Time Saving Tricks to Study for the Surgery Shelf During Clerkship
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
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
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?
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
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
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.
What Makes the Surgery Shelf Exam so Difficult?
The surgery rotation has gained a reputation amongst many medical students as long and mind-numbingly boring due to long hours standing watching in the operating room (OR). So, what makes the surgery shelf exam so difficult?