MD Shelf exam retake right after end of 3rd year

[taeyeonlover]

I recently failed my OB/GYN shelf exam and was told by my school that I have to retake the exam by the beginning of June 2023.

I am worried about this situation because I feel that I would not have enough time to study for it since it would be literally right after my very last rotation of third year. I would get maybe like a week after my last rotation to study for it.

Because of this, I feel that I somehow have to squeeze in some ob gyn studying throughout the rest of my 3rd year until the retake.

Does anyone have any good idea on how I can go about this? Any good resources?

I think the reason I failed was because I didn’t really have good study strategies and had some mild depression issues. I used onlinemeded, a little bit of bnb, and half of uworld. I didn’t have a good grasp of “how do I go about treating and diagnosing this condition?”

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[the shretiology]

You’re going to have to trickle in OB/GYN studying your upcoming 6-8 weeks on top of whatever other shelf you have. Use more time if needed. Finish uworld, try anking step 2 cards, and take practice NBMEs. I emphasize taking practice NBMEs to see where you’re at, they’re highly representative. Consider it to be step 2 studying as OB/GYN is obviously on the test and it’s one you would need to refresh heavily on anyways.

 

[taeyeonlover]

You’re going to have to trickle in OB/GYN studying your upcoming 6-8 weeks on top of whatever other shelf you have. Use more time if needed. Finish uworld, try anking step 2 cards, and take practice NBMEs. I emphasize taking practice NBMEs to see where you’re at, they’re highly representative. Consider it to be step 2 studying as OB/GYN is obviously on the test and it’s one you would need to refresh heavily on anyways.

Thanks! My last rotation is combined Internal Medicine/family medicine and it’s 12 weeks long. Do you know how intense this rotation and shelf exam is?

 

[the shretiology]

Thanks! My last rotation is combined Internal Medicine/family medicine and it’s 12 weeks long. Do you know how intense this rotation and shelf exam is?

Both of those shelves are somewhat similar, but fam med includes some OB/gyn, peds. They are broad shelves with IM being notoriously tough. You have a lot of notice in advance and just need to juice your prep up. Get used to NBME practice shelves - this is key. You got this!

 

[the shretiology]

 

[Dral]

Not a bad subject to study so you understand it a bit more since you'll see it on Step 3 as well as diagnosis/treatment/management.