ABFM 2021

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I took my recertification test 04/19/21
Got a pending review ... I have to wait x 6 weeks, I’m freaking out. I know the first timers have a great pass rates. Anyone else in the similar situation?
 
cm09 said:
Took my exam on April 16th. Felt like crap afterwards. But found out today I passed. Never felt such relief in my life
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Took exam April 22. Definitely extremely extremely anxious about passing.

I feel my exam was much more difficult than some of my classmates who took it on April 13 and April 20. I had TONS of extremely vague G.I. symptoms and then the question would ask about an additional physical exam finding that you might observe with this patient. You would have to figure out with the very limited details what G.I. disease you were even trying to treat and hope you guess right.

Had at least 5-6 stats questions that required me to actually make the chart; given the controls and experiment outcomes than do the calculations to find the correct result number. My other classmates had 1 question each that only asked for the definition of the concept.

Had so many questions on heart failure but the answer choices did not reflect the expected medical management you would anticipate.

I would say Peds was at least 20% of my exam. I can tell you it was way more “20ish” that would be expected given the % the abfm leads us to believe.

Several in Hematology... not just trying to figure out the kinds of anemia’s but 3rd level questions about a possible complication of “ the treatment” that would be recommended for this patient, but never gave you the treatment.

Overall, I felt everything I studied to test a physician ability to competently manage patients was maybe tested on 10-12% of the entire exam.

Very frustrating and disheartening.
 
King1111 said:
Took exam April 22. Definitely extremely extremely anxious about passing.

I feel my exam was much more difficult than some of my classmates who took it on April 13 and April 20. I had TONS of extremely vague G.I. symptoms and then the question would ask about an additional physical exam finding that you might observe with this patient. You would have to figure out with the very limited details what G.I. disease you were even trying to treat and hope you guess right.

Had at least 5-6 stats questions that required me to actually make the chart; given the controls and experiment outcomes than do the calculations to find the correct result number. My other classmates had 1 question each that only asked for the definition of the concept.

Had so many questions on heart failure but the answer choices did not reflect the expected medical management you would anticipate.

I would say Peds was at least 20% of my exam. I can tell you it was way more “20ish” that would be expected given the % the abfm leads us to believe.

Several in Hematology... not just trying to figure out the kinds of anemia’s but 3rd level questions about a possible complication of “ the treatment” that would be recommended for this patient, but never gave you the treatment.

Overall, I felt everything I studied to test a physician ability to competently manage patients was maybe tested on 10-12% of the entire exam.

Very frustrating and disheartening.
Click to expand...
It was a difficult exam. If you know that you tried your best, then that is all that you can do. Many of us felt that even if you had studied more, those vague questions would have remained vague to you or any of us. Try to not think about it too much and just know you did your best.
 
nishasstish99 said:
I took my recertification test 04/19/21
Got a pending review ... I have to wait x 6 weeks, I’m freaking out. I know the first timers have a great pass rates. Anyone else in the similar situation?
Click to expand...
Several people in this thread got pending review but I think they were first-timers. I think you'll be fine based on what I saw on other threads, given that you did not have an absolutely lousy test day or something went wrong with the testing logistics. I hope you pass!
 
Taking my board tomorrow. Hoping for the best. Had 2 other coresidents that took it on April 16th and 18th that both got prelim pass.
 
fammedley said:
It was a difficult exam. If you know that you tried your best, then that is all that you can do. Many of us felt that even if you had studied more, those vague questions would have remained vague to you or any of us. Try to not think about it too much and just know you did your best.
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Ended up getting a pending review email today around 2:30 EST time. I studied at least 6 weeks, nightly for 4-6 hrs and almost every weekend for 8-10 hrs. Did the entire AAFP review videos, AAFP questions and skimmed back through First Aid 2 and 3.
Can only hope that it turns out better after everyone completes testing after Mat 4th.
 
Took it yesterday. Random is the correct way to describe it. It was totally doable but i thought nothing was straight forward. What i thought would be answer after the question stem would appear as two ambiguous choices below. Felt like i marked alot more than i normally do. There were a good amount of you know it or you dont type questions. It was like something i never came across before in practice or in questions. Some were word for word repeats from abfm/aafp and some with a little variation to it. I did two run throughs of the aafp videos and slides, did ITEs 2017-2020, and abfm/aafp questions. After my exam, i went through all the aafp slides and some of the questions from my board werent in the slides because the question was too specific. My MSK questions were basically about one body part. I did not feel great about it afterwards but felt like i knew more than half the test at least lol. Will update in a couple days i guess
 
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King1111 said:
Ended up getting a pending review email today around 2:30 EST time. I studied at least 6 weeks, nightly for 4-6 hrs and almost every weekend for 8-10 hrs. Did the entire AAFP review videos, AAFP questions and skimmed back through First Aid 2 and 3.
Can only hope that it turns out better after everyone completes testing after Mat 4th.
Click to expand...
Does it take 6 weeks from your exam date or do we wait until June 2 nd week. Any idea?
 
fammedley said:
Several people in this thread got pending review but I think they were first-timers. I think you'll be fine based on what I saw on other threads, given that you did not have an absolutely lousy test day or something went wrong with the testing logistics. I hope you pass!
Click to expand...
During my exam the pro metric exam worker stopped by my desk & asked me to have my mask up I didn’t realize it had slipped down. This was for few seconds. I don’t know if that was marked as an incident during the exam & triggered a pending review???
 
nishasstish99 said:
During my exam the pro metric exam worker stopped by my desk & asked me to have my mask up I didn’t realize it had slipped down. This was for few seconds. I don’t know if that was marked as an incident during the exam & triggered a pending review???
Click to expand...
On my test day, it took over an hour to check everyone in. I didn’t actually start my test until after 0900. Maