Path Shelf vs step1 path

[nofear]

Hi we got our scores back for path shelf and I wanted to know how close is path shelf to the actuall step1 pathology.
thanks

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[nofear]

anyone

 

[Stinger86]

anyone

Identical.


Well, maybe not, but I found the shelf Q's and the step Q's to be of the same difficulty. In other words, if you did well on the shelf, I wouldn't worry too much about related questions on the Step 1.

 

[samyjay]

How long did it take to get the scores back from the shelf exam?

 

[Stinger86]

Usually takes our school 2-3 weeks

 

[streetdoc]

Usually takes our school 2-3 weeks

i don't know if it varies by school, but we had all our shelf grades (they take the raw score and do some fancy calculations) in less than a week.

stinger, did you think the stems were longer on the Step 1 vs the shelf? i'm hearing that there is more reading, but similar concept testing. true?

thanks,
streetdoc

 

[Discobolus]

The school that Stinger and myself go to is notoriously slow about getting shelf exam scores back. Next Monday will be 2 weeks since I took the path shelf exam and I'm not even going to think about scores until then, even though it will probably be another week after that.

 

[Stinger86]

Next Monday will be 2 weeks since I took the path shelf exam and I'm not even going to think about scores until then, even though it will probably be another week after that.

The worst part, I thought, was how even after the raw scores came in, it still took the department at least another week to convert them to an actual grade. What else could they possibly have to do? Their job is to deal with the course and the actual course is more than over by that time!

 

[Stinger86]

stinger, did you think the stems were longer on the Step 1 vs the shelf? i'm hearing that there is more reading, but similar concept testing. true?

Question length is variable from one step exam to another, and from one person's perception to another's. On average, I felt that my Step questions were a bit shorter than the shelf exams', but there were other people who felt their questions were longer. Who's to say? The safe bet would be to expect the questions to be around the same length and format.

Of interest, I do remember quite a few questions that were not more than two sentences long. For example: "A woman presents to your office with symptoms X, Y, and Z. What is the most likely causal organism?".

Can't get much shorter than that.

 

[Mohamed]

hi,
I am scheduled to take the path shelf exam soon, does anyone have any advice with regards to studying, especially images. I've been reviewing with BRS so far, and am not sure if I should be using other sources.

Thanks

 

[slim]

if you had to pick, which should i focus on for the pathology shelf exam... general path or systemic path? any advice?

 

[streetdoc]

if you had to pick, which should i focus on for the pathology shelf exam... general path or systemic path? any advice?

well, systemic is obviously more important to you as a physician and is the focus of the shelf, however, don't neglect looking at general. if i HAD to GUESS, i'd say the shelf was 70-80% system to general...and the general seemd to be obvious or completly obscure. i fretted over PECAM and ICAM and inegrins etc...not one question!
streetdoc

 

[omarsaleh66]

hi,
I am scheduled to take the path shelf exam soon, does anyone have any advice with regards to studying, especially images. I've been reviewing with BRS so far, and am not sure if I should be using other sources.

Thanks

Just got my path shelf back. Got a 620/91. I did webpath q throightout the year, and did alot of robbins review during the year. Listened to about 25% of goljan, and 100% of path webprep thru the year. Didnt own Robbins text, but stuck w school notes and some review books thru the year (BRS, Goljan RR, USMLE secrets, path recall, some vignettes).

3 weeks before the shelf, i started doing path questins in qbook, pathophys boards and wards, and A&L, and test in Goljan RR.

Didnt have time for First Aid or BRS, i think going thru these b4 the test would have helped. If i recall correctly, most of the things I remember missing was stuff that I hadnt learned yet (pharm toxicology like ethylene glycol oxalate stones) or old stuff (respiratoy burst enzymes def., giant cells in foreign bodies, things that u learn in the beginning of path)

Im doing qbank right now prepping for step 1, and these path questions are pretty good prep as well. Gluck

 

[omarsaleh66]

if you had to pick, which should i focus on for the pathology shelf exam... general path or systemic path? any advice?

U get tested on all of it. Immunopath and RBC pathology is HY. THen ofcourse in systemic u will get q from all the systems, even some skin.

gluck

 

[chak_de_phatee]

U get tested on all of it. Immunopath and RBC pathology is HY. THen ofcourse in systemic u will get q from all the systems, even some skin.

gluck

We had our path shelf and some of the quesitons make you go WTF are they thinking.............they presented a case of a lady with Myasthenia Gravis and you had to deduce it has a correlation with thymus.........now in the answer choices you had to choose between the location of the defect
a) Mediastinum b) Anterior chest c) etc..........................I got it right but WTF

P.S. Most of the questions were not so insane but were straightforward memorization

 

[Pox in a box]

We had our path shelf and some of the quesitons make you go WTF are they thinking.............they presented a case of a lady with Myasthenia Gravis and you had to deduce it has a correlation with thymus.........now in the answer choices you had to choose between the location of the defect
a) Mediastinum b) Anterior chest c) etc..........................I got it right but WTF

P.S. Most of the questions were not so insane but were straightforward memorization

Mediastinal mass is a classic association with thymoma and myasthenia gravis.

