Tag: shelf exams

Psych Shelf

Ugh.

So. This was my last shelf exam of third year!! And while I am super excited to be done with these required shelf exams, I’m also terrified that it means I’m one step closer to having to make decisions on my own.

Myself and several of my friends/classmates are so used to being in a learning role, that being in the leader role is scary. It’s not that we can’t or couldn’t do it; it is simply that (at least for myself) I don’t feel like I know enough to be in that role yet.

Who knows, maybe residency will completely change my mind on that. But for right now, I’ll get back to my surgery shelf.

So. Psych was my very last rotation of third year. It was also an online rotation for me, because they couldn’t find a preceptor who was willing to take me. I should be upset, but honestly, I’m glad that if I had to do an online rotation it wt I as this one.

Because I detest psych.

It was supposed to give me easy points on the MCAT –> nope. Psych and all that jazz and my brain don’t mix.

It was supposed to be fairly easy to understand for this shelf –> not for me. But hey, at least for majority of you, it should be rather easy.

And seeing as how most of the psych rotations now are in office for safety concerns, you don’t actually get to see most of the cool psych diagnoses, crises, or interesting things that occur inpatient anymore. So majority of what you see (or at least what I’ve been told) is medication management.

I’m sure that is thrilling and all, but I didn’t need to be on an actual rotation for that. So I am happy as a clam to just be able to do this rotation online.

Except for the extra busy work. Fuck that. But I digress.

Things that I thought would be more of on the shelf:
– diagnosing personality disorders
– diagnosing mood disorders
– diagnosing or recognizing some of the rarer disorders that you learn through studying

What was actually on there:
– meds. So many fucking medication questions. And they were nitpicky too. Like splitting hairs nitpicky. So if you are good with medications, this will be an easy shelf for you. I knew the big picture, but struggled with the splitting hairs crap.
– somatic disorders. Like WTF? I had 5 or 6 questions based on management for this. And I literally put the same answer for them. Hope it was right…
– There was diagnosing questions, but more focused on cyclothymic vs dysthymic vs could you figure out the newer terminology or where this fits with the new DSM-V wording even though you probably know the old terminology…
– So much neurocognative things. I.e. delirium vs Lewy body vs Alzheimer’s vs Pick’s disease. What meds do you choose? How do you tell which is which?

Again, maybe you are really good at discerning this stuff and you’ll be like “pffttt Joyce, this is child’s play”. Well good for you. I’m just happy that I won’t need to know it for the long haul.

Oh, and my study resources were literally the same as they have been:
– Online Med ED
– Anki (Dorian Deck)
– U world questions

And so ya, that’s it. I hope your psych shelf (or any shelf for that matter) gives you less grief than mine caused me. But I’m glad it’s over!

Cheers!

My Scores

Okay.

So this is normally very private information. And people don’t like sharing their scores or their downfalls. In medicine especially, it is a very dog-eat-dog ideology. It can be cut throat (which makes no sense truthfully because you should be competing with yourself more and betting yourself) but stupid and immature people think cutting others down or their “competition” is they way to get ahead.

Dumbasses.

Anywho, I am sharing my COMAT or shelf scores with you. I am also going to share my board scores with you. I want you to realize that yes, these exams are important BUT THEY WILL NOT MAKE OR BREAK YOU.

Only you have the power to do that. Obviously, the better you do the easier it may be for you. However, you can have amazeballs scores and still not match. That’s right, I said it. A good or even a great score will not guarantee you match somewhere. Just as a poor score won’t prevent you from matching. The difference may be is a poor score (like in my case) may limit your opportunities, or at least make you work harder to find different opportunities.

So, here it is.

COMATs/SHELF

I will list each shelf that I took and the score report associated with my test. You can see the topics they test and how they score. It does not however give you any more information such as the types of questions or not. Since I am a DO, again, using COMQUEST is a very good practice test/resource. It gives you very similar questions if not the same questions and a simulated score. Use this if you are taking DO COMATs. I did not do this, because I’m dumb. But a lot of my classmates did. This is one thing I will continue to truly recommend to you.

The lowest passing score is an 82. Honors is I don’t remember. But the NBOME’s honors and KCU’s honors differ. And that is a can of angry worms I won’t open up.

Pediatrics: Score of 100. Score report.

Internal Medicine: Score of 103. Score report.

Surgery: Score of 98. Score report. This one was hard. Lots of fluids questions and had no idea how to answer them properly.

Family Medicine: Score of 105. Score report.

OPP/Osteopathic Medicine: Score of 102. Score report. Did not really study for this one, at all. I think I looked up ribs and sacrum, viscerosomatics. I did look up cranial but had like 2 questions.

Psychiatry: Score of 108. Score report.

Emergency Med: Score of 97. Score report. I did not study for this exam at all.

Ob/Gyn: Score of 98. Score report. First COMAT. Hella nervous for this one.

BOARDS:

COMLEX level 1. Don’t ask me how I did so well on this one. I have no idea.

COMLEX level 2. This was not so good. Notoriously not a ton of people did well on this one. I honestly think it was a bad exam.

STEP 1. I thought I did better on this exam than my level 1. Jokes on me.

STEP 2. Honestly thought I didn’t pass. I mean, I barely did but I truthfully thought I didn’t pass.

Additionally, I am writing this before Match day 2022. I have already interviewed. It is up to the universe now. I am hopeful that despite crappy scores, I interviewed at 2/3 places I did my sub-I’s. I showed who I was as a person in person. But this is in the past and I cannot change anything. I am hoping to be in a better headspace next time around when I take my level 3 boards at the end of my intern year. And despite whether I match or SOAP, I will find a way into the specialty of my choice.

Again, a score is only one part of you. Well not even a part of you, one part of your application. When you are a physician your scores won’t matter. A better score will open more doors for you, but will not guarantee you anything. What else you do (volunteering, extracurriculars, personal statement, LOR’s, etc) is what will help you.

Cheers and good luck!