2015 In Training Exam

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Dawkter

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2011
Messages
216
Reaction score
48
Just took this yesterday, lot of esoteric questions and numerous questions where two answer choices seemed very plausible. Seems like studying for these exams is difficult based on all the minute details we are tested on. Anyone have a similar experience?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Just took this yesterday, lot of esoteric questions and numerous questions where two answer choices seemed very plausible. Seems like studying for these exams is difficult based on all the minute details we are tested on. Anyone have a similar experience?

It was interesting to say the least...
 
Members don't see this ad :)
when are scores typically released?

felt the same as y'all
 
Interesting is one way to put it.

Difficult and/or waste of time to study for is another.
 
It felt like step 1 all over again, minus the page long question vignettes. The questions seemed very basic-science oriented -- I wonder if they changed the format to tailor more toward the new board exam structure.
 
I took it for the first time yesterday as an intern, our program has us take it as a trial run but emphasizes that none of us should study for it. I took them at their word and did not study anything at all in preparation. I was surprised by how short the questions were, I guess I am used to USMLE-style paragraphs. There were some questions that I knew right away, some I could figure out by process of elimination, and some that I had no idea on. I thought I would have no idea on most of them, so I was surprised at how many I could at least make an educated guess on. The questions were mostly straightforward and I left feeling like I could look up the answers to the ones I didn't know pretty easily. That being said, I am not looking forward to starting board prep, which I had always planned on putting off until after I had taken the ITE once. A handful of the questions had nothing to do with anesthesiology per se, which ironically were probably the ones I was most comfortable with from step 3 (ethics, statistics, etc).

My question is how many versions of the test are given each year? Are CA-1's taking the same test as the CA-3's? Just curious since I am new to this ITE business.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I was under the impression that everyone takes the same test but I could be wrong.
 
I took it for the first time yesterday as an intern, our program has us take it as a trial run but emphasizes that none of us should study for it. I took them at their word and did not study anything at all in preparation. I was surprised by how short the questions were, I guess I am used to USMLE-style paragraphs. There were some questions that I knew right away, some I could figure out by process of elimination, and some that I had no idea on. I thought I would have no idea on most of them, so I was surprised at how many I could at least make an educated guess on. The questions were mostly straightforward and I left feeling like I could look up the answers to the ones I didn't know pretty easily. That being said, I am not looking forward to starting board prep, which I had always planned on putting off until after I had taken the ITE once. A handful of the questions had nothing to do with anesthesiology per se, which ironically were probably the ones I was most comfortable with from step 3 (ethics, statistics, etc).

My question is how many versions of the test are given each year? Are CA-1's taking the same test as the CA-3's? Just curious since I am new to this ITE business.
While the questions were straightforward and easy to look up after the fact, I don't think there is a unified source to study for all this material. That's what makes the ITE challenging in my opinion. And to answer your question, we all take the same test. I'm at a gigantic program and we were all sitting in the same computer lab taking it together (interns through CA3's).
 
I was under the impression that everyone takes the same test but I could be wrong.

It is the same test for everyone. Just the order of questions is different.

Idk I thought this test was much more anesthesia related that last year.
 
Just as a reminder, testing is open until the 23rd.
 
Just took this yesterday, lot of esoteric questions and numerous questions where two answer choices seemed very plausible. Seems like studying for these exams is difficult based on all the minute details we are tested on. Anyone have a similar experience?

CA-1 here, first time seeing an ITE. Same exact feelings here. Feeling pretty awful about my performance.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
If I may chime in as an attending who took his writtens several years ago, this is an ongoing thing. Do remember some of the questions are experimental ones - at least my year, consensus seemed to be that some of the really dumb/ambiguous/esoteric stuff was trial questions that would end up getting rejected.
 
And for what it is worth...for those of you who have not taken the BASIC exam...the basic science questions you saw are very comparable. Won't go into too much detail, but some of them were VERY specific esoteric stuff, down to which enzyme does what in the neuromuscular junction (and, no, the question wasn't about acetylcholinesterase).
 
I think M5 covers all the trivial knowledge really well. I've been using M5 and ace questions since CA1 year (now ca2) and it has gotten me top 10% on every AKT, ITE and the Basic Board exam.

The key to doing well on these minutia heavy tests is to take good notes while studying. When you come across something esoteric and useless, write it down so you can just review it the week before an exam instead of trying to memorize it. Of course you can't write everything down, but after taking a few tests you will notice the high yield topics to focus on.

M5 is good about telling you what is high yield and worth noting. Plus they update their question banks based on what is tested. I don't know anything about the new hall, but the old version was definitely outdated. I've never used Faust.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I think M5 covers all the trivial knowledge really well. I've been using M5 and ace questions since CA1 year (now ca2) and it has gotten me top 10% on every AKT, ITE and the Basic Board exam.

You can't know what percentile you got on the Basic Board exam. They didn't give one. You got a pass and some keywords.

Second, I hate M5 personally. I know others that like it. I think the questions are terrible. The responses typically involve "I can't imagine that the ABA would ask this, but they probably will."

