2010 Physics/Radbio exams

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Gfunk6

And to think . . . I hesitated
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I thought both exams were very straighforward and fair. One thing that irked me was the lack of calculator in the Radbio section. Also, there was apparently some glitch that prevented me from flagging certain questions and then reviewing them later on the Radbio section only. I complained to the proctor about the latter and she said that it would be noted when my answers were reported to the ABR.

Anyone else have this problem?

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i had the same issue. I had a calculator and the ability to flag questions for the physics portion, but didnt for radbio
 
Yep there was a question where I could use one to calc natural log of 0.368...

Time to hit the bar!


I thought both exams were very straighforward and fair. One thing that irked me was the lack of calculator in the Radbio section. Also, there was apparently some glitch that prevented me from flagging certain questions and then reviewing them later on the Radbio section only. I complained to the proctor about the latter and she said that it would be noted when my answers were reported to the ABR.

Anyone else have this problem?
 
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Same here - no calculator or ability to flag questions in radbio. I wasn't expecting that.

Overall, I thought both sections were fair with physics being more straightforward than what I expected based on people's impressions from last year's exam. I found radbio to be in line with the difficulty of the ASTRO practice questions, although, I was expecting it to be a bit easier.

Best of luck to everyone that took the exam today!
 
Yes, I think the calculator issue was a big mistake. I know at least a few test takers were given calculators by their exam administrators. I asked for a calculator and was refused. Kind of made those exponents difficult...

Overall, Rad Bio was much harder than I expected. I think I studied too much for physics and not enough for bio. I did the ASTRO study guides and Rabex, but there were still a lot of questions that I still didn't know. A lot...but maybe that is because I spent so much time doing long division by hand. It has been a long time :eek:
 
I agree with CNphair. We were told at our site that the ABR specifically did not think calculators were necessary for the radbio portion of the exam. I respectfully beg to differ. Today was not the day that I wanted to do natural logs in my head, even if I could. They told us that the flagging thing was a legitimate mistake.

Who knows. I came out of it feeling good about physics and crappy about radbio, which is exactly opposite of how I expected to feel. The farther I get away from it, the more I worry I will have to repeat this thing. Ugh. Maybe it's time to drink some more wine.....
 
I also found the calculator thing to be really annoying. We were told by our testing site that it was a mistake by the ABR (although we were not given calculators, which would have come in quite handy for a lot of questions). If some sites gave out calculators, that seems to cause a problem in curving the test fairly.

I was not in the mood to do long division by hand today, which might be part of why I found the radbio a bit harder than expected. I came away feeling like the physics was easier than I expected, but radbio a bit harder. Perhaps with the 96% pass rate last year they decided to up the difficulty a bit?
 
Official ABR statement,

Dear Candidate for Radiation Oncology Certification:
*
The ABR is aware of the problems that arose during the administration of the biology section of the computer-based qualifying examination on Thursday, July 8, 2010, at Pearson VUE testing centers. We know that neither the calculator nor the case-flagging feature functioned properly during this portion of the exam.
*
The ABR takes this matter very seriously and is investigating both the causes and effects of the problems. We will send further information to you as soon as possible.* We greatly appreciate your patience as we work through the issues to ensure an appropriate and equitable outcome.
*
Sincerely,
*
Gary J. Becker, MD
Executive Director
*
Bruce G. Haffty, MD
President
*
 
Man, now it'll take FOREVER to get our scores back.
 
its amazing how different of a perspective i have, i thought rad bio was ridicuously easy compared to physics
 
Email sent to PDs this AM:

Earlier this month, we notified candidates that the ABR would investigate the causes and effects of the problems that arose during the administration of the biology section of the computer-based qualifying examination on Thursday, July 8, 2010, at Pearson VUE testing centers. We know that neither the online calculator nor the case-flagging feature functioned properly during this portion of the exam.


As a result of our discussions with Pearson VUE, we have determined that they failed to install both of these features on the biology section of the exam and that quality assurance procedures also failed to detect this omission.


The ABR’s psychometricians have carefully investigated the possible effects of these errors due to the manual calculations necessitated by the circumstances, including: 1) the amount of time provided for the biology section as an issue for candidates, and 2) the performance of candidates on the items for which a calculator ordinarily might have been used.


