ABA Basic Exam 2015

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pgg said:
I see the problem. It's not the ABA.

Giving you the benefit of the doubt, and believing that you really did spend 30 hours/week studying, you're doing it wrong. You don't need 30 hours per week of study time to prepare for the ABA Basic exam. Seriously, 4 hours per day of reading is far, far above the mean hours/week of reading that anesthesiology residents do.
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I have read that study before and I agree with it. A couple of hours a day is huge and most don't achieve that. If you did 2 hours a day for 5 days a week, you would be well ahead of most and be well positioned to pass the Basic exam and kill it on the ITE. To get to 30 hours a week, assuming some call days where you were not able to read, you are looking at 6 hours a day for 5 days a week. Probably not sustainable or good for your mental health. I suspect that pgg is correct that you may have exaggerated a bit when you stated the 30 hours a week number. Probably seems like 30 hours a week though.
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BigMAC3 said:
If anything, this exam detracted from my CA1 anesthesia experience. For example, time spent obsessing over memorizing second messengers, should have been spent getting comfortable with blocks on my regional rotation. This year has been focused on prepping for board exams -- things like research, presentations, medical leadership activities -- all things that I consider to be an important part of my education, all went on the back burner to prepare for a high-stakes exam.

Best of luck to all those who took the exam! To future generations, you have my condolences 🙂
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I agree. The ITEs and ACE questions were likely more relevant to anesthesia practice than the ABA basic. Instead of trying to learn more (overall, keeping up with journals etc) about my chosen profession and dipping my toes into doing more case reports and possibly even a research project or two I instead tried to memorize tiny little minutiae that I honestly have no idea how I would apply in clinical practice.
 
You all either were far behind or too obsessive about this if you spent the year studying. You could have spent the six weeks leading up to the exam doing BASIC prep and used fall and spring to do these other things you supposedly missed out on. I would bet if there wasn't this exam everyone still wouldn't be up to date on all the journals nor doing all sorts of research.
 
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Vaporized said:
You all either were far behind or too obsessive about this if you spent the year studying. You could have spent the six weeks leading up to the exam doing BASIC prep and used fall and spring to do these other things you supposedly missed out on. I would bet if there wasn't this exam everyone still wouldn't be up to date on all the journals nor doing all sorts of research.
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Fair point. I had a steep learning curve for the first six months trying to get used to the OR. I read on my patients and took notes from Morgan and Mikhail and Stoelting for all of my cases. However I kept getting killed on the M5 and ACE questions and there were times where I took a break because I became disillusioned. I can admit I was overly obsessive about it, especially since I was under the (erroneous?) impression that they would really try and cut down as many people as possible as we were the 2nd in line to take it. I lost sleep daily over studying for this exam - averaging around 5-6 hours a night, rarely 7 - which is obviously not good for memory.

Once my program found the STARTPrep materials studying became easier, but since we found the STARTPrep program 6 months in, trying to play catchup ate up a lot of time. In all honesty had I found the STARTPrep program earlier I would have had less anxiety about the exam and had more opportunities to do research/QI/journal readings, since (to me) STARTPrep was far superior in most explanations than most textbooks.
 
My PD said results will be out this wee. Anyone else heard that?
 
He said results. The last year's class was emailed at the same time
 
acidbase1 said:
He said results. The last year's class was emailed at the same time
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Last year's exam was 6/28 and results were up on 9/9. This year's test was 6/12: equivalent 'wait for results' would be about 7/24.
 
I meant emailed to he (the PD) and the residents at the same time, not time frame
 
i would go with anesthesiaqbank.com for most of the questions and use big blue for the didactics. i think those 2 resources are a good combo
 
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Anyone have an idea what "pass - validate" means? Seems other people's simply say pass, so it's making me nervous that they are still figuring out if I passed...
 
lizzers729 said:
Anyone have an idea what "pass - validate" means? Seems other people's simply say pass, so it's making me nervous that they are still figuring out if I passed...
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Maybe it means you're one of the studs who scored in the top 10%, and they're using your score to validate the curve? 😉
 
Pass... So when will we know if we are in top 10?
 
acidbase1 said:
Pass... So when will we know if we are in top 10?
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I went to a med school where the preclinical classes were all pass/fail. Our dean used to send out something we affectionately referred to as "get a life" letters.

