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Trisomy13

Trisomy13

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PASS.


What a friggin' relief!
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Pass!! too bad I'm on call today. what a freaking relief especially after failing before twice!
 
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Passed! What a gigantic relief. Which Scotch does an occasion like this deserve?
 
Even though i thought the first session was a complete disaster and I may have actually been laughed at, I passed that bitch!!!!!



Going with bourbon tonight!!!!!
 
Just found out I passed.

Congrats to all of my brothers and sisters out there who are now done with the long journey!!!!!


What a friggin relief. Too bad I'm on call so can't break out the bourbon yet. Guess I'll have to celebrate by placing epidurals all night :)
 
Congrats to all newly boarded diplomats!

And to those who didn't pass. Keep on fighting. I know it feels like the end of the world. But it isn't.
 
PASSED!!!!!!!

Felt like my second room could have done me in, but they must have bought my B.S..

Unfortunately, I am on call tonight (home no less) so no celebrating. Home call makes it worse because I can see my bottle of scotch, I just can't taste it.

Congrats to all who passed. One of my attendings didn't pass the first time and has had a great career, so if you are in that crowd, don't worry, it's not the end of the road.
 
MD, FABA ;-)



To those that didnt pass, dont get down get even nxt year. Btw, I strongly recommend;);) michael ho. Go to atleast 3 of his courses.
 
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Congrats to everyone! Hopefully you're all on your way to getting ****-tore!
 
aneftp said:
Congrats to all newly boarded diplomats!

And to those who didn't pass. Keep on fighting. I know it feels like the end of the world. But it isn't.
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I second that. You will receive a detailed break down of your performance in a few weeks if you failed. Read the break down carefully. Write down the questions that you were asked during your exam. Also, write down the answers that you gave. You should do this ASAP before you completely forget the exam.

I do not believe that expensive review courses are the key to the orals. Focused practice is the key.

I failed the orals on my first attempt. That was a few years ago.

Send me a pm if you have questions about what you should do following a failed attempt at the orals.

Cambie
 
PASSED! This was my second attempt. If you have to retake the exam, keep your spirits high and stay motivated. Also, feel free to PM me.

Thanks CAMBIE for your encouragement last year!

P.S. Forget Michael Ho!
 
Passed. About the M. HO course. Do not waste your money. He uses fear and intimidation to sell his course. The real exam is nothing like his course. You will just be throwing money away, to a guy that has an ego the size of texas. He definiately has short penis syndrome.
 
isoflurane said:
Passed. About the M. HO course. Do not waste your money. He uses fear and intimidation to sell his course. The real exam is nothing like his course. You will just be throwing money away, to a guy that has an ego the size of texas. .
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I have been saying this for a few years now!!!!

Cambie

p.s.
congrats veetz
 
Passed, comfortably I think. Board Stiff, Anestheisa and Coexisting disease, and baby miller is all you need. That and q.o.d. practice exams with a friend for the two or three weeks leading up to the exam will get you comfortable with common scenarios. There are certain answers you need to be prepared for.

I saw some of the Ho exams with answers and I disagreed with suggested answers in almost every case...
 
for me the key to success was reading and knowing Michael Ho book, reading coexisting and I did a ton of practice exams. just get used to talking and being uncomfortable when presented with situations. exposé yourself to as many scenarios and situations as possible!

congrats and good luck!
 
isoflurane said:
Passed. About the M. HO course. Do not waste your money. He uses fear and intimidation to sell his course. The real exam is nothing like his course. You will just be throwing money away, to a guy that has an ego the size of texas. He definiately has short penis syndrome.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I think any help you receive can only help you. Perhaps you are an individual who is able to take the books on their own and blaze through it as you've written yourself. Many of us aren't. I think reading On your own and practicing is the key to success but doesnt hurt attending a course or two.

And if you've failed the damn thing once or twice, there is no amount of money you would be willing to throw around to help you pass.

Good luck to all!
 
isoflurane said:
Passed. About the M. HO course. Do not waste your money. He uses fear and intimidation to sell his course. The real exam is nothing like his course. You will just be throwing money away, to a guy that has an ego the size of texas. He definiately has short penis syndrome.
Click to expand...

