions that you missed, if you feel you must.

Less than 1 week left, about 400 UW questions to go, and I'm still scoring in the 70's on average. I'd like to be hitting 80's at least on a fairly regular basis.

Should I just keep plowing through the 400 questions in the next couple days? Or go back and re-read key chapters of Step Up and do whatever UW questions I can in addition to that?

Finish the 400 questions.

So my shelf is in 2 days and I've completed UWorld and MKSAP 4. Should I redo my UWORLD incorrects, or MKSAP again, or step up?

Originally Posted by Delilah

So my shelf is in 2 days and I've completed UWorld and MKSAP 4. Should I redo my UWORLD incorrects, or MKSAP again, or step up?

I know this is getting super close to the shelf and probably not helpful at this point, but redo/review the UWorld incorrects. I think it'll be the most high-yield this close to the shelf.

I agree with the Irish man above

I am absolutely tired of Internal Medicine. I dont blame the field itself but our program has us doing it for 12 weeks...my goodness it's becoming tedious. Shelf this up coming Friday...400 IM UWorld questions to go on second pass. Have read through StepUp2Medicine, done all of Case Files, done half of MKSAP 4 questions, browsed through Simplecases, and maybe 40% of Kaplan Videos on IM. I'm doing too much, this I know for sure but when I'm not in clinic I study. when I'm tired of studying there's exercise, lounges, restaraunts with classmates, the beach, movies and shopping. This has been one long 12 week period.

Good luck to the rest of you who plan to take their Shelf soon.

well i studied by butt off for the medicine shelf. harder than i've studied for anything. i read all of step up, did mksap 3 and 4 and finished uworld almost twice even got a tutor

come exam day the proctor never called 5 min left (she called 10 min) and i thought the end time was 11.30 and not 11.25. it was never written on the board either.

so when she called time to my surprise, i had 8 questions i had to bubble in randomly without reading. i feel so tormented by this i wake up in the middle of the night sad. i know it sounds dramatic, but i've never studied so hard in my life.

Originally Posted by Delilah

well i studied by butt off for the medicine shelf. harder than i've studied for anything. i read all of step up, did mksap 3 and 4 and finished uworld almost twice even got a tutor

come exam day the proctor never called 5 min left (she called 10 min) and i thought the end time was 11.30 and not 11.25. it was never written on the board either.

so when she called time to my surprise, i had 8 questions i had to bubble in randomly without reading. i feel so tormented by this i wake up in the middle of the night sad. i know it sounds dramatic, but i've never studied so hard in my life.

yea on the bright side there are those who have to bubble in 20+ questions. I'm more than certain you did well if it was 8 questions you didnt have time to answer

I'll experience a little difference in opinion about medicine shelf prep materials. I used step up / UW which was fine, but near the end of my prep time I picked up FA for medicine, and it really did have more of what you needed to know delineated in a more compact format. I would guess about 20 questions I had on my test felt like they were directly out of the FA text. I felt pretty comfortable during the test after using the book and finished the test with about 30 min left and got a 99 <shrug> I'd advocate checking out FA.

Originally Posted by ikimoh

I am absolutely tired of Internal Medicine. I dont blame the field itself but our program has us doing it for 12 weeks...my goodness it's becoming tedious. Shelf this up coming Friday...400 IM UWorld questions to go on second pass. Have read through StepUp2Medicine, done all of Case Files, done half of MKSAP 4 questions, browsed through Simplecases, and maybe 40% of Kaplan Videos on IM. I'm doing too much, this I know for sure but when I'm not in clinic I study. when I'm tired of studying there's exercise, lounges, restaraunts with classmates, the beach, movies and shopping. This has been one long 12 week period.

Good luck to the rest of you who plan to take their Shelf soon.

Took my exam this past friday. Finished with enough time to review all my "circled" questions. Didnt think the exam was outrageously difficult as I have been told by other classmates. All in all its up in the air, but I felt well prepared.

I'm currently a 2nd year and we have to schedule our shelf exams for 3rd year within the next couple weeks.

Based upon the administration being uncooperative, to say the least, it looks like I'll have to sit for the IM and OB/GYN shelf on the same day. My schedule is IM1, IM2, IM3, OBGYN. I would be taking the shelves at the end of that OB/GYN month.

My question is, how feasible is this to do? Is it just setting me up in a position to tank both exams?

Thanks

Originally Posted by engineeredout

I'm currently a 2nd year and we have to schedule our shelf exams for 3rd year within the next couple weeks.

Based upon the administration being uncooperative, to say the least, it looks like I'll have to sit for the IM and OB/GYN shelf on the same day. My schedule is IM1, IM2, IM3, OBGYN. I would be taking the shelves at the end of that OB/GYN month.

My question is, how feasible is this to do? Is it just setting me up in a position to tank both exams?