After a thorough analysis of item performance, exam results, and candidate surveys, the ABR has removed from scoring a number of poorly-performing items, and has determined that the rescored results are a valid and reliable assessment of knowledge of the principles of cancer and radiation biology. We have determined clearly that the items in question have not adversely impacted any candidate’s final performance, and the examination results this year are consistent with past performance. Each candidate with a score below the passing point has received a free hand score to further confirm the accuracy of the individual results.


We greatly appreciate your patience as we worked through the issues to ensure an appropriate and equitable outcome and we regret any distraction caused during the examination, or subsequent concerns. All candidates who took the biology exam have been notified by mail.


Sincerely,


Paul Wallner, DO

Associate Executive Director, Radiation Oncology


Beth Erickson, MD

Assistant Executive Director, Radiation Oncology Primary Examinations
 
This was expected.
Has anybody received the score yet?
I think clinical test results are out.


Email sent to PDs this AM:

Earlier this month, we notified candidates that the ABR would investigate the causes and effects of the problems that arose during the administration of the biology section of the computer-based qualifying examination on Thursday, July 8, 2010, at Pearson VUE testing centers. We know that neither the online calculator nor the case-flagging feature functioned properly during this portion of the exam.


As a result of our discussions with Pearson VUE, we have determined that they failed to install both of these features on the biology section of the exam and that quality assurance procedures also failed to detect this omission.


The ABR’s psychometricians have carefully investigated the possible effects of these errors due to the manual calculations necessitated by the circumstances, including: 1) the amount of time provided for the biology section as an issue for candidates, and 2) the performance of candidates on the items for which a calculator ordinarily might have been used.


After a thorough analysis of item performance, exam results, and candidate surveys, the ABR has removed from scoring a number of poorly-performing items, and has determined that the rescored results are a valid and reliable assessment of knowledge of the principles of cancer and radiation biology. We have determined clearly that the items in question have not adversely impacted any candidate’s final performance, and the examination results this year are consistent with past performance. Each candidate with a score below the passing point has received a free hand score to further confirm the accuracy of the individual results.


We greatly appreciate your patience as we worked through the issues to ensure an appropriate and equitable outcome and we regret any distraction caused during the examination, or subsequent concerns. All candidates who took the biology exam have been notified by mail.


Sincerely,


Paul Wallner, DO

Associate Executive Director, Radiation Oncology


Beth Erickson, MD

Assistant Executive Director, Radiation Oncology Primary Examinations
 
This was expected.
Has anybody received the score yet?
I think clinical test results are out.

A big wave of results came today (at least on East Coast and Midwest)
 
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Got mine today. Passed both :)
 
Congrats to all that passed the exam!

I know nobody cares and it does not matter. Just for curiosity, is there a score reported to each exam besides pass? Does anyone know what is the passing score or percentile for pass? Thanks,
 
Nope no score, just pass/fail. Your life of percentiles and standard deviations is over after USMLE Step 3.

Congrats to all that passed the exam!

I know nobody cares and it does not matter. Just for curiosity, is there a score reported to each exam besides pass? Does anyone know what is the passing score or percentile for pass? Thanks,
 
Actually, the ABR has told our program coordinator that percentiles will be mailed to individual residents shortly.

Damn! :)
 
Actually, the ABR has told our program coordinator that percentiles will be mailed to individual residents shortly.

Interesting. Is that for all residents or just those who didn't pass?

Last year when I passed radbio/physics, they actually gave quartiles for the different sections in each area. This year, the clinical results just said "Passed." I was definitely was nervous like Gfunk was when I first saw the letter in my mailbox, but it was pretty anti-climatic to see "passed" as the only thing in the letter. Then again, that's all that mattered :D
 
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so anyone still waiting on their results? I moved and even though I did update the ABR, I'm hoping they just went to my old address...
 
The score reports for the clinical exam were mailed out. Does anyone know why they have PED, CNS, and PED/CNS as separate categories? It's weird because I got different quartile scores in each of them. And yes, it is quartile reporting for clinical (just like it was for radbio and physics).
 
FWIW, my letter was dated 7/28/2010

Thank you...it came a few days later with the old address...I guess I changed it just before these were mailed out so it made the long trip to my new home...but passed so that's all that mattered
 
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