Got wooped on my first clinical shelf

[jakomo]

Hey guys, just looking for advice.

Took my Psych exam and my scaled score was 70, with the avg being 80, SD =9.

This is by far my worst score in my entire medical career...More than a std dev BELOW avg... (Was almost always at or above average on standardized tests).

Anyway, resources used: Online Med Ed, Step 2 Secrets, FA for psych, MTB for CK, FA for CK. I read through FA for psych twice, and all of the other resources at least a few times as they were pretty quick. Furthermore I got good feedback and scores on the rotation.

Qbanks: UWorld (>90% correct, easy stuff though), and Rx (~ 84% correct if I remember correctly)

I walked in to the test well rested and confident, walked out feeling not so great but figured thats normal for any NBME. Then I got my score back... The test just seemed SO vague in its (very long) vignettes and the answer choices had many that seemed reasonable/correct.

Everywhere I read, I hear Psych is the easiest one. I feel like I did all the right things to prepare but still just got absolutely wrecked and it is totally unacceptable. Can anyone point out what I may have done wrong, or a particular type of mindset I should attempt to adopt for post step 1 standardized exams? I have Surgery next and really don't want a repeat of this. Any advice or feedback will be much appreciated.

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[operaman]

Hard to say since this was your first. I had a buddy who crushed all of his shelves but psych -- it was just a perfect kryptonite for him and how he takes tests. It's also the toughest scale of all the shelves because people tend to do very well. The key is really to do as many questions as possible but it looks like you did them and were scoring very well. The key to psych shelf is catching all the tiny details that can totally change a diagnosis or treatment, and doing this amid some of the longest vignettes ever is tough. Any chance you made the classic mistake of reading before doing questions or doing anything but full blocks of random/timed? Some people hurt themselves because they end up testing short term memory and get inflated practice scores. Was your step one significantly higher than average (>240)?

Personally, I would double check with the clerkship admin that you got the correct score. Mistakes get made and maybe he simply misread or mistyped the score when sending it to you.

 

[Fatalis]

Hey guys, just looking for advice.

Took my Psych exam and my scaled score was 70, with the avg being 80, SD =9.

This is by far my worst score in my entire medical career...More than a std dev BELOW avg... (Was almost always at or above average on standardized tests).

Anyway, resources used: Online Med Ed, Step 2 Secrets, FA for psych, MTB for CK, FA for CK. I read through FA for psych twice, and all of the other resources at least a few times as they were pretty quick. Furthermore I got good feedback and scores on the rotation.

Qbanks: UWorld (>90% correct, easy stuff though), and Rx (~ 84% correct if I remember correctly)

I walked in to the test well rested and confident, walked out feeling not so great but figured thats normal for any NBME. Then I got my score back... The test just seemed SO vague in its (very long) vignettes and the answer choices had many that seemed reasonable/correct.

Everywhere I read, I hear Psych is the easiest one. I feel like I did all the right things to prepare but still just got absolutely wrecked and it is totally unacceptable. Can anyone point out what I may have done wrong, or a particular type of mindset I should attempt to adopt for post step 1 standardized exams? I have Surgery next and really don't want a repeat of this. Any advice or feedback will be much appreciated.

It happens man, it all depends on the test and on the day....such is the nature of MS3.
I wouldn't take it to heart too much and dont believe that psych is an easy shelf. Mine was very tough. Try using a different approach for your upcoming shelf exams, use more questions, etc. It is just one shelf.

 

[J ROD]

It is just a test for Psychiatry. Not a big deal unless you want to do Psy. Then a bigger deal. But again, not that big a deal. after all, it is still Psy.

Just move on and up