AP/CP board May 2013

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What material are you using apart from
OSLER, CP Compendium and qtns, ASCP AP review (new book came out last year), ASCP lecture material, Lefkowitch ?

Anything else?
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Additional good AP courses: Cytopathology Review Guide (Holliday), Hopkins online surg path and cyto path quizzes. Also think baby Demay is best cyto yield resource.

Sorry, no CP advice (I was AP only).
 
Since I recently took (and passed) the exam, I thought I would give a little unsolicited advice....

1. I used Lefkowitch for a question review. I would not use it AND the ASCP question book- pick one. Ultimately, I do not think the Question style and difficulty in Lefkowitch at all resembled the actual exam. The images are small and pathetic. It's sole function, IMHO, is to scare the shiat out of you to go back to primary sources for everything you don't know, which will probably be a lot.

2. Cyto is over-represented in the board exam. I don't know why other than it's fun to take photomicrographs of cytology specimens. Baby DeMay is a good source, but don't overlook the Bethesda book. I'd say there's like 10 or so questions on the boards right out of that tiny book. Virtually ALL the cyto is likely to be images- so look at lots of those.

3. Look at lots of slides. Make sure you see rare lesions that everyone talks about, because they will likely end up on the boards. STUDY SETS. If you've seen and are comfortable with most entities, the boards will be a piece of cake.

4. Almost everyone studies differently for this exam. There is no right way. Just make sure you study as much as possible. For subjects that I felt I was really weak in and were critical, I read entire textbooks (foundations series). For subjects I was more comfortable with or didn't think would be highly represented I went with lecture notes or ASCP lecture notes. I made like 1000 flashcards, usually 1/entity, and made sure I knew something about epidemiology, gross presentation, micro, and IHC for each.
 
For CP, know every detail in the Compendium. I knew about half of it and I passed.
For AP, I have no idea, it covers a HUGE amount of stuff, just know everything.
 
The color plates from Henry and Koneman are good to review and also provide a nice break from staring at pages of text.

Robbins is more helpful than you think, especially some of the charts. Do not go crazy reading it cover to cover, but if there is an organ system you feel weak in, it might be worth skimming the chapter. I didn't feel confident about bladder and I can recall several questions that I knew instantly from reading that chapter.

I also used the ASCP Cytopath question book by Holliday.

Everyone studies differently so don't get caught up in comparing yourself to what someone else is doing. You have been through enough tests at this point to know how you study best. Good luck!
 
malchik said:
For CP, know every detail in the Compendium. I knew about half of it and I passed.
For AP, I have no idea, it covers a HUGE amount of stuff, just know everything.
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This is the kind of advice that freaks people out. It's not possible, and not necessary. Are you going to be a dermatopathologist? If not, don't waste 10 hours learning EVERYTHING about inflammatory derm for the 1 or 2 questions that may arise on the topic. Everyone thinks their specialty is the most important, but that's bunk. The best advice is to be really good at straight-up H&E diagnoses for the major organ systems. The rest is hit and miss, and you're better knowing what you know well than knowing everything mediocrely.
 
mlw03 said:
This is the kind of advice that freaks people out. It's not possible, and not necessary. Are you going to be a dermatopathologist? If not, don't waste 10 hours learning EVERYTHING about inflammatory derm for the 1 or 2 questions that may arise on the topic. Everyone thinks their specialty is the most important, but that's bunk. The best advice is to be really good at straight-up H&E diagnoses for the major organ systems. The rest is hit and miss, and you're better knowing what you know well than knowing everything mediocrely.
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True.

If you know 1: the most common Dx of each organ system very well, and 2: the b9 conditions that are often mistaken for malignant you will do well on the boards.

This test is made by human beings, not computers. For many, if not most questions there is a good reason they are asking it. There is a reason there are a lot of "Aunt Minnie" questions/slides on the boards. Many entities have one cool/characteristic thing about them, and if you know that you'll likely get it right. Yeah, there are a few totally BS questions... like "what is the 4th most common metastatic disease of organ X?"... but they are a minority of questions.
 