They went something like this - "Congratulations, you scored in the top 10% for this module. As you are aware, we have a pass/fail curriculum. Now that you have demonstrated mastery of the course material, now would probably be a good time to get involved with some extracurricular activities. Here are some of the things past students have done:"

In retrospect, some of the best advice I've ever received 🙂
 
kazuma said:
Interesting, that's 2 or 3 times last years fail rate if that's true.
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Yeah--and it kind of blows when you're among them.... :-/

I know I'm retaking it, but honestly, is there any point? What job of any kind is going to hire someone who fails the basic?

It's been a great weekend, that's for sure.
 
Thepassageofgas said:
Yeah--and it kind of blows when you're among them.... :-/

I know I'm retaking it, but honestly, is there any point? What job of any kind is going to hire someone who fails the basic?

It's been a great weekend, that's for sure.
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You'd be surprised, don't give up based on a single failed basic exam unless you don't like the specialty and think you'd be happier doing something else.
 
Thepassageofgas said:
Yeah--and it kind of blows when you're among them.... :-/

I know I'm retaking it, but honestly, is there any point? What job of any kind is going to hire someone who fails the basic?

It's been a great weekend, that's for sure.
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Have heard a lot crazier stories than someone being hired who failed the basic science exam. My presumption would be that the rest of the package is important. Buckle down, drill the ITE, leave no doubt on the retake, be the resident the faculty want to work with. Won't have any trouble getting a job (at least not too much more than everybody else) in that scenario.
 
Why a basic exam? The written exam right after residency was not enough that they have to add another one to distract the residents further from clinical learning.
 
Just wanted to say thanks for the kind notes. I've spent the last 72h in a fog of disbelief (i'm not someone who did so-so on USMLEs, AKTs, for example) and tears (ha) so it's nice to feel encouraged ....even if its coming from strangers.
 
I just created an account because I was so compelled to write a post about my experience. Maybe it applies to you too. I checked my email and found out I failed the basic exam, which was a total shock to me. I left the test feeling very confident and had not expected this result at all. The next few days at work was depressing, knowing my job was on the line if I did not pass the next one. Everything I had worked for, down the pooper. My chances for fellowship or jobs, seemingly shot down the drain. I had to recheck the result 5 times because I was in disbelief... I had studied and felt so good coming out of that test.

However, I found out through my PD that I had scored in the 1% percentile. 1 percentile!?!? No way something was fishy. He even told me it didn't make any sense either. He asked me if I had skipped a whole second section. I did not skip a single question knowing we were not penalized for wrong questions. Then I recall the girl taking the same basic exam right next to me that day was crying because she had lost all her answers because the software reset and her questions were blanked out. I remember overhearing all of this while I was taking my exam, and was thankful that didn't happen to me. I am beginning to think it may have... I have heard stories how the software was sketchy and this was a new test at their facility. Something just doesn't add up. I scored a 30 on my ITE earlier this year, and I put in time after that to study for this basic exam.

Maybe this has happened to you guys as well that have failed. You don't get to see the breakdown till later via mail, except the PD's apparently have it already. How can I dispute this score? Is there a way I can prove my answers were mucked because of a software malfunction?
 
Sounds like some bull**** happened to you bropofol. If this is verified that your answers were deleted you should have your exam fee refunded and be allowed to retake the exam for free. That would be a fair amount of monetary compensation for the time you will be wasting in my opinion.
 
criticalelement said:
Why a basic exam? The written exam right after residency was not enough that they have to add another one to distract the residents further from clinical learning.
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ITE scores were significantly up for the class that took the first Basic exam. That's some distraction!
 
bropofol said:
I just created an account because I was so compelled to write a post about my experience. Maybe it applies to you too. I checked my email and found out I failed the basic exam, which was a total shock to me. I left the test feeling very confident and had not expected this result at all. The next few days at work was depressing, knowing my job was on the line if I did not pass the next one. Everything I had worked for, down the pooper. My chances for fellowship or jobs, seemingly shot down the drain. I had to recheck the result 5 times because I was in disbelief... I had studied and felt so good coming out of that test.

However, I found out through my PD that I had scored in the 1% percentile. 1 percentile!?!? No way something was fishy. He even told me it didn't make any sense either. He asked me if I had skipped a whole second section. I did not skip a single question knowing we were not penalized for wrong questions. Then I recall the girl taking the same basic exam right next to me that day was crying because she had lost all her answers because the software reset and her questions were blanked out. I remember overhearing all of this while I was taking my exam, and was thankful that didn't happen to me. I am beginning to think it may have... I have heard stories how the software was sketchy and this was a new test at their facility. Something just doesn't add up. I scored a 30 on my ITE earlier this year, and I put in time after that to study for this basic exam.

