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Mistakes Medical Students Make While Studying for Shelf Exams

A group of medical school students in scrubs studying for their shelf exams while in the hospital for their clinical rotations.

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During your first clinical year of medical school, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. You will find yourself taking care of patients, rounding, working in the operating room, reading about your patients’ diseases, creating case presentations, and more, all while studying for your shelf exams. Here, we will discuss the...

Six Tips to Help You Succeed on Your Clinical Clerkships

A group of medical students in a hospital completing their clinical rotation.

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During your third year of medical school, you will get the opportunity to go into the hospital and help with patient care during your clinical clerkships. For many students, this is the first time they get to work with patients, round with a medical team, assist with surgeries, and more....

Best Tips for Honoring Your Surgery Clerkship

16 min

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Doctors performing surgery on a patient in an operating room.

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Surgery is a challenging but rewarding specialty and you should expect your clerkship to be the same. Surgery is also unlike other specialties you will rotate through and if you want to receive honors, you will need to take a different approach than you did for other clerkships. You will...

Time Saving Tips for Studying for Your Shelf Exam During Clinical Rotations

9 min

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Medical student studying for her shelf exams while on break during her clinical rotation.

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The transition from pre-clinical to clinical medical student can be very difficult. You change from studying all the time as a pre-clinical student to having to study all the time AND manage clinical work on top of it. Shelf exams are important for your residency applications and clinical grades, so...

Time Saving Tricks to Study for the Surgery Shelf During Clerkship

12 min

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Medical school students on their surgery rotation.

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Surgery clerkship is well known for its long hours, which leaves little time for shelf exam studying. A normal day on the surgery ward involved waking up around 4 or 5am, getting to the hospital quickly, pre-rounding on your patients, and being ready for 6 or 6:30am rounds with your...

Best Resources to Help You Prepare for Your Surgery Shelf Exam

A sudent looking at a book in the library, one of the best resources for Surgery Shelf Exam.

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If you are preparing for your Surgery Shelf, the first and most important piece of advice I can share with you is to start early! Surgery is arguably one of the most demanding and time-consuming rotations you will participate in during your clinical year of medical school, so the earlier...

7 Tips for Studying for the Family Medicine Shelf Exam

17 min

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A group of medical school students on their Family Medicine clinical rotation.

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There are few Shelf exams more difficult than the family medicine shelf. The unique thing about family medicine is that it covers – in some way – nearly every topic that you’ll see in your clinical year. There are components of pediatrics, OB/GYN, psychiatry, internal medicine, and surgery. Of course,...

Why Is the Medicine Shelf So Hard and What Can You Do to Be Ready?

13 min

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A combo of pills which needs to be understood for the Medicine shelf exam.

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With internal medicine having the most applicants for residency positions every year (nearly 27,000 from a total of 51,000 applicants in 2021), it makes sense that clerkship students want to excel on their medicine shelf exam. Additionally, many specialties require an internal medicine intern year before starting the field’s core...

How Doing Well on Shelf Exams Will Improve Your Step 2 CK Score

A group of medical school students studying for their shelf exams.

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At most medical schools, your grades during your first clinical year of training are primarily determined by evaluations from your preceptors, and your performance on a shelf examination (family medicine, internal medicine, surgery, neurology, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and psychiatry). These grades will be a significant component of your residency application, in...

How to Study for the Neurology Shelf Exam

9 min

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Someone on laptop studying for Neurology Shelf Exam

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For many medical students, the neurology shelf exam is perceived as one of the “easier” shelf exams. Despite its reputation, “easier” is certainly a relative term and there absolutely are students who find the neurology shelf exam quite challenging. Here are our tips for success.

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