I disagree with the above. I found the AP boards to be far more esoterica than commonly encountered lesions and their benign mimics.
 
malchik said:
I disagree with the above. I found the AP boards to be far more esoterica than commonly encountered lesions and their benign mimics.
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I was not saying there is not a lot of esoterica. I was stating that if you know the common stuff and benign mimics you will be fine- particularly on the written portion and images. Most of the esoteric stuff, IMHO, are "Aunt Minnie" type questions. From my experience, the slides section had few cases of "common" tumors- a majority were "Aunt Minnie" types. But they were all pretty easy since I was expecting that and reviewed them as much as possible.
 
malchik said:
I disagree with the above. I found the AP boards to be far more esoterica than commonly encountered lesions and their benign mimics.
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Well, perhaps our disagreement reflects the variability of the exam. When I took it, I found the esoteric stuff to be fairly minimal. I walked out thinking the exam was difficult, but that most stuff was legit. And as stated above, benign entities that may look malignant at first glance (and vice versa) seemed to be a number of questions, and that probably reflects real life. But perhaps when you took it there was a higher proportion of nit-picky esoteric stuff. Or perhaps we have differing definitions of esoterica.
 
Theres no doubt the test content is skewed toward useless minutia unnecessary for competent practice. To say otherwise is ridiculous. Theres maybe 3-4 gonadoblastomas a year in the US, yet thats a frequent flyer on the exam. All the stupid detailed exclusions for blood donors- even most blood bankers arent at drawing centers and dont bother to know that.

My bigger beef is the unrealistic scenarios/questions that lie outside the scope of normal practice one is confronted with. How many questions in the cytology portion had one cell with a list of choices. In real life you would show around, work-up or call "atypical blah blah". The morphologic lymph node questions- would be malpractice to tease out the small mature B-cell disorders just by the architecture and cell shape like you're forced to without an immunophenotype-, staining, flow, FISH, showing around, etc. The test is incongruent with safe competent practice manner.
 
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Kunu said:
Theres no doubt the test content is skewed toward useless minutia unnecessary for competent practice. To say otherwise is ridiculous. Theres maybe 3-4 gonadoblastomas a year in the US, yet thats a frequent flyer on the exam. All the stupid detailed exclusions for blood donors- even most blood bankers arent at drawing centers and dont bother to know that.

My bigger beef is the unrealistic scenarios/questions that lie outside the scope of normal practice one is confronted with. How many questions in the cytology portion had one cell with a list of choices. In real life you would show around, work-up or call "atypical blah blah". The morphologic lymph node questions- would be malpractice to tease out the small mature B-cell disorders just by the architecture and cell shape like you're forced to without an immunophenotype-, staining, flow, FISH, showing around, etc. The test is incongruent with safe competent practice manner.
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But what would you have them do- allow you to "show around" a case for the test? Be realistic. And it actually makes the test sort of easier that there is little immunophenotyping on lymph nodes. That means they are showing you something very characteristic for that entity. True, in real life you'd have to make the DX based on a lot of info (some of it contradictory), but this test is looking to see if you know that one peculiar (and maybe important) thing about the image/slide/text. For the most part the test does this- cases are pretty clearly one thing- provided you know what you are looking for.
 
I guess a key thing about this test is that it is not a gestalt measure of your abilities as a pathologist. Some of us are great pathologists, because we take in all the information available about a case and draw the most logical conclusion. Many of us rely on that ability for our work and are great at it. This test does not quantify that ability AT ALL. They are testing you basically on ONE tidbit for each entity (less true on the slides and maybe images) and you either know it or you don't. Move on to the next question.
 
gbwillner said:
But what would you have them do- allow you to "show around" a case for the test? Be realistic. And it actually makes the test sort of easier that there is little immunophenotyping on lymph nodes. That means they are showing you something very characteristic for that entity. True, in real life you'd have to make the DX based on a lot of info (some of it contradictory), but this test is looking to see if you know that one peculiar (and maybe important) thing about the image/slide/text. For the most part the test does this- cases are pretty clearly one thing- provided you know what you are looking for.
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Oh I dont know....maybe NOT have dumb ambiguous *hit maybe?????
 
