Shelf exams as Finals

[Gear]

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A friend at the Mayo is going to be tested from the Shelf Exams for finals. Can anyone tell me more about these exams, and where to find examples and study materials for them? Thanks for any and all help!

 

[tonem]

All I know is that shelf (board) exams suck. They are physically exhausting. For example. You get a clinical vignette that is 4 paragraphs long then when you think "I know whats going on" you get to the answer section which asks which is the MOST appropriate next step in treatment...you glance down and see eleven (thats right not four or five but eleven) options that are all appropriate...but which one is MOST appropriate? Fortunately you do learn a lot during rotations so they are not completely impossible. As far as where to find practice exams I don't have a clue.

 

[Elvis25]

And I thought I was the only one that got pissed off at the "MOST appropriate" questions. Or the other one that says which test should you order next, for a condition that needs a rather complex workup. Not only have I never ordered tests one at a time, I've never seen any residents or staff order them one at a time either. And when the staff don't agree, it makes me wonder who gets to decide which answer is indeed the right one?
Ok, enough venting. The shelf exams, as you know, are written by the same company that rights the boards. Therefore, any board review book, especially those with a practice test, are definately the way to go for studying for them.

 

[kris]

I'm still not sure I understand exactly what a shelf exam is, or why it's called a 'shelf exam'. It's good to know that it's written by the same folks who write the board exams--that should help guide my studies.

The little I do know is that I have to take and pass a surprise-topic shelf exam as a part of my year-end final in order to continue to the M2 year.

If anyone can shed some light on WHAT these things are, I'd appreciate it. My searches haven't turned up much, but if they do, I'll post it here!

Thanks!

--kris

 

[kris]

Hey everyone,

I have a link below that goes to the "subject exam" area of the NBME website.

Is the subject exam the same thing as a shelf?

<a href="http://www.nbme.org/programs/medsch.htm" target="_blank">http://www.nbme.org/programs/medsch.htm</a>

--kris

 

[e2k]

Shelf exams are difficult, but they are good practice for the boards.

Where I go to school, professors tend to write untintelligable questions about obscure topics, so I appreciate shelf exams very much. We have all shelfs for our third year, so it's like taking five practice exams for Step II.

 

[tonem]

shelf exam = board exam = subject exam (what they are called depends on your school)
they are standardized tests written by the NBME (National Board of Medical Examiners). NBME also administers the USMLE...although if my step I was as difficult as the shelf exams I've seen this year I would have climbed up on the roof of the Sylvan Learning Center and jumped off.

 

[Gear]

Can any of you who've taken these shelf exams tell me where to get copies or samples? Thanks!

 

[Cobragirl]

Great words of encouragement Tonem...not only do I have to pass the Anatomy Shelf Exam next Friday to go on to MS2, but it also counts towards 12% of my final grade. 🙁

 

[yigit]

The haven't said anything about shelf exams at my school, but I'm thinking that it is a good way to determine just how much I've learned. Our final exam isn't even cumulative. Where do I find them?

 

[tonem]

Don't worry Cobra, you'll do great!

 

[srlondon]

I agree what some of the other posters have mentioned. I foudn that the shelf exams, while difficult, were in some ways a blessing in disguise during the 1st two years, as you're given a _standardized_ exam which was written to test your knowledge of high-yield topics, not the crap that your professors pull out of you-know-where to keep the average down where they like it. And, in terms of the originator this thread, I'm sorry to say this, but you're going to have to get used to this question format. Step 1 is basically 8 hrs of questions just like those on the shelfs. But, on the other hand, they give you a chance to show that you can actually think and reason answers out, rather than just being hit-or-miss knowledge questions.

In terms of preparation, I've had a good experience with the Pre-test series. They make them for most of the major courses,and the explanations for the answers are usually pretty good. Sometimes they have questions from way out in left field, so try not to get flustered by those, though.

 

[AJM]

Originally posted by yigit:
•The haven't said anything about shelf exams at my school, but I'm thinking that it is a good way to determine just how much I've learned. Our final exam isn't even cumulative. Where do I find them?•••

You actually cannot get a hold of copies of the actual exams, since the NBME has pretty strict rules regarding the exams. A school has to register with the NBME and tell them when they want to administer which exams and how many students will take them. The NBME will then send the number that the school needs about 2 days before the test date, and all exams are expeted to be returned back to be scored. The actual questions are confidential. We can't even find out which of our answers were right or wrong after we took the tests, since they never publish the questions or the answers.

As far as practice questions, you can try any good Boards practice question books. A good starting place is to check out First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. In the back it rates a whole lot of review books and practice question books in the major subject areas.

I personally found the Shelfs to be a relative waste of time, because you can't actually learn from them. Sure you get an overall score, but it's not broken down at all, and you can't even see what you got wrong. I'm glad that I had exams written by my professors throughout my preclinical years, because it was much more of a learning experience. We could at least *discuss* those exams, get our answers back, etc. Unfortunately, it's difficult to create good professor-written exams in the clinical years, so the shelfs are really the main option.

 

[SocialistMD]

Originally posted by Cobragirl:
•Great words of encouragement Tonem...not only do I have to pass the Anatomy Shelf Exam next Friday to go on to MS2, but it also counts towards 12% of my final grade. 🙁 •••

We have shelf exams for our finals in both anatomy and biochemistry. The real pain about the way they are administered at our school is that if we do not pass the shelf exams (no matter what our grades were based on the previous block exams), we do not pass the class.

I am just using the BRS series books to study.

 

[psi1467]

Just took the Biochem shelf this morning. Wow!