Step I Shelf exams?

Started by DrShazam
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
DrShazam

DrShazam

Full Member
10+ Year Member
My school doesn't require us to take shelf exams like pathology, physio, pharm, micro, etc. but I think they would be helpful to take in preparation for the step. Anybody know how I can access them or does it have to be done by the school? Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
I wouldn't worry about this until you start med school. You probably wouldn't want to take a such a specific exam anyway in prep for step 1. You would want more integrated questions.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DrShazam said:
My school doesn't require us to take shelf exams like pathology, physio, pharm, micro, etc. but I think they would be helpful to take in preparation for the step. Anybody know how I can access them or does it have to be done by the school? Thanks in advance to anyone who answers.
Click to expand...
Your best bet would be to contact the nbme directly, to avoid misinformation. I know for a fact that you can buy shelf exams for clinical sciences, but I never bothered finding out for basic sciences; So, there's a pretty good chance you can.

I think it's a great idea to do them to assess your knowledge in each of the subjects towards the end of the course.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks Brain bucket! And sorry for the confusion bulldogmd. I just finished my second year of med school, and am currently in my step prep studying period 🙂
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Brain Bucket said:
Your best bet would be to contact the nbme directly, to avoid misinformation. I know for a fact that you can buy shelf exams for clinical sciences, but I never bothered finding out for basic sciences; So, there's a pretty good chance you can.

I think it's a great idea to do them to assess your knowledge in each of the subjects towards the end of the course.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This is probably a good start: http://www.nbme.org/PDF/SubjectExams/SE_ContentOutlineandSampleItems.pdf

Only the medical school can buy shelf exams, period. You can buy the self-assessments from the NBME website. That being said, the questions aren't integrated, the way USMLE Step 1 questions are, so they may be of limited utility and may freak you out due to the minutiae being tested.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I take them at the end of each class as part of the course grade, and they're honestly not that helpful imo...especially since you don't find out which specific questions you missed. Instead you get a score report, which has performance bars on how you do compared to your class/nation on broad-brush topics within each course.

What it is good for is simulating a timed computerized test taking environment, but not much else.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.