Kunu said:
Oh I dont know....maybe NOT have dumb ambiguous *hit maybe?????
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OK, but the pass rate for the already BS exam is 70%- if you make the question sensible, and based on things people should actually know (which may prove difficult to do) that will just mean everyone will pass the test. Or you fail just by missing a handful of questions.

If you want a test that really examines your abilities as a pathologist- there should be a real practical. By that I mean what Rad Onc has- you get a slide, and sit at a scope with 3-4 other pathologists (examiners). You then have to work up the case from beginning to end. It would not be as much about getting the correct Dx as much as it would be about handling the specimen and work-up correctly. Unfortunately, with 500+ people taking the test every year this is not feasible.
 
gbwillner said:
if you make the question sensible, and based on things people should actually know (which may prove difficult to do) that will just mean everyone will pass the test. Or you fail just by missing a handful of questions.
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Is the goal of the test to make it so not everyone passes?
If so, why not just apply a cutoff of a certain % that you want to pass? You wouldn't need to resort to asking a bunch of ridiculously nit-picking questions to do that.

If asking sensible questions that relate to real practice means everyone passes, then either 1) everyone is well trained or 2) a sensible test cannot distinguish whether one is well-trained or not, and we should dispense with a test entirely, at least one like this.

Why not just have people look at slides and enter diagnoses for 2 days.
 
I just finished taking ap cp boards yesterday. They are really cracking down on rememberances. There were multiple speeches about integrity and public expectations of physician pathologists etc. I was personally approached twice during the exam about my exam taking practices. I am the type person who goes through and answers every question with one letter choice to make sure I answer every question and leave no question blank. On Day 1 (AP) the proctor approached me about not starting the exam at the slide number listed on the slide box. She assumed I was not following directions. I told her I understood the directions. She insisted that I was getting mixed up and I again I told her I understood the directions. When I actually really began the exam after answering all questions, I kept everything in the correct order. I used the dry erase board provided to write down my diagnosis of the slides and keep everything in order. I erased the dry erase board after I had finished and then went on the lunch break for Day 1. Day 2(CP) I was approached at my cubicle by the physician in charge of the exam about my "interesting" exam taking technique and was asked to explain myself within earshot of the other examinees. I approached the physician in charge at the next break to ask if I did something wrong. She stated I had not. Needless to say, I was anxious my scores would be invalidated. I wrote the ABP a long email stating how uncomfortable it was to be approached during the exam.

I post this so that no other examinee that day will post their version of events. It happened to me so I am the one who should tell the story.
 
bladelady said:
I just finished taking ap cp boards yesterday. They are really cracking down on rememberances. There were multiple speeches about integrity and public expectations of physician pathologists etc. I was personally approached twice during the exam about my exam taking practices. I am the type person who goes through and answers every question with one letter choice to make sure I answer every question and leave no question blank. On Day 1 (AP) the proctor approached me about not starting the exam at the slide number listed on the slide box. She assumed I was not following directions. I told her I understood the directions. She insisted that I was getting mixed up and I again I told her I understood the directions. When I actually really began the exam after answering all questions, I kept everything in the correct order. I used the dry erase board provided to write down my diagnosis of the slides and keep everything in order. I erased the dry erase board after I had finished and then went on the lunch break for Day 1. Day 2(CP) I was approached at my cubicle by the physician in charge of the exam about my "interesting" exam taking technique and was asked to explain myself within earshot of the other examinees. I approached the physician in charge at the next break to ask if I did something wrong. She stated I had not. Needless to say, I was anxious my scores would be invalidated. I wrote the ABP a long email stating how uncomfortable it was to be approached during the exam.