Thanks

where I went to school we took shelves every 12 weeks, regardless of rotations. So if you took 6 weeks of ob/gyn and 6 weeks peds, you took both exams on testing day. My personal scheduled mirrored that.
6 peds/6 obgyn -> 2 tests...12 surgery-> 1 test....12 IM-> 1 test....6 FM/6 psych -> 2 tests. Taking 2 tests on the same day was the norm. In addition if you were unlucky and drew FM as an early rotation you took 3 exams in 24 hours at the end of the year as only one FM test was given to the class per year and it was at the very end of the last rotation. So if I had ended my year 6 weeks ob/gyn and 6 weeks psych I would have had to take psych and ob/gyn the same day, then take FM the following day + OMM that day as it also was one test per year. 4 tests in 2 days. So to answer your question, we took multiple tests regularly and it was not a big problem. I was more pissed about having to take the peds test at the end of ob/gyn, 6 weeks from the last day I actually saw a kid. You will be fine.

Originally Posted by Bostonredsox

where I went to school we took shelves every 12 weeks, regardless of rotations. So if you took 6 weeks of ob/gyn and 6 weeks peds, you took both exams on testing day. My personal scheduled mirrored that.
6 peds/6 obgyn -> 2 tests...12 surgery-> 1 test....12 IM-> 1 test....6 FM/6 psych -> 2 tests. Taking 2 tests on the same day was the norm. In addition if you were unlucky and drew FM as an early rotation you took 3 exams in 24 hours at the end of the year as only one FM test was given to the class per year and it was at the very end of the last rotation. So if I had ended my year 6 weeks ob/gyn and 6 weeks psych I would have had to take psych and ob/gyn the same day, then take FM the following day + OMM that day as it also was one test per year. 4 tests in 2 days. So to answer your question, we took multiple tests regularly and it was not a big problem. I was more pissed about having to take the peds test at the end of ob/gyn, 6 weeks from the last day I actually saw a kid. You will be fine.

Thanks, I didn't realize this was the norm.

Did anyone use MKSAP 15? What's the difference between that and MKSAP 4?

Originally Posted by Bostonredsox

where I went to school we took shelves every 12 weeks, regardless of rotations. So if you took 6 weeks of ob/gyn and 6 weeks peds, you took both exams on testing day. My personal scheduled mirrored that.
6 peds/6 obgyn -> 2 tests...12 surgery-> 1 test....12 IM-> 1 test....6 FM/6 psych -> 2 tests. Taking 2 tests on the same day was the norm. In addition if you were unlucky and drew FM as an early rotation you took 3 exams in 24 hours at the end of the year as only one FM test was given to the class per year and it was at the very end of the last rotation. So if I had ended my year 6 weeks ob/gyn and 6 weeks psych I would have had to take psych and ob/gyn the same day, then take FM the following day + OMM that day as it also was one test per year. 4 tests in 2 days. So to answer your question, we took multiple tests regularly and it was not a big problem. I was more pissed about having to take the peds test at the end of ob/gyn, 6 weeks from the last day I actually saw a kid. You will be fine.

Wow didnt know it was like that for other medicals schools. Here we take one exam after each rotation. 6 weeks Psych...then an exam, 6 weeks Ob/Gyn then an exam. 12 weeks surgery or internal medicine followed by respective exam. Obviously its possible to take more than one shelf at a time but I'm more than glad we dont have to.

Originally Posted by drizzt3117

I'll experience a little difference in opinion about medicine shelf prep materials. I used step up / UW which was fine, but near the end of my prep time I picked up FA for medicine, and it really did have more of what you needed to know delineated in a more compact format. I would guess about 20 questions I had on my test felt like they were directly out of the FA text. I felt pretty comfortable during the test after using the book and finished the test with about 30 min left and got a 99 <shrug> I'd advocate checking out FA.

hey, 99 is awesome. i have my shelf in 2 weeks. for FA, do u mean the new 3rd edition with the vignettes before each section within the text or just the older edition? If you mean the 3rd edition, do u suggest just reading the vignettes if pressed?

thnx!

Originally Posted by xanthomondo

Did anyone use MKSAP 15? What's the difference between that and MKSAP 4?

MKSAP 4 is for medical students for the shelf

MKSAP 15 is for residents for the internal medicine boards

Originally Posted by ikimoh

I am absolutely tired of Internal Medicine. I dont blame the field itself but our program has us doing it for 12 weeks...my goodness it's becoming tedious. Shelf this up coming Friday...400 IM UWorld questions to go on second pass. Have read through StepUp2Medicine, done all of Case Files, done half of MKSAP 4 questions, browsed through Simplecases, and maybe 40% of Kaplan Videos on IM. I'm doing too much, this I know for sure but when I'm not in clinic I study. when I'm tired of studying there's exercise, lounges, restaraunts with classmates, the beach, movies and shopping. This has been one long 12 week period.

Good luck to the rest of you who plan to take their Shelf soon.

Raw Score 94....very pleased

hello all,

for those of you who did uworld, what was your percentage? i am currently averaging 70%. would like to hear your thoughts. thanks!

Originally Posted by johnbeck

hello all,

for those of you who did uworld, what was your percentage? i am currently averaging 70%. would like to hear your thoughts. thanks!

