For the sake of full disclosure, I am affiliated with an oral board prep company. So, i have enjoyed the proceeding discussion. For my 2 cents, i have had the opportunity to examine well over a 1,000 physicians preparing for their oral boards. So just some of my thoughts...
There are obviously a large number of people who pass this exam without attending a course or paying for help of any kind. But, many people who pass do so because their examiner was more forgiving and patient. Would these same people pass when facing an aggressive examiner? Or when dealing with a very complicated stem?
I have known many very intelligent physicians from strong residency programs who have failed this exam and then sought help on their second attempt.
Many people who fail this exam have plenty of knowledge, but are unable to access and communicate that knowledge effectively in the exam environment. I examine many people who are unable to convey their knowledge without targeted prompting on my part. These people are at risk of failing if their examiner is unable or unwilling to ask good follow-up questions.
Many people struggle with the speed of the exam. Most examiners allow you only a very limited amount of time to think before you must start talking (a few seconds at most), often placing you in the position of starting an answer with little time to weigh risks and benefits and organize your thoughts. Practice improves your ability to quickly weigh risks and benefits and efficiently communicate your thought process to the examiner. For some, guided practice is essential. For others, it just improves your learning curve.
For many, courses and guided practice are not necessary to achieve a 75-85% chance of passing the exam (remember the national first time pass rate, which has been in the mid-80's, includes all those people who attended courses and sought guided practice). But the consequences of being one of the 15-25% who fail the exam are significant.
I believe attending a course that teaches you to more effectively weigh risks and benefits serves to improve your chances of passing the oral boards and, at the very least (but maybe most importantly), it improves your skills in the OR.
I appreciate your disclosure, and I just love your scare tactics, Brave Sir Robi.
Everybody, please note how frequently he uses the word "many" to describe doctors with problems. After reading his post, I am downright shocked that
"many" (up to 88%) of us pass the oral boards the first time. It must be those "many" nice ABA examiners (most of them
are nice, and the rest are either replaced or have their scores "risk-adjusted"). Oh, no, I am so wrong! It must be the "many" courses the 88% take, that's it! (Actually, the latter might somewhat be true - a lot of us borrow good board-prep
books from friends.)
Not only that, but if we go back 5 years, we see that of the 2008 candidates, while 85% passed on the first try, ~5% were still not certified in 2013, despite all the courses. If these courses are so fantastic, how come 30-50% (depending on the generation) of the "many" people who fail the first time are still unable to pass after 5 years, and God knows how much money spent on board prep? (Cause those guys really don't stop at anything, after failing their boards the first time, and then the second time...) It must be because those 5% didn't do
the right courses, they just did "many" of them; am I right?
I would venture that usually the answer is lack of knowledge, not lack of exercise, except maybe for the 10% who tend to pass on their second try, or later during the first 5 years after residency. Those 10% might actually benefit from a good specialized course (or good books plus good mock orals). I would skip any course that's hyped online, and choose one taken by a friend who first failed and then passed his oral boards.
Oh, and it must be just a pure coincidence that the previous poster
seems to be affiliated with Ultimate Board Prep. Do you have (m)any coupons for us, Sir?