I post this so that no other examinee that day will post their version of events. It happened to me so I am the one who should tell the story.
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Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

I am a still a little bit unclear about what exactly it was that you were doing that seemed so unusual to the proctors. It sounds like you went through on the computer (before looking at slides at all) and very quickly just clicked an answer for every single question (like maybe "A" for everything?). Then you wrote all of your answers down as you went through the slides in order, then put them all into the computer at the end. Is that correct? Although I don't know that I, personally, would use a technique like that (I would probably just put each answer in as I looked at each slide because I would be worried about running out of time to input all those answers at the end), it doesn't seem all that odd to me. Also, on the second (CP) day, was the proctor asking you about your technique from the AP slide session the day prior or about something you were doing at that moment during CP session itself? Either way, it seems completely inappropriate for them to interrupt you and waste your time during the actual testing session itself (not to mention interrupting the other test-takers) for something that was not in any way against "the rules."

I know in previous years I heard rumors (here on sdn and other places) that some test-takers would deliberately put slides back into the slide boxes out of order and in a disorganized fashion to sabotage the next person who got that box. Perhaps they are cracking down on this and that is why there was so much concern about how you were handling your slides?
 
It sounds like they give you a whiteboard for your use during the test. Is this similar to what you get at the prometric centers when taking the USMLE steps (i.e. you can write whatever you want on it as soon as the testing session starts)? I am a big fan of "brain dumping" some high-yield equations/tables/factoids (e.g. for a medical school anatomy exam, I would chart out the branchial plexus or list the cranial nerves; for chemistry I would write equations for calculating LDL cholesterol, serum osmolality, anion gap, etc.) onto my scratch paper at the beginning of a test, before I even look at the questions. It would be nice to confirm that is "allowed" and that no one is going to think I'm doing something suspicious.
 
Euchromatin said:
Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

I am a still a little bit unclear about what exactly it was that you were doing that seemed so unusual to the proctors. It sounds like you went through on the computer (before looking at slides at all) and very quickly just clicked an answer for every single question (like maybe "A" for everything?). Then you wrote all of your answers down as you went through the slides in order, then put them all into the computer at the end. Is that correct? Although I don't know that I, personally, would use a technique like that (I would probably just put each answer in as I looked at each slide because I would be worried about running out of time to input all those answers at the end), it doesn't seem all that odd to me. Also, on the second (CP) day, was the proctor asking you about your technique from the AP slide session the day prior or about something you were doing at that moment during CP session itself? Either way, it seems completely inappropriate for them to interrupt you and waste your time during the actual testing session itself (not to mention interrupting the other test-takers) for something that was not in any way against "the rules."

I know in previous years I heard rumors (here on sdn and other places) that some test-takers would deliberately put slides back into the slide boxes out of order and in a disorganized fashion to sabotage the next person who got that box. Perhaps they are cracking down on this and that is why there was so much concern about how you were handling your slides?
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To answer your questions:
1. You are correct on Day 1 (AP) I simply clicked on answer choice "A" for every question before I opened my slide box. While I was clicking away the proctor #1 (a non physician) approached me at my cubicle and was trying to get me to start questions at the number listed on the slide box because she assumed I got mixed up.

2. After answering all questions with "A" I then took out my slides wrote down a diagnosis on the dry erase board provided with the slide number---I then clicked on the question number that went with the slide number and answered the question. This is how I kept the slides and my answers in order. I did this for all 3 boxes. I then went back and answered all of the virtual slide questions. I checked and re-checked that I had everything in order.

3. I put the slides back in each of the boxes in the correct order. I did not try to make it harder for the next examinee.

4. I did not run out of time. I finished with 10 minutes left.

5. On Day 2 (CP) proctor #2 (the physician proctor) approached me at my cubicle before the exam started at 8am and asked me about my exam taking technique from Day 1 (AP). She did not ask me about something I was doing on CP because we had not quite begun. She also stated that I answered questions so quickly that it caught their attention ( I just was putting in "A" and I can click a mouse pretty fast) They apparently never saw anyone go that fast even when just putting in one letter. (yes I can click on 132 questions in the space of 3 min 30 sec-I timed myself because of all the questions from the proctors)

6. It was inappropriate for proctor # 2 (physician proctor) to approach me at my cubicle on Day 2 CP -she simply could have pulled me to the side and and asked me privately. I did state this in my eval of the exam and in a separate email to the ABP.
 
