How to cram/study for echo boards

[dragonfly99]

I have 1 week left to cram/study for the ASE (american society of echo) board exam.
Other than the ACC echo SAP CD, can someone recommend other sources? I have read some of Feigenbaum textbook and Oh textbook, but I won't be able to read all of Feigenbaum before the exam. Besides that, I know that often questions on these types of exams can be about minutiae and not necessarily understanding the concepts. I feel like reading the textbook is helping me with the latter, but I'm not naive enough to think that will be enough to pass a standardized test that reportedly has a fairly high failure rate.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[P Diddy]

A large portion of the exam consists of ultrasound physics. If I had failed the exam, it would have been because I didn't review these concepts in great enough detail (sort of like the radiation minutiae on the fluoroscopy exam). I'm talking about how many hz M-mode is, Nyquist limit m/s, that level of detail. The clinical portion of the exam is relatively easy. If I were you, I'd bone up on ultrasound physics for the entire week available to you.

 

[dragonfly99]

thank you...had heard some similar comments before.

 

[sacrament]

That legitimately sucked.

 

[EPADHA]

Agree
I wish I had studied more..

 

[sacrament]

Agree
I wish I had studied more..

I don't think studying more would have helped me with the things I had the most trouble with. I am unaware of any Atlas of Totally S***-Quality Echoes (One View Each) that would have helped prepare me.

I wish there had been more physics questions. At least there is no ambiguity with those.

 

[punk]

Agree
I wish I had studied more..

Share the feelings. Several questions were about concepts that sounded vaguely familiar. I am sure revision would have helped.

 

[astropilot]

Although, I generally feel the same in the quality and difficulty of the questions, I think the best thing I looked at was Klein's book. Me and my fellow fellows agree, it was hard, there were bad images, and they asked some very vague questions that took too many jumps. We also prepped heavy on the physics and applied physics...boy were we wrong. It seemed heavy on congenital (i've heard in prior years it was 20-30% of the test - seemed more to me.)

Ugh!

 

[joti]

Man physics portions killed me. I will be surprised if I pass the exam. I think the answers were pretty tricky. Many times it was difficult to eliminate between two choices. Any body knows about the cutoff for passing this exam?

 

[dragonfly99]

I am afraid I might not have passed. That test was sh_t hard!
I actually thought there was a lot of physics type stuff on there...I heard there would be and tried to study it, but I'm worried it might not be enough. There were a lot of questions where I wasn't sure but could narrow it down to 2-3 answers, but I'm afraid I might have guessed wrong too many times. I actually studied pretty hard, but honestly could have studies harder (actually could have started studying hard earlier, which probably would have been enough).
I think it would be helpful if the folks giving the test put out a little better outline of what is covered on the test...the 1 paragraph or so they have on their web site was so vague as to be completely not helpful. I didn't pay for any of the specific review materials ($500+ online course/review slides, or other books, etc.). I wasn't sure specifically what sources it would help to study.
I do feel like that if I flunked, I could now go back next year and pass, assuming the test is fairly similar. I would just have to review some of the material more. It would be irritating to have to take this again, given the expense.

 

[dragonfly99]

What is Klein's book?

 

[dragonfly99]

Also, LOL @Sacramento's comment about the crappy quality 1 view echo images on some of the questions. I agree w/that. How many times do we get just 1 view to interpret in clinical practice? Practically never.
I thought the imaging section was hard, but actually I think the echo images on that part were good quality - part of the problem is the type of computer screens in the standardized test centers, though...they aren't as large or high quality monitors as the ones we use when we actually read echo images in practice. Also, you can't make the images bigger to look @them more closely. But I think for that section, if I missed the questions it will be because I didn't know what the heck I was looking at.

 

[punk]

Yes, the quality of images was bad. Sometimes, I was trying to guess what it is by looking at the question and the choices available. Not sure, if got it right or wrong....only time will tell.