Maybe this has happened to you guys as well that have failed. You don't get to see the breakdown till later via mail, except the PD's apparently have it already. How can I dispute this score? Is there a way I can prove my answers were mucked because of a software malfunction?
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The software at the testing center crashed while I was taking USMLE Step III. I actually got a phone call from the USMLE rep who told me about it. They lost 2 of the clinical cases, which were not able to be scored. I was offered the chance to retake the test but I politely declined. Even in this day and age software crashes are not out of the realm of possibility.
 
posted in error- please delete
 
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bropofol said:
I just created an account because I was so compelled to write a post about my experience. Maybe it applies to you too. I checked my email and found out I failed the basic exam, which was a total shock to me. I left the test feeling very confident and had not expected this result at all. The next few days at work was depressing, knowing my job was on the line if I did not pass the next one. Everything I had worked for, down the pooper. My chances for fellowship or jobs, seemingly shot down the drain. I had to recheck the result 5 times because I was in disbelief... I had studied and felt so good coming out of that test.

However, I found out through my PD that I had scored in the 1% percentile. 1 percentile!?!? No way something was fishy. He even told me it didn't make any sense either. He asked me if I had skipped a whole second section. I did not skip a single question knowing we were not penalized for wrong questions. Then I recall the girl taking the same basic exam right next to me that day was crying because she had lost all her answers because the software reset and her questions were blanked out. I remember overhearing all of this while I was taking my exam, and was thankful that didn't happen to me. I am beginning to think it may have... I have heard stories how the software was sketchy and this was a new test at their facility. Something just doesn't add up. I scored a 30 on my ITE earlier this year, and I put in time after that to study for this basic exam.

Maybe this has happened to you guys as well that have failed. You don't get to see the breakdown till later via mail, except the PD's apparently have it already. How can I dispute this score? Is there a way I can prove my answers were mucked because of a software malfunction?
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Holy. Crap. My exam software crashed three times while I was taking the test. I did not leave a single answer blank and in fact REVIEWED the answers in the little table to make sure every single one had a letter.

And I got a 32 on my ITE so, yeah, definitely a departure from norm for me as well.

I'm not going to hold my breath, but thank you for sharing this, because that would just be bonkers if this was the reason.
If you feel you were screwed over, you've GOT to contact Prometric and the ABA and put up a fight. This test is too expensive and too much of a soul-sucking siege to endure a failure for nothing.
 
Mine completely logged me out midway through the test---happened to several other test takers as well. Definitely look into it.
 
Thanks to all the encouraging words guys. I will definitely look into it. As for those who suffered the same kind of situation, my plan is to wait for the mailed results to find out what really happened. I would look into contacting the prometric and ABA like you guys said if my suspicions are true via the number supplied in the ABA email telling us the result was online. Unfortunately I feel that even the best case scenario might be just a refund for the test as there is probably no way to retrieve my lost answers. However, at the VERY least, if it is a software issue this score should be nulled from our CV as it is a huge red flag to future employers and fellowship directors. I encourage anyone else in the same situation to take an active approach. Let me know how it goes my friends. I will be posting updates as well. Good luck!
 
I'm betting computer glitch. There is no way you all had enough knowledge to get a 30+ on the ITE and then fail the basic unless it became exponentially harder this year... that or you had a stroke right before you started clicking answers. For reference, I got a 31 on CA1 studying a bit lackadaisically, kicked it up for basic and got top 10%, and then back on cruise control with my latent basic knowledge for a 34 on CA2. An untrained monkey could've passed last year's exam let alone someone who's scoring well on ITEs. Contact prometric quickly.
 
I got my key words. Called the ABA and they said they will not be informing ppl who scored in top 10th percentile but that the programs can calculate some sort of score if they want to?? Anyone else hear this?
 
acidbase1 said:
I got my key words. Called the ABA and they said they will not be informing ppl who scored in top 10th percentile but that the programs can calculate some sort of score if they want to?? Anyone else hear this?
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Good lord I hope nobody goes about doing this.
 
They stated they don't hand out scores but some sort if performance can be determined by "a testing matrix" if the programs want to check. The chick sounded a little scatter brained
 
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