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Still confused. What is the purpose of clicking through all the questions at the beginning? I'd worry about not transferring an answer from the white board into the computer doing your system. Don't you also need to have the corresponding question on screen in order to eliminate wrong answer choices? Or are all the questions in a paper booklet and the computer is just an electronic answer sheet?
 
TMZ2007 said:
Still confused. What is the purpose of clicking through all the questions at the beginning? I'd worry about not transferring an answer from the white board into the computer doing your system. Don't you also need to have the corresponding question on screen in order to eliminate wrong answer choices? Or are all the questions in a paper booklet and the computer is just an electronic answer sheet?
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I did not just click through the questions-I actually clicked on an answer A for every question. The purpose is to answer all questions without leaving any blank. If you leave a question blank then it is automatically counted as wrong. If you click on one answer choice you have a 20% chance of getting it right as opossed to the question being automatically wrong if you leave it blank.

It was the first time I took the exam and I was not sure if I would be fast enough with the glass slides to answer every question (I do not practice pathology on a daily basis just on weekends).

I did not transfer answers. I did them one at a time. I looked at the glass slide-wrote down its number and the diagnosis on the dry erase board-went to the same question on the computer -answered the question that corresponded with the slide. It was already answered with an "A" I simply just changed it to the answer I thought it should be. It saved me the anxiety of rushing through every slide and feeling that I might not get to every question to answer it-my anxiety was very high-anxiety causes me to not think clearly. I wanted my mind to be relaxed as I went through every slide. That was my whole purpose-to be as calm as possible when truly answering questions.
 
bladelady said:
I did not just click through the questions-I actually clicked on an answer A for every question. The purpose is to answer all questions without leaving any blank. If you leave a question blank then it is automatically counted as wrong. If you click on one answer choice you have a 20% chance of getting it right as opossed to the question being automatically wrong if you leave it blank.

It was the first time I took the exam and I was not sure if I would be fast enough with the glass slides to answer every question (I do not practice pathology on a daily basis just on weekends).

I did not transfer answers. I did them one at a time. I looked at the glass slide-wrote down its number and the diagnosis on the dry erase board-went to the same question on the computer -answered the question that corresponded with the slide. It was already answered with an "A" I simply just changed it to the answer I thought it should be. It saved me the anxiety of rushing through every slide and feeling that I might not get to every question to answer it-my anxiety was very high-anxiety causes me to not think clearly. I wanted my mind to be relaxed as I went through every slide. That was my whole purpose-to be as calm as possible when truly answering questions.
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No the questions are not on paper. The questions and answers are on computer. You do not have any paper booklets until Day 2 (CP). The booklet consists of antibody panels. You have no other paper -just the dry erase board, dry erase pen and a box of tissue paper to wipe off the dry erase board when you are done. You must leave all used tissue on your desk in the cubicle.
 
bladelady said:
To answer your questions:
1. You are correct on Day 1 (AP) I simply clicked on answer choice "A" for every question before I opened my slide box. While I was clicking away the proctor #1 (a non physician) approached me at my cubicle and was trying to get me to start questions at the number listed on the slide box because she assumed I got mixed up.

2. After answering all questions with "A" I then took out my slides wrote down a diagnosis on the dry erase board provided with the slide number---I then clicked on the question number that went with the slide number and answered the question. This is how I kept the slides and my answers in order. I did this for all 3 boxes. I then went back and answered all of the virtual slide questions. I checked and re-checked that I had everything in order.

3. I put the slides back in each of the boxes in the correct order. I did not try to make it harder for the next examinee.

4. I did not run out of time. I finished with 10 minutes left.

5. On Day 2 (CP) proctor #2 (the physician proctor) approached me at my cubicle before the exam started at 8am and asked me about my exam taking technique from Day 1 (AP). She did not ask me about something I was doing on CP because we had not quite begun. She also stated that I answered questions so quickly that it caught their attention ( I just was putting in "A" and I can click a mouse pretty fast) They apparently never saw anyone go that fast even when just putting in one letter. (yes I can click on 132 questions in the space of 3 min 30 sec-I timed myself because of all the questions from the proctors)

6. It was inappropriate for proctor # 2 (physician proctor) to approach me at my cubicle on Day 2 CP -she simply could have pulled me to the side and and asked me privately. I did state this in my eval of the exam and in a separate email to the ABP.
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Everyone knows the right answer is most frequently "C". You should have gone with that.
 
bladelady said:
I did not just click through the questions-I actually clicked on an answer A for every question. The purpose is to answer all questions without leaving any blank. If you leave a question blank then it is automatically counted as wrong. If you click on one answer choice you have a 20% chance of getting it right as opossed to the question being automatically wrong if you leave it blank.

