Biochem Shelf Exam

[PeterGriffin]

I'm taking it today at 1pm

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[Bevo]

eh, you'll walk out thinking you failed.

was a tough mofo.

 

[PeterGriffin]

I've heard the same thing from just about every second year at my school...

 

[BushBaby]

I'm taking mine this morning at 9am...so wish me luck.


I've heard conflicting stories. Some say it's easy...some say it's harder. Most second years have said "why are u studying for the shelf? I didn't study for the shelf."....maybe they say that because it was easy, maybe they say that because the exam is so hard that studying won't help much....? I don't know but in about an hour, I will know.

 

[Bevo]

its kinda pointless to study for a shelf, IMHO, b/c you dont know what to expect and it changes.

for us, it was more worth while to study for the final exam than to study for the shelf, points wise.

I came out thinking I did somewhat well on the exam and ended up with the national mean. Other friends came out thinking they just got a** fuc*ed, and did either worse or better than me.

So its hard to say really.

Histology shelf was the easiest shelf in the world.

 

[felipe5]

i have to take the biochem shelf on monday, and was wondering.........what did you guys study for it????? Did you use a BRS or other review book, or just go back and study some basic concepts (enzyme kinetics, etc), or did you just say fu<k it and not study at all????????

 

[omarsaleh66]

i have to take the biochem shelf on monday, and was wondering.........what did you guys study for it????? Did you use a BRS or other review book, or just go back and study some basic concepts (enzyme kinetics, etc), or did you just say fu<k it and not study at all????????

I would study for it, not hardcore, but atleast see it all once, cuz thats a hard exam. I used First Aid biochem section and everyything in that section showed up on my test. So atleast look at that, its only 20 pages.

 

[PeterGriffin]

I'm using the BRS but I haven't really studied too hard for it. All I'm concerned about is passing at this point. I take it in about 2 hours so maybe I'll have somewhat of and idea of how I did after that. Good luck to everyone else that is taking it!!1

 

[Tone2002]

I took it today and I don't really know what to think about it. Other than I'm done with Biochem until at least next year.

But to answer the question I used BRS and First Aid.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Well, I just took the test...all I have to say is that my rectum is really sore right now

 

[thackl]

Well, I just took the test...all I have to say is that my rectum is really sore right now

I take it Monday. Any suggestions? Anything particularly focused on?

 

[4 Ever]

i had my biochem shelf today and personally i felt that it was easier than the regular exams in class

I mostly ran through First Aid (VERY good) and did questions from BRS - anyone that tells you that they aren't studying for the shelf are LYING. It's curved and everyone knows it - not studying will put u on the bottom end of that curve

I ran into a kid that said "man, i heard everyone fails the shelf, i dont know why people even bother studying for it" - all this while he was holding a nice red BRS book - aka brs biochem

 

[Dogsnout]

First Aid is good to use for review for the biochem shelf. When I took it in Dec 03, it seemed like the DNA technology questions were neverending (recombination and all that related stuff).

Pointless to try and read the whole biochem brs since you probably will only remember 10% of it after you're done.

I take it Monday. Any suggestions? Anything particularly focused on?

 

[lilmo]

here's my dilemma.......

i take the "shelf" on monday in place of a biochem final. however, I think its just shelf questions hand picked by the prof. still think first aid will help???

 

[PeterGriffin]

Does anybody know how long it takes to get scores back?

 

[Dr.Bevo]

Does anybody know how long it takes to get scores back?

Are you at UTH? It took at about a week last year.

 

[PeterGriffin]

Are you at UTH? It took at about a week last year.

Yeah, I sure am. Thanks for the response. I'm not sure if getting the results right before the break is going to be a good thing or a bad thing

 

[kutastha]

i have to take the biochem shelf on monday, and was wondering.........what did you guys study for it????? Did you use a BRS or other review book, or just go back and study some basic concepts (enzyme kinetics, etc), or did you just say fu<k it and not study at all????????

I decided to take it in 2002 in order to attempt to test out of biochem. I had taken biochem courses a couple times in my life, yet the last time I had before the test was 4 years prior. I browsed through some review books for about a week, but finally gave up since it was just too much to take in. I indeed left thinking I failed, but got 0.3 points above the mean and passed out of the class. So I'd say it's pretty random.

 

[felipe5]

so would you guys say the shelf predominantly asks questions through clinical vinettes, or just straight up random questions?

 

[Dogsnout]

Both. Just use First aid and you'll do fine.

so would you guys say the shelf predominantly asks questions through clinical vinettes, or just straight up random questions?

 

[thackl]

Both. Just use First aid and you'll do fine.

I looked at First Aid today. Real high yield info.

Also did half of PreTest. Anyone try that? What did you think? I like it so far.

 

[GobindSingh]

Best book to use is Lippincott's. I used that and did well. It's like it was written for the shelf exam.

 

[::Seabass::]

Yeah, I sure am. Thanks for the response. I'm not sure if getting the results right before the break is going to be a good thing or a bad thing

You'll be ok, if you could look at my posts from a year ago I was super stressed and feeling the same way and ending up beating the national mean by several points. I think we only had 1 person not get the score required to 'pass' our biochem class.

