Surgical Shelf Exam

My very first clerkship is officially finished! I took my surgical shelf exam yesterday.  A "shelf" exam is an exam that many med schools purchase from the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) that test materials presented during the third-year clerkships. The questions are metaphorically pulled from a box on the "shelf" and thus the name "shelf" exams. They are used by participating medical schools to compare their students to others nationwide, as these exams are not scored by the school but by the NBME. The standardized exams give residencies throughout the nation a better understanding of where their applicants rank, but I'm not sure how much weight shelf exams are given in comparison to the Step1 and Step2CK/CS and the interview.

The exam had a lot of questions regarding vascular disease (I of course haven't seen a single vascular case in my entire 10 weeks of surgery), but only a few regarding cancer staging and differing treatments suggested based upon stage (which I of course spent over 3 weeks on and then memorized prior to the exam). Overall, I feel like I did fairly well. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it is so hard to achieve any grade below 100%...I know, it's impossible for anyone to know everything, but for some reason I expect perfection of myself. So I am eternally disappointed with my results, I leave every exam upset by the questions that were just out of my reach. These questions are always regarding some topic that I learned ages ago, haven't thought about since, and somehow needed to recall that information to answer a question on the exam. It's so frustrating, because I KNOW the information is in there, somewhere, but I just can't get to it. Frustration. Thankfully, this is happening less often as my understanding of medicine increases.

So, after spending 2.5 hours answering 100 questions regarding surgery, I came home to a pitcher of sangria, ready and waiting for me to celebrate finishing my first clerkship! Mike even made me some snacks that I love, he is such a supportive fiance. I love how he's always ready to celebrate every little step I take towards becoming a doctor, and how he's there to listen to my frustrations when things aren't going so well, and how he seriously thinks I will be the best doctor in the world. I could never get through the perils of medical school without him, and I am so thankful that he is here to support me through the good times and the bad! :) :) :)