Don't know if this is still useful for you but here's my take. Shelf exams/Step 2CK have extremely strong correlations with how well a person does on Step 1. At the end of the day, the shelf/step 2 ck material are nothing more than a little extra on top of what you had to learn for Step 1. On Step 2/shelf exams, the big thing that matters is plastering knowledge of the "order/logic" in which things are done to your pre-existing pathophysiology knowledge. Do this and you're essentially good to go. I personally believe that is a huge fallacy for people to think that they'll do poorly on Step 1 and magically crush M3/shelf exams/2CK because it is more "clinical". A poor foundation remains poor regardless of the surrounding circumstances. As a just graduating M4, I can say from personal experience that recalling and understanding a lot of the Step 1 material I knew back in the day played one of the biggest roles in doing well on 2CK and my shelf exams. PM if you have any other Q's on this.