how many questions

Started by PrettyDoctor25
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PrettyDoctor25

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Sorry this is my first rotation and I am wondering how many questions are on my family medicine shelf exam, and how soon after I take it will I get my score? Is it computerized or written?

Thanks!
 
PrettyDoctor25 said:
Sorry this is my first rotation and I am wondering how many questions are on my family medicine shelf exam, and how soon after I take it will I get my score? Is it computerized or written?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

All shelf exams are 100 questions. At my school, we were given 2 hours 10 minutes to complete the exams, which I think is the normal time, but I'm not positive. At my school, the dean usually got our scores by one week after the exam, but they wouldn't release them on the computer grading system until your final grade was put in, which varied depending on the course master. We could always go to the dean's office and get our exam scores, however, as soon as they were reported.
 
Since the shelf exams are national standardized tests, I am fairly confident this info is consistent among US medical schools, but at least at my school, the NBME shelf exams are 100 questions long, and we typically have 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete the test (works out to something like 1 min 20 sec per question). They are written multiple choice exams, but unfortunately, questions with answer choices A-J or A-T are not uncommon. Your score will be reported as an NBME percentage (which, given that there are 100 questions, I have always assumed to be a gross number of correct responses) as well as an NBME national percentile...that is, how you did in relation to other students who took the test nationlly during your rotation. Not surprisingly, as the year progresses, the same percentage score may correlate to a lower percentile, as the collective group of students did better on the test in say, April, than the group in August did. However, we have been told that the 5th percentile nationally is passing (although it may take a higher percentage correct to get in the 5th percentile as the year progresses), although this may differ among schools. I think the shelf exam scores are typically back in two weeks or so, but your grade for the clerkship will probably take longer, as things like written evals will take longer to come in, but you can probably get your shelf score from the clerkship director if you would like.

Hope this helps.
 
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