 

[chak_de_phatee]

Mediastinal mass is a classic association with thymoma and myasthenia gravis.

Agreed but to get the question right you needed anatomy most people know the general location of the thymus in the chest. But to get the question right you needed to know the mediastinal location from the anterior chest location. I thought this was a picky anatomy question but maybe you are better at anatomy than me.

 

[Pox in a box]

Agreed but to get the question right you needed anatomy most people know the general location of the thymus in the chest. But to get the question right you needed to know the mediastinal location from the anterior chest location. I thought this was a picky anatomy question but maybe you are better at anatomy than me.

It's just something you have to remember. I've seen this type of question in various sources.

 

[streetdoc]

can anyone tell me what a 640 is? our school posted the actual score and not the % (unless you want to to go to the old, lonely man's office to look at it)...
i'm guessing it's close to omar66''s...to whom i owe that extra bit .
thanks.
streetdoc

 

[chak_de_phatee]

can anyone tell me what a 640 is? our school posted the actual score and not the % (unless you want to to go to the old, lonely man's office to look at it)...
i'm guessing it's close to omar66''s...to whom i owe that extra bit .
thanks.
streetdoc

I think the mean is 500 and the SD 100...............atleast that is what we were told.

 

[pillowhead]

hi,
I am scheduled to take the path shelf exam soon, does anyone have any advice with regards to studying, especially images. I've been reviewing with BRS so far, and am not sure if I should be using other sources.

Thanks

I thought Robbins Review of Pathology was absolutely excellent. BRS is OK but harder to remember for me because it has no context and no real pictures. Robbins Review takes a lot of time but is really worth it, esp. the general pathology section.

I made a 660 on the shelf exam but have absolutely no idea what that means, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[chak_de_phatee]

I made a 660 on the shelf exam but have absolutely no idea what that means, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

It means you are in the 94th percentile I know b/c thats the exact same score I got

 

[pillowhead]

It means you are in the 94th percentile I know b/c thats the exact same score I got

oh! well that's a nice surprise!

 

[Discobolus]

The worst part, I thought, was how even after the raw scores came in, it still took the department at least another week to convert them to an actual grade. What else could they possibly have to do? Their job is to deal with the course and the actual course is more than over by that time!

With the new way of grading the shelf exams I'm sure the course directors are going to be thoroughly confused and it will take even longer. It's been 2 and 1/2 weeks and still no grades!

 

[streetdoc]

With the new way of grading the shelf exams I'm sure the course directors are going to be thoroughly confused and it will take even longer. It's been 2 and 1/2 weeks and still no grades!

lol,i don't think so. we took our shelf last thursday afternoon and our scores and grades were posted yesturday...sounds like slackness on the part of the school.
streetdoc

 

[Discobolus]

I heard they received the scores on Monday, but here it is Friday and no scores! Every course director has a different method of scaling the raw scores to an actual grade, and now with the new scoring what they planned to do will not work anymore. Oh, and they are also just slacking!

There must be some sort of express grading service that costs a little more that my school is too cheap to use, because I'm always hearing about people getting scores back in less than a week, but that NEVER happens here.

lol,i don't think so. we took our shelf last thursday afternoon and our scores and grades were posted yesturday...sounds like slackness on the part of the school.
streetdoc

 

[Stinger86]

There must be some sort of express grading service that costs a little more that my school is too cheap to use, because I'm always hearing about people getting scores back in less than a week, but that NEVER happens here.

I believe that's true. Somewhere on the NBME site it says that for an extra fee, a school can get its scores back in as little time as 2 days.

But yeah, they suck. Our tuition money doesn't go to us, remember-- it goes to them.

 

[pharmer]

So does it work out that a score of 500 correlates w/ the 50th percentile then and this is the national avg?

Sincerely,
Statistically challenged

 

[bluebirdie]

So does it work out that a score of 500 correlates w/ the 50th percentile then and this is the national avg?

Sincerely,
Statistically challenged

I think it is actually the 75%ile according to the chart that is outside student services at our school. Yes 500 is the natl. average.

 

[DHMO]

I think it is actually the 75%ile according to the chart that is outside student services at our school. Yes 500 is the natl. average.

Huh??
How could 500 be both the 75%ile and the national average? There is no way that the data is that skewed that the mean score is higher than 75% those that took the test. Are there a ton of people with low scores taking the exam aren't being factored into the national average?

 

[bluebirdie]

Huh??
How could 500 be both the 75%ile and the national average? There is no way that the data is that skewed that the mean score is higher than 75% those that took the test. Are there a ton of people with low scores taking the exam aren't being factored into the national average?

Woops read the chart wrong. actually 500 is 54% sorry about the confusion

 

[streetdoc]

Woops read the chart wrong. actually 500 is 54% sorry about the confusion

so, a 54 % means you did better than 54 % of the people taking the test?
confused, as always, by numbers...
streetdoc

 

[bluebirdie]

so, a 54 % means you did better than 54 % of the people taking the test?
confused, as always, by numbers...
streetdoc[/


Yeah, you did better than 54% of the people taking the exam. Hope that helps....