The structure of 1p-shell nuclei, including the neutron-rich 11 Be and 11 Li, are studied within the shell model.The structure of nuclei near the β-stability line can be well described. In contrast, using standard parameters for the residual interaction, a number of features of nuclei far from β-stability, as for example the properties of the ground state of 11 Be, are not reproduced by the shell model.More than 20 experimental level data of nuclei far from β-stability are then selected to determine new effective parameters for the modified surface delta interaction and for the singleparticle energies. With these parameters used in the calculation for the 1p-shell nuclei far from β-stability, the agreement between computed results and experimental data becomes fair, and the parity inversion for the 1/2 + ground state in 11 Be is correctly reproduced.The results suggest that the shell model with a proper modification of the parameters in the modified surface delta interaction can be used usefully in the description of the structure of exotic nuclei.