It was the first time I took the exam and I was not sure if I would be fast enough with the glass slides to answer every question (I do not practice pathology on a daily basis just on weekends).

I did not transfer answers. I did them one at a time. I looked at the glass slide-wrote down its number and the diagnosis on the dry erase board-went to the same question on the computer -answered the question that corresponded with the slide. It was already answered with an "A" I simply just changed it to the answer I thought it should be. It saved me the anxiety of rushing through every slide and feeling that I might not get to every question to answer it-my anxiety was very high-anxiety causes me to not think clearly. I wanted my mind to be relaxed as I went through every slide. That was my whole purpose-to be as calm as possible when truly answering questions.
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lol! That seems like a really difficult strategy to any test, much less the AP Board, but to each his own and grats if you pass.
 
bladelady said:
I did not just click through the questions-I actually clicked on an answer A for every question. The purpose is to answer all questions without leaving any blank. If you leave a question blank then it is automatically counted as wrong. If you click on one answer choice you have a 20% chance of getting it right as opossed to the question being automatically wrong if you leave it blank.

It was the first time I took the exam and I was not sure if I would be fast enough with the glass slides to answer every question (I do not practice pathology on a daily basis just on weekends).

I did not transfer answers. I did them one at a time. I looked at the glass slide-wrote down its number and the diagnosis on the dry erase board-went to the same question on the computer -answered the question that corresponded with the slide. It was already answered with an "A" I simply just changed it to the answer I thought it should be. It saved me the anxiety of rushing through every slide and feeling that I might not get to every question to answer it-my anxiety was very high-anxiety causes me to not think clearly. I wanted my mind to be relaxed as I went through every slide. That was my whole purpose-to be as calm as possible when truly answering questions.
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Gayest way to take a test... ever.
 
The whole point of my post was to give everyone who is taking AP/CP a heads up-- that everything you do at the exam is now suspect- I think they are going overboard after the rememberances episode at the spring 2012. I figure they at ABP will calm down by 2014.
 
bladelady said:
I did not just click through the questions-I actually clicked on an answer A for every question. The purpose is to answer all questions without leaving any blank. If you leave a question blank then it is automatically counted as wrong. If you click on one answer choice you have a 20% chance of getting it right as opossed to the question being automatically wrong if you leave it blank.

It was the first time I took the exam and I was not sure if I would be fast enough with the glass slides to answer every question (I do not practice pathology on a daily basis just on weekends).

I did not transfer answers. I did them one at a time. I looked at the glass slide-wrote down its number and the diagnosis on the dry erase board-went to the same question on the computer -answered the question that corresponded with the slide. It was already answered with an "A" I simply just changed it to the answer I thought it should be. It saved me the anxiety of rushing through every slide and feeling that I might not get to every question to answer it-my anxiety was very high-anxiety causes me to not think clearly. I wanted my mind to be relaxed as I went through every slide. That was my whole purpose-to be as calm as possible when truly answering questions.
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How do you only practice pathology on weekends?
 
bladelady said:
The whole point of my post was to give everyone who is taking AP/CP a heads up-- that everything you do at the exam is now suspect- I think they are going overboard after the rememberances episode at the spring 2012. I figure they at ABP will calm down by 2014.
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Your post was so ridiculous it was borderline trolling
 
Artefact said:
How do you only practice pathology on weekends?
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Some path groups only need someone to cover weekends.

Some people like me have family situations where they can only work weekends.

Win win
 
bladelady said:
Some path groups only need someone to cover weekends.

Some people like me have family situations where they can only work weekends.