I went to his course and thought it was helpful. If nothing else, it was several days of repeated practice exams. I wasn't in a practice where I had a dozen partners willing to pimp the hell out of me over and over, so for me, the chance to practice with real live human beings was useful.

It was also reassuring to get to size up the competition, even granting that a large % of the class were not first-time takers and therefore not a good sample of the overall applicant pool. Still, so many of them were so unbelievably bad, that it made me feel like I was probably in the top 80% who historically are likely to pass. I left the course with some confidence and a better map of my weak areas.

He seemed like a nice guy who genuinely cared about the people in his course. He was approachable and didn't come across as a douchebag. Of course, flooding this anesthesia forums with his shills, as he's done in the past, is awfully douchey. Though perhaps not rising to Niels I'll-sue-you-for-giving-away-my-books-that-you-paid-$600-for Jensen level douchiness.

All that said, I didn't have to pay for it, and it didn't cost me vacation or no-pay days away from work. If I'd been out $5K+ in course fees and lost income for the privilege of taking the course, I'd probably be more critical. Especially of the must-know cases segment, because so much of that time was spent with other students, who as a whole were weak and not really good at picking apart my answers.
 
Congrats to the new board certified crew... :thumbup: Don't open a medical book for a couple months... :)

Regarding HO: I liked it. I went through his book 3-4 times, took notes during the course, practiced a lot of orals... yeah, for me it was worth it, but everyone is different. Diff. people, diff. learning styles.
 
Any body interested to sale their Michael Ho oral board review book, pls kindly PM me.

Many thanks

Tong
 
pgg said:
All that said, I didn't have to pay for it, and it didn't cost me vacation or no-pay days away from work. If I'd been out $5K+ in course fees and lost income for the privilege of taking the course, I'd probably be more critical.
Click to expand...

So wait, how did you not have to pay for it, did your practice kick in for it ?
 
I agree with the overall gist of this post.

If you are a good candidate then I don't think the course is really necessary, but it may help you practice and focus, as well as feel better about yourself because of all the space cadets there.

pgg said:
I went to his course and thought it was helpful. If nothing else, it was several days of repeated practice exams. I wasn't in a practice where I had a dozen partners willing to pimp the hell out of me over and over, so for me, the chance to practice with real live human beings was useful.

It was also reassuring to get to size up the competition, even granting that a large % of the class were not first-time takers and therefore not a good sample of the overall applicant pool. Still, so many of them were so unbelievably bad, that it made me feel like I was probably in the top 80% who historically are likely to pass. I left the course with some confidence and a better map of my weak areas.

He seemed like a nice guy who genuinely cared about the people in his course. He was approachable and didn't come across as a douchebag. Of course, flooding this anesthesia forums with his shills, as he's done in the past, is awfully douchey. Though perhaps not rising to Niels I'll-sue-you-for-giving-away-my-books-that-you-paid-$600-for Jensen level douchiness.

All that said, I didn't have to pay for it, and it didn't cost me vacation or no-pay days away from work. If I'd been out $5K+ in course fees and lost income for the privilege of taking the course, I'd probably be more critical. Especially of the must-know cases segment, because so much of that time was spent with other students, who as a whole were weak and not really good at picking apart my answers.
Click to expand...
 
pgg said:
I went to his course and thought it was helpful. If nothing else, it was several days of repeated practice exams. I wasn't in a practice where I had a dozen partners willing to pimp the hell out of me over and over, so for me, the chance to practice with real live human beings was useful.

It was also reassuring to get to size up the competition, even granting that a large % of the class were not first-time takers and therefore not a good sample of the overall applicant pool. Still, so many of them were so unbelievably bad, that it made me feel like I was probably in the top 80% who historically are likely to pass. I left the course with some confidence and a better map of my weak areas.

He seemed like a nice guy who genuinely cared about the people in his course. He was approachable and didn't come across as a douchebag. Of course, flooding this anesthesia forums with his shills, as he's done in the past, is awfully douchey. Though perhaps not rising to Niels I'll-sue-you-for-giving-away-my-books-that-you-paid-$600-for Jensen level douchiness.

