Biochemistry Shelf Exam

[Hamels]

I'm taking this exam in about a week and wanted to know if anyone has any idea what percentage of correct answers correspond to what percentile. There are 125 questions so, for example, if I were to get 75/125 correct, around what percentile would that put me at? My course instructor explained that NBME does not allow him to see any of the data after his students take the exam, so he was unable to help me out. Any information is very much appreciated!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted248403]

The score is scaled so there is no set percentage. We took it early this year and they didn't give us any detail either - i'm not sure the data exists

 

[Shoushu]

The score is scaled so there is no set percentage. We took it early this year and they didn't give us any detail either - i'm not sure the data exists

So the score is scaled. I read things wrong. I misread. "the score is sealed... not sure the data exists."

Will your profs, dean(s), or eventually residency committees and PDs see your NBME shelf score? Along with your USMLE transcripts? Will they know whatever subject tests you took and how you did (what you scored, esp for the residency adcom)? even though shelf doesn't count for much.

How great are the shelves in predicting Step I? Step II?

 

[DrDrummer]

I was going to make a separate thread, but I'll throw it in here--

Does anyone have any reflections after having taken the shelf for how they could have better prepared? I know that it's supposed to be fairly clinically relevant, and that the BRS and Rapid Review books are supposed to be high-yield for studying for it, but does anyone have more specific advice than that? I felt like the names of diseases weren't tested very much in my curriculum, and the questions were more like "A patient has symptoms x, y, and z-- which enzyme is most likely to be defective?" Or "There's a build-up of this intermediate, which step is broken?" rather than "In McArdle's disease, which of the following enzymes is broken?"

Should I focus on memorizing the names of all the diseases, or will knowing the associated enzymatic deficiencies be enough? Are there structures drawn on there, or just names of molecules?

I is scared of this test.

 

[deleted248403]

So the score is scaled. I read things wrong. I misread. "the score is sealed... not sure the data exists."

Will your profs, dean(s), or eventually residency committees and PDs see your NBME shelf score? Along with your USMLE transcripts? Will they know whatever subject tests you took and how you did (what you scored, esp for the residency adcom)? even though shelf doesn't count for much.

How great are the shelves in predicting Step I? Step II?

I think the former depends on your school but I don't think mine sends them off.
I think the shelves are relatively predictive of Step I; if you study your ass off and tank them all - i don't think that bodes well for the Step I. Beyond that, i'm not sure how predictive they are. Maybe someone has better knowledge, an MSIV or MSIII who took a bunch of the pre-clinical shelves

I was going to make a separate thread, but I'll throw it in here--

Does anyone have any reflections after having taken the shelf for how they could have better prepared? I know that it's supposed to be fairly clinically relevant, and that the BRS and Rapid Review books are supposed to be high-yield for studying for it, but does anyone have more specific advice than that? I felt like the names of diseases weren't tested very much in my curriculum, and the questions were more like "A patient has symptoms x, y, and z-- which enzyme is most likely to be defective?" Or "There's a build-up of this intermediate, which step is broken?" rather than "In McArdle's disease, which of the following enzymes is broken?"

Should I focus on memorizing the names of all the diseases, or will knowing the associated enzymatic deficiencies be enough? Are there structures drawn on there, or just names of molecules?

I is scared of this test.

I used BRS and FA2011 for the shelf; they were very helpful. Disease names were tested a fair amount on the version I took, as well as the knowledge of affected enzymes. I think its a bit of both from your scenario. There was a structure or two on there as well I think.

 

[SlickNickMD]

I used Rapid review for questions and read FA and did very well

 

[Hamels]

The score is scaled so there is no set percentage. We took it early this year and they didn't give us any detail either - i'm not sure the data exists

So does that mean some questions are worth more than others?

 

[deleted248403]

So does that mean some questions are worth more than others?

No

 

[Hamels]

No

OK so someone give me an idea of what percentile corresponds to a certain percentage of correct answers. For those that have already taken the exam, I know they didn't tell you what percentage you got right, but you must have some idea.

 

[Scrubsfan85]

I left the test feeling pretty terrible about it and ended up scoring in the 86th percentile. So you can probably get a lot of questions wrong and still score very high.

 

[deleted248403]

OK so someone give me an idea of what percentile corresponds to a certain percentage of correct answers. For those that have already taken the exam, I know they didn't tell you what percentage you got right, but you must have some idea.

I can't; as I said that data isn't shared, and isn't known. I've no idea my % correct; i didnt go look up more than 1 or 2 questions after the test. I was exhausted and would much rather enjoy the few hours off rather than look up the 125 questions one-by-one

I left the test feeling pretty terrible about it and ended up scoring in the 86th percentile. So you can probably get a lot of questions wrong and still score very high.

Yah I thought I tanked it and was happy with my score too.

 

[Hemichordate]

.

 

[kobebryant]

zero structures