Win win
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So your significant other or whoever else is in the family must work the rest of the time?
 
8 hrs till AP exam tomorrow. Good luck to any of you crazy people at the Intercontinental still reviewing stuff (like me!)
 
Glass and virtuals were OK, I think. Had just enough time. Virtual slides worked well and were IMO easier to interpret than the glass. Glass slides were too pink and not enough blue; this might just be personal preference. Had only a couple where they wanted you to call it on H&E without stains which you would never do in real life. Written seemed easy, finished with 45 minutes left. Written with images was not too tough, but the photos were really poor quality (esp cyto) which lead to time-management problems. Way too many gross photos, again not real practice.

Best part was the intro about the Honor Code which was basically "Here's the Honor Code again. We realize that we are asking you to sign something which virtually all of you have violated." LOL

CP tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well. I really don't want to do this again.
 
TMZ2007 said:
Best part was the intro about the Honor Code which was basically "Here's the Honor Code again. We realize that we are asking you to sign something which virtually all of you have violated." LOL
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That's hilarious.
 
If accurate, is that not just dumbfounding? Kinda what the world in general seems to be coming to.
 
TMZ2007 said:
Best part was the intro about the Honor Code which was basically "Here's the Honor Code again. We realize that we are asking you to sign something which virtually all of you have violated." LOL
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How can you violate the honor code if you haven't signed the document yet? I guess it's OK to use remembrances until you sign up to take the boards- then you take your oath.


/You'd think they could mitigate this problem by just coming up with new questions and slides.
 
gbwillner said:
You'd think they could mitigate this problem by just coming up with new questions and slides.
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They could, but that would require real, actual work on the part of the ABP. It's much more profitable to use questions from the same question bank every year and brainstorm more ways to separate pathologists from their money via SAM credits and recertification boondoggles.

I heard a story (perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not) that one year they asked one of the standard lab management break-even point analysis questions, but they had obviously changed the figures in the question stem while forgetting to change the answers leading to a mathematically proveable answer that was not one of the provided answer choices.

I express my displeasure with the ABP by using my thousand dollar oversized green pen for really disgusting activities like picking the lint from between my toes.
 
Ziehl-Nielsen said:
I heard a story (perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not) that one year they asked one of the standard lab management break-even point analysis questions, but they had obviously changed the figures in the question stem while forgetting to change the answers leading to a mathematically proveable answer that was not one of the provided answer choices.
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Without getting into honor code-violating specifics, I remember exactly what you're referring to.
 
malchik said:
For CP, know every detail in the Compendium. I knew about half of it and I passed.
For AP, I have no idea, it covers a HUGE amount of stuff, just know everything.
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I studied the compendium and also the Osler notes and I didn't think that either offered adequate preparation.
 
.
 
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I did not want to start a new thread just for this stupid question of mine.

How do you deal with panic attacks while preparing for boards? How about panic attack the night before boards, or 1 hour or say 2 minutes before boards. I am thinking beer the night before won't help. Maybe a movie? Maybe I should go to an isolated place and scream at the top of my voice.:eek:
 
BoardShivers said:
I did not want to start a new thread just for this stupid question of mine.

How do you deal with panic attacks while preparing for boards? How about panic attack the night before boards, or 1 hour or say 2 minutes before boards. I am thinking beer the night before won't help. Maybe a movie? Maybe I should go to an isolated place and scream at the top of my voice.:eek:
Click to expand...

I had a lot of trouble getting good sleep because of the stress. I went to my PCP and told him I needed short-term help being able to relax and sleep- I got on Ambien for the week of the exam. I think this really helped me, and I was more or less relieved when I was able to get half a good night's rest the day of the exam. I was awake enough to pass it anyway.
 
I took the exams a couple weeks ago and we were told the scores would be out mid August. That makes sense, I guess. I mean it is a computerized multiple choice test so that probably takes two+ months for the ABP to grade and figure out.
If they cant even get clear pics for the test, why should I expect competency in grading/reporting?

And looking over the MOC sheet they handed out briefly.... Looks like I'll be bending over for the ABP every 2 years. Can't wait!
 
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