All that said, I didn't have to pay for it, and it didn't cost me vacation or no-pay days away from work. If I'd been out $5K+ in course fees and lost income for the privilege of taking the course, I'd probably be more critical. Especially of the must-know cases segment, because so much of that time was spent with other students, who as a whole were weak and not really good at picking apart my answers.
Click to expand...

I agree completely with this. It is almost exactly how I feel about the course. I moved far from my residency program and joined a private practice where I have little opportunity to have partners help me with mock orals.

I read the Ho book once (started reading the end of Jan and finished around the end of March). I did about 15 mock orals with my wife (not a medical person), one with a partner, one with my brother (an intensivist), and one with a residency buddy. I read Board Stiff once (not sure that really helped). I made sure I memorized high-yield information, like the ACC/AHA perioperative guidelines. And I took the 4-day crash course. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't do anything differently (except maybe skip Board Stiff - it just insn't realistic in terms of the answers to questions in my opinion). Did I agree with all of Ho's style and answers? Of course not, but we all know that there are multiple ways to answer oral board questions. I personally liked his style.
 
I thought Ho's course was great.

Yes, he does 'push you'. Yes he does 'intimidate' a little. More importantly though, you actually LEARN anesthesia from the guy. He's not teaching you how to 'take the test' and just pass the test, he actually helps you reason through. What I like in his course was that almost nothign was 'wrong', and he did a dang good job defending his stance.

The real test was a lot easier then the sample tests Ho would give. Ho's tests were filled with very complicated and tricky stems, the real boards wasnt. Nevertheless, I think it's a great way to learn anesthesia. I know of a couple anesthesiologists that just take the Ho course every 3 years or so, 'just for fun' and to keep up.
 
PinchandBurn said:
I thought Ho's course was great.

Yes, he does 'push you'. Yes he does 'intimidate' a little. More importantly though, you actually LEARN anesthesia from the guy. He's not teaching you how to 'take the test' and just pass the test, he actually helps you reason through. What I like in his course was that almost nothign was 'wrong', and he did a dang good job defending his stance.

The real test was a lot easier then the sample tests Ho would give. Ho's tests were filled with very complicated and tricky stems, the real boards wasnt. Nevertheless, I think it's a great way to learn anesthesia. I know of a couple anesthesiologists that just take the Ho course every 3 years or so, 'just for fun' and to keep up.
Click to expand...

How you doin', Michael Ho!
 
My "top 10" program (by US News) has a horrible reputation for prepping residents for oral boards, and consequently, every year 2 or 3 residents fail part 2. It's no exception this year. I bought Ranger Red and Ho materials off ebay back in Nov 2011, and practiced with my fellowship director. Still, I panicked in the last weeks, and decided to take the Ho crash course (based, in part, on the angry, opinionated posts regarding Ho's courses that I read on this forum). I liked Ho, It solidified old knowledge, and filled in gaps in those areas I don't work in and hadn't considered for well over a year. I also paid $400 for 4 extra mock orals. Something worked, I passed, and I'd spend the $ for the Ho course again. Just my own humble opinion.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=19551&stc=1&d=1337605827
 

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I'll give another plug for the Ho course. Took it in Februrary and it definatly kick started my studying and showed me the level I needed to be at in order to pass. Got through about 75% of the Ho book and took his must know cases course right before the orals. The weekend course was ok. He goes through cases then spouts off onto a lecture but as others have said the mock orals are the best part of those courses. The information was a good review but more importantly he teaches you how to use and apply the knowledge to tough situations. Anyone who passed the writtens has the knowledge to pass the orals but being able to put that knowlege into proper form and elegantly summarize it and integrate it into your plan is the key to passing the orals.

Like others have said, I didn't really get great feedback form my partners during the must know cases because they were also candidates for the orals just like me so our knowlege base was pretty similar. I feel the real value of the cases though was in seeing different types of scenarios and figuring out how to think and speak your way out of them. Doing those cases gives you exposure to different types of Qs and the same Qs keep coming up over and over and over. 2 of my extra topics came directly from the must know cases so I would say the Ho cases are defiantly high yield.

Disclaimer: I am no way affiliated w/Michael Ho and I'm just trying to pass on my experience
 
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