Personally, I think ACE questions are the most helpful in terms of preparation. Our program buys us both ACE books each year. They have been helpful in preparing for the ITE's and I found them helpful in preparing for the Basic as well. They organize question by topic in the ACE books (front or back, can't remember). I used this to help study.
 
You can't know what percentile you got on the Basic Board exam. They didn't give one. You got a pass and some keywords.

Second, I hate M5 personally. I know others that like it. I think the questions are terrible. The responses typically involve "I can't imagine that the ABA would ask this, but they probably will."

Personally, I think ACE questions are the most helpful in terms of preparation. Our program buys us both ACE books each year. They have been helpful in preparing for the ITE's and I found them helpful in preparing for the Basic as well. They organize question by topic in the ACE books (front or back, can't remember). I used this to help study.

The ABA mailed out a letter congratulating those who scored in the top 10% for the BASIC exam last summer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Scores typically comes out the 2nd week of April, fyi.

I felt the questions were mostly fair, though there were a few that were pretty esoteric, and a lot with 2 best answers, asking for the BEST answer. It's going to be like that for the written and oral boards. Might as well get used to it.
 
The ABA mailed out a letter congratulating those who scored in the top 10% for the BASIC exam last summer.

Lol. Guess I missed it. Strong work polar403 and GassmanMD. ;)

And I agree, lunaire...the questions I hated are the clinical ones where there are two answers I would perform simultaneously. Which one is "best" is irrelevant, really.
 
Nobody gets a percentile...

I think M5 covers all the trivial knowledge really well. I've been using M5 and ace questions since CA1 year (now ca2) and it has gotten me top 10% on every AKT, ITE and the Basic Board exam.

The key to doing well on these minutia heavy tests is to take good notes while studying. When you come across something esoteric and useless, write it down so you can just review it the week before an exam instead of trying to memorize it. Of course you can't write everything down, but after taking a few tests you will notice the high yield topics to focus on.

M5 is good about telling you what is high yield and worth noting. Plus they update their question banks based on what is tested. I don't know anything about the new hall, but the old version was definitely outdated. I've never used Faust.

The ABA mailed out a letter congratulating those who scored in the top 10% for the BASIC exam last summer.

Gasman is spot on. I have had same scores including top ten percent on basic. I used baby Miller in CA1 for basic and M5 Q for basic. If I didn't know something, or even if I knew it but the information seemed random, I wrote it in the spiral notebook. Week before the test I did nothing but read through this.
 
I personally enjoyed studying for the BASIC exam. While it was a pain at the time, in retrospect, it really boosted my overall case preparedness for my CA-2 year. I imagine the increased anesthesia knowledge also has implications in improved clinical ability over the course of an entire residency (ie. less time/more confidence studying).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Anybody know offhand what the national50th percentile RAW score was for the CA-1s? Took the test as a PGY1 and scored very well compared to PGY-1s and got the 50th percentile for PGY1s. Just want to know where I would stand if I were a CA-1 today. Thanks
 
Anybody know offhand what the national50th percentile RAW score was for the CA-1s? Took the test as a PGY1 and scored very well compared to PGY-1s and got the 50th percentile for PGY1s. Just want to know where I would stand if I were a CA-1 today. Thanks
A 31 is 53rd percentile for CA-1's.
 
CA1 here, found myself with a raw score of 34, percentile rank 60. Is there any hope of bringing this up before the BASIC? I have a sinking feeling this score is not going to allow me to do a fellowship.
 
CA1 here, found myself with a raw score of 34, percentile rank 60. Is there any hope of bringing this up before the BASIC? I have a sinking feeling this score is not going to allow me to do a fellowship.
A CA1 with a scaled score of 34 is a respectable 73rd percentile.
 
>35 /99 pgy1
 
Last edited:
What would be a correlation to passing the written boards? There is a huge drop off from CBY to CA1. My 85% for CBYs is like a 17% for CA1s. Is there that much of a learning curve between the two years even if your doing mainly anesthesia your cby year? (~6 months)
 
What kind of a percentile will set you up to be competitive at any of the top ACGME accredited fellowships? Any percentile range that would tend to hurt your case?
 
On my score report it says to refer to the 'Guidelines for interpreting your personal performance report' Where is this report, I want to know what my scaled score is in terms of percentile
 
disappointed..22 as a PGY-1. Went through M&M once. Do I hit it again with Hall? (I keep hearing that Hall is outdated but just came up with a new edition). Any suggestions?
 
disappointed..22 as a PGY-1. Went through M&M once. Do I hit it again with Hall? (I keep hearing that Hall is outdated but just came up with a new edition). Any suggestions?

Depends on your learning style. For me I did best by doing questions. I read M&M during our first month of anesthesia and then just did questions afterwards. Did hall twice and like 4 ace books before ITE. Got 92%ile and pretty happy with it

You're only PGY1 tho so I wouldn't worry about it. Lots of learning in the OR cause you can apply the concepts you learn from the book to your case
 
Some solid performances in here! I expect no less from SDN.
 
Last edited:
Top