76% including going through marked and incorrects again.

Just glanced at all my unused tests and they ranged from 60 to 82% and I guesstimate my unused % to be around 72, 73.

Doing all my incorrects/marked again and then taking notes on the ones I missed a 2nd (or a 3rd!) time was really helpful.

Being at 70% is a very solid position. I had friends who started sub 50% and still did well on the shelf

94 on the shelf

Great. Thanks!

Originally Posted by 2012mdc

76% including going through marked and incorrects again.

Just glanced at all my unused tests and they ranged from 60 to 82% and I guesstimate my unused % to be around 72, 73.

Doing all my incorrects/marked again and then taking notes on the ones I missed a 2nd (or a 3rd!) time was really helpful.

Being at 70% is a very solid position. I had friends who started sub 50% and still did well on the shelf

94 on the shelf

uworld + student's mksap got me >95 raw.

I think doing Qs over and over until you know why the right answer is right is the best way to study because it seems like all question writers find the same things interesting and frame their questions in a similar manner. Both uworld and mksap do a great job hitting all the high yield topics.

It felt like the second hardest test to me (after family). I felt pretty unsure of myself after the exam but it all worked out in the end.

Where do you even begin to study for IM? I know Uworld seems to be the gold standard for preparing for the shelf, but you don't just sit down and bang out questions do you? Is there a particular comprehensive FA-type book that people use?

And when do you start shelf studying? For example I have three months of IM. Do you start at the very beginning?

Originally Posted by ikimoh

I am absolutely tired of Internal Medicine. I dont blame the field itself but our program has us doing it for 12 weeks...my goodness it's becoming tedious. Shelf this up coming Friday...400 IM UWorld questions to go on second pass. Have read through StepUp2Medicine, done all of Case Files, done half of MKSAP 4 questions, browsed through Simplecases, and maybe 40% of Kaplan Videos on IM. I'm doing too much, this I know for sure but when I'm not in clinic I study. when I'm tired of studying there's exercise, lounges, restaraunts with classmates, the beach, movies and shopping. This has been one long 12 week period.

Good luck to the rest of you who plan to take their Shelf soon.

Seriously? Sounds like you did well, though, so congrats..

Did StepUp x2, Case Files x1 (could totally skip this), MKSAP 4 questions once, 50% of MKSAP 3, and UWorld medicine questions x2. Used Pocket Medicine every day for patients and a great deal of my learning came from there, actually. There were only 4-5 questions not answerable with these resources, which might've been easier having completed surgery. 99 raw which is 97% in our winter block. First time through UWorld was like 70%-75%ish.

Originally Posted by engineeredout

Where do you even begin to study for IM? I know Uworld seems to be the gold standard for preparing for the shelf, but you don't just sit down and bang out questions do you? Is there a particular comprehensive FA-type book that people use?

And when do you start shelf studying? For example I have three months of IM. Do you start at the very beginning?

Pretty much. Also read most of Step Up to Medicine. Not the greatest book to read but it was the best of the different options IMO

Originally Posted by engineeredout

Where do you even begin to study for IM? I know Uworld seems to be the gold standard for preparing for the shelf, but you don't just sit down and bang out questions do you? Is there a particular comprehensive FA-type book that people use?

And when do you start shelf studying? For example I have three months of IM. Do you start at the very beginning?

Start UWorld day 1 and read StepUPtoMed (that was my circulation book) by subjects. You can read a subj in StepUP then go through subject questions on World for example. That is how I started. I then slowly picked up MKSAP3 Question book/CD-ROM. Went through Case Files once over towards the end of my 3 months and like somone said I always had my pocket book with me. I suggest going through World twice if you can. 1400+ questions (times two) it definitely helped because the shelf exam was pretty much the same type of questions with the same scernarios. There is only so many ways to ask a question. So if you dont do anything else in this three month period make sure to flood yourself with questions.

Does anybody know anyone who got 100+ raw? I've heard that 99 was only 98th percentile so surely someone must be getting 100+.

A few years ago when I took it, a raw score of 96 was 99th percentile.

Originally Posted by SGuttenberg

Does anybody know anyone who got 100+ raw? I've heard that 99 was only 98th percentile so surely someone must be getting 100+.

No such thing, IMO. From various classmates, have heard of many, many 99s on all the various shelves and never a 100. What are the odds that everyone would repeatedly fall X number of questions short of a perfect score? Slim to none. Someone has posted that a 100+ on surgery is possible, which I think is total BS until a scanned report is uploaded.

For us, a 99 in the second block is 98% and 99 in the third block is 97%. I assume that 99 in the first block gets you 99%. So the scale is less favorable later in the year.

I could be wrong about the following:
I have heard that the percentile reported depends on your school/department, which seems consistent with the scores posted in SDN's various shelf threads (ie. the percentile grade is all over the place). It would seem my school's medicine department obviously doesn't care about our self-esteem. Or our shelf scores are high as a class and they give us less favorable raw -> percentile conversions compared to other schools? (For comparison, our neuro dept gives a much more generous raw -> percentile conversion. )