 

[josephf1]

Klein and Asher
Clinical ECHOcardiography review a self assessment tool
From Cleveland Clinic
I am training under them now, this book rocks, wont be able to tell you how it helps for the exam since I am not taking it till next year.
Can get on amazon
Also a nuclear board book out with similar title

 

[dragonfly99]

I think that is the book a lot of people use to study...I did not because didn't know about it until the last minute.

 

[punk]

This is the first time that I am hearing about the book. Has anyone used it extensively in the past for echo boards?

 

[astro-pilot]

This is the first time that I am hearing about the book. Has anyone used it extensively in the past for echo boards?

It hasn't been out but since 2011. The guys who used it last year from my fellowship raved on and on about it. They all passed, albeit, a couple would have passed without it. I am glad I had it!

ap

 

[punk]

Passed echo boards, Phew!!

 

[sacrament]

Yeah, somehow I passed too. I also used the Klein and Asher book almost exclusively for my study, for whatever it's worth.

 

[asrita]

soooo, i didn't pass the exam :-( i was wondering if anyone can give any suggestions on how to prepare for next year. i did the mayo videos, the edlemen physics book, the klein and asher book for questions and the other 400 question book by pai (spelling?). the hardest part for me was physics- anybody know of anything else i can use? i was wondering if the ase review course is worth it. i have to say, i haven't read any of the textbooks.

 

[punk]

soooo, i didn't pass the exam :-( i was wondering if anyone can give any suggestions on how to prepare for next year. i did the mayo videos, the edlemen physics book, the klein and asher book for questions and the other 400 question book by pai (spelling?). the hardest part for me was physics- anybody know of anything else i can use? i was wondering if the ase review course is worth it. i have to say, i haven't read any of the textbooks.

I used Mayo Videos from couple of years ago....those are not the best.. that was my only study material. My performance on physics was below average and my worst performance was in this section. This is something that I should have prepared from Feigenbaum (after all one chapter carries so much weight in exams). Did not know much about the strain imaging (our program was not doing it in the echo lab). Couple of friends absolutely loved Klein and Asher book.

 

[Dreemer005]

I don't think studying more would have helped me with the things I had the most trouble with. I am unaware of any Atlas of Totally S***-Quality Echoes (One View Each) that would have helped prepare me.

I wish there had been more physics questions. At least there is no ambiguity with those.

Passed also. Agree that the images were horrible. I expected a lot more objective assessment of LV function and/or valvular heart disease... am overall unhappy that so much of the interpretation and case section was subjective.

i.e. Is the MR "mild" "mild to moderate" "moderate" or "moderate to severe"? (from a single improperly aligned image)

For those who are asking, I basically watched the Mayo videos and went to ASE course and did fine. To be honest, I don't know how much additional studying would have helped beyond the physics questions.

 

[CV student]

I think that is the book a lot of people use to study...I did not because didn't know about it until the last minute.

Hello Dragonfly, I got a question for you on Heart failure/non Accr Cardio fellowships link. Would you please take a moment to answer it? Thank you.

 

[imlefunny]

So what I am getting is people recommend doing the following to study for echo boards:
1. Mayo board review DVDs
2. ASE board review course or DVDs
3. Klein question book

Is that kind of a consensus? Thoughts on ACC Echo SAP? Anything else?

Thanks!

 

[bulldog]

So what I am getting is people recommend doing the following to study for echo boards:
1. Mayo board review DVDs
2. ASE board review course or DVDs
3. Klein question book

Is that kind of a consensus? Thoughts on ACC Echo SAP? Anything else?

Thanks!

1. Mayo is excellent. Know main concepts from it. The 2010 videos are actually great. The 2012 videos aren't particularly good (they don't have Charles Bruce on it)
2. ASE review: their section on congenital was good. Between watching ase and mayo congenital lectures, you'll get most of the questions
3. Klein question: It's great resource. I didn't find any questions verbatim but it was good to go over the questions/images.
4. Pai: flipped through it but didn't think it was good.

 

[bonovox]

Did you guys find out by email, snail mail, or what?