Hang in there, you're through the worst of it. Anatomy shelf isn't too bad, every question was a friggin bullet point in the anatamy syllabus. Don't waste your time wadding through the BRS for that test.

 

[::Seabass::]

so would you guys say the shelf predominantly asks questions through clinical vinettes, or just straight up random questions?

both like they said, but they are very clear, its just hard cause there is so much material on the test. the questions aren't 'tricky'.

 

[thackl]

Anatomy shelf isn't too bad, every question was a friggin bullet point in the anatamy syllabus. Don't waste your time wadding through the BRS for that test.

That's the book I was going to use....... what do you suggest for 1.5 days of cramming. I was going to take all the BRS practice tests and go look up the stuff I don't remember.

 

[PeterGriffin]

You'll be ok, if you could look at my posts from a year ago I was super stressed and feeling the same way and ending up beating the national mean by several points. I think we only had 1 person not get the score required to 'pass' our biochem class.

Hang in there, you're through the worst of it. Anatomy shelf isn't too bad, every question was a friggin bullet point in the anatamy syllabus. Don't waste your time wadding through the BRS for that test.

Sweet, thanks. I'm doing pretty good in anatomy right now and was planning on using the BRS but thanks for the advice...guess I'll just stick to the syllabus

 

[::Seabass::]

That's the book I was going to use....... what do you suggest for 1.5 days of cramming. I was going to take all the BRS practice tests and go look up the stuff I don't remember.

some people in my class used BRS and I think they thought it was fine.

I was just giving a suggestion for someone at my school since he most likely already has notes in his syllabus and can fly through it faster than the BRS since it is familiar and it is complete enough. i have zero experience with the BRS except for it collecting dust on my shelf.

I also remember there being barely anything on the cranial nerves and feeling glad I didn't spend much time on them. don't know if that stays true from year to year.

 

[OzFan321]

I'm taking the Shelf exam in a week. My school has this policy- you need to get a 62 to pass. And the Shelf doesn't count as part of the grade, you just need it to pass. From what the professor said, a 62 is the 15% percentile, which is pretty low. My question is this, out of 120 questions on the exam, how many do you need to get right to get a 62? I know this 62 number is some type of scaled score, but I'm curious to know what I need to aim for to be confident that I got that number. Thanks for any replies.

 

[::Seabass::]

I'm taking the Shelf exam in a week. My school has this policy- you need to get a 62 to pass. And the Shelf doesn't count as part of the grade, you just need it to pass. From what the professor said, a 62 is the 15% percentile, which is pretty low. My question is this, out of 120 questions on the exam, how many do you need to get right to get a 62? I know this 62 number is some type of scaled score, but I'm curious to know what I need to aim for to be confident that I got that number. Thanks for any replies.

I don't think anyone really knows. National average is set at 70 (with a SD of 8, I think) if I remember correctly. Just go in and answer questions at a steady state, especially if you are a traditionally slow test taker otherwise you might run out of time. You won't have time to really keep track of how well you're doing and you probably won't feel like you did very well either.

 

[Vacant]

excuse my ignorance, but what is "shelf" exam? Is that a standarlized national exam for each course beside the course final exam?

 

[::Seabass::]

excuse my ignorance, but what is "shelf" exam? Is that a standarlized national exam for each course beside the course final exam?

its an exam written by the NBME over a subject that some schools require their students to take. some don't grade it, others use it as the final, and others require a certain score to pass the class. some schools don't use them at all.

at my school they use shelf exams as finals in some courses. it counts as our final exam grade plus you have to acheive a certain score to pass the class (regardless of whether or not you average out above the minimum average to pass. you get one chance to retake and if you still don't get a certain score, you have to retake the whole class.)

 

[evines]

My school is using the shelf as our final. 25% of our final grade. I take it Thursday, and I don't know where to begin studying. I have the BRS, but it's so icky and gross. I just wanna go home.

I have to make a 45 on it, whatever that means. It could be the scaled score, or the national %-ile, or the class %-ile.

 

[Discobolus]

It really amazes me how many medical students don't seem to understand statistics at all. Why would 15th percentile be failing? Does 15 percent of your class fail local exams? I don't think it's possible to get as low as a 45 on the thing, as that would be way below the 1st percentile, so I wouldn't worry.

No one knows what percent right it takes to get a certain score because that is not how the test is graded. I hear the NBME will be sending out raw and percentage scores along with the scaled scores this year.

 

[ndspider]

No one knows what percent right it takes to get a certain score because that is not how the test is graded. I hear the NBME will be sending out raw and percentage scores along with the scaled scores this year.[/QUOTE]

I left thinking I was the dumbest medical student in the world. I needed a 45 on the the test to pass the class. Thaanks to discobolus for letting me know that getting below the 1% is almost impossible. I Pass. But if I do happen to fail, I am going to have one hell of a time explaning that....... I mean, is it harder to get into the bottom 1 percentile or getting over the mean?
.nd