Clinical Shelf Exams

Shelf Exams

Shelf Exams

The NBME shelf exams are a series of clerkship-specific standardized tests that are administered after the completion of clerkship rotations during the third year of medical school. Shelf Exams vary in the number of questions but all follow a clinical vignette multiple-choice style question style that aims to assess your mastery of the subject-specific material of each clerkship. Shelf exams play a very crucial role in your major clinical grades, which will be a focus of residency programs reviewing your application. Shelf exams are created by a committee of content experts and score reports indicate actionable performance feedback. They can be intimidating during a big transitional period of medical school but with a little bit of help and the right motivation, we know you can achieve your goals!

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High Yield Question Bank

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Meet the Professionals

Medical School Companion is a team of medical educators dedicated to student success in healthcare education.

Your Success Starts Here

Philip Tisdall, MD, award-winning teacher and published author, trained at the Mayo Clinic and is a diplomat of the American Board of Pathology (AP and CP).

He is a dynamic and engaging speaker who helps students understand how to correlate the basic sciences and apply them to the essential thought processes of clinical medicine.

Dr. Tisdall received his MD from the University of Alberta, where he was the recipient of the gold medal in surgery and the MacKenzie award for History and Physical examination. Students praise him for his insight and ability to make complex material clear and memorable.

Mary Ruebush, PhD, is one of the nation’s most experienced instructors in Microbiology and Immunology for USMLE Step 1 review.

Dr. Ruebush received her PhD from the University of Georgia and has taught Infectious Disease, Immunology, and Pathology at Bowman-Gray Medical School, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Montana State University, where she received Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Jack Wilson received his PhD from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He is a Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN, where he has taught all the disciplines of Anatomy for 45 years.

He has received over 70 teaching awards and written 45 published papers, abstracts, and books.

Dr. Wilson has been active in teaching USMLE Step 1 review courses for Anatomy for over 25 years. Students have consistently recognized his ability to present Step 1 Clinical Anatomy in a concise way for success on Step 1.