Worse shelf to take.. if it will be my first shelf exam?

[kl323]

I put in my schedule already... I'm starting with IM.

Is it the worse possible shelf to start off with given the important, scope, and difficulty of it?

I've heard peds is worse..

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[2012mdc]

I put in my schedule already... I'm starting with IM.

Is it the worse possible shelf to start off with given the important, scope, and difficulty of it?

I've heard peds is worse..

No it's not because there's a lot of Step 1 type questions on it. You also won't be burned out from any other rotations and have the most energy to study.

I'd say FM would be the worst to have 1st. Covers everything but you don't know anything and don't have the time to know a little about everything

 

[buckeye12]

No it's not because there's a lot of Step 1 type questions on it. You also won't be burned out from any other rotations and have the most energy to study.

I'd say FM would be the worst to have 1st. Covers everything but you don't know anything and don't have the time to know a little about everything

Or the motivation.

 

[2012mdc]

Or the motivation.

+1, I left that out purposely because I didn't want to speak for everyone haha

 

[bioteach]

Family.

 

[SB100]

Joy, my first rotation is going to be FM!

From people who have taken it before, any recommendations on sources beyond the typical Family Med texts that are helpful?

 

[SGuttenberg]

When it comes time for shelfs, your percentiles will be higher at the start of 3rd year. As time goes on you will need a higher raw score for the same percentile because one rotation helps with another. For example if you had im, peds and ob, and have family fourth you will know alot more than a person who had family first.

In my case on the second exam i did a full 10 raw points lower than my fourth yet was only 1 percentile lower.

Some schools give props for percentile others care only about raw score when it comes time to give out H's. If your school cares about percentile then its best to have family first.

 

[vicinihil]

Family.

 

[Mr Cookie Pants]

I started on IM. I think it was a GREAT foundation for the year. There's so much medicine on every other shelf. I did below average on boards but got a 83 on that shelf. My friends who all got 235+ on step 1 did medicine last and I'm beating them by 7-10+ points on every shelf.

The resources on this site are spot up BTW. I think that using the consensus here has gotten me better scores as well.

So for this reason, I say IM first. The curve will be better at the beginning of the year and it will help you throughout.

 

[Pedsbro]

I started on IM. I think it was a GREAT foundation for the year. There's so much medicine on every other shelf. I did below average on boards but got a 83 on that shelf. My friends who all got 235+ on step 1 did medicine last and I'm beating them by 7-10+ points on every shelf.

The resources on this site are spot up BTW. I think that using the consensus here has gotten me better scores as well.

So for this reason, I say IM first. The curve will be better at the beginning of the year and it will help you throughout.

I'm too lazy to look it up and I don't start 3rd year for another 2 months...what's the grading of shelf exams like? For example, is that 83 a raw score or an 83%?

 

[BigRedder]

It's an NBME scaled score, though to be honest I have my suspicions that it is pretty close to a percentage.

 

[Mr Cookie Pants]

I'm too lazy to look it up and I don't start 3rd year for another 2 months...what's the grading of shelf exams like? For example, is that 83 a raw score or an 83%?

Curved to a national average of 70. Much like the 22(0) for boards. It is possible to get over 100 on an exam. A classmate showed his NBME score of 101 on Sugery shelf.

 

[2012mdc]

It's an NBME scaled score, though to be honest I have my suspicions that it is pretty close to a percentage.

How close it is to a percentage depends on the difficulty of the test. I could see it being close on something like Psych but not on something like IM/Surg

 

[2012mdc]

Curved to a national average of 70. Much like the 22(0) for boards. It is possible to get over 100 on an exam. A classmate showed his NBME score of 101 on Sugery shelf.

Pretty sure the boards are scored in a different manner because the nat'l avg keeps rising. I think it's 225 or even higher now

 

[turkeyjerky]

Curved to a national average of 70. Much like the 22(0) for boards. It is possible to get over 100 on an exam. A classmate showed his NBME score of 101 on Sugery shelf.

smells of BS to me...

 

[2012mdc]

smells of BS to me...

I believe it. If it was possible to get over an 800 on shelf exams M1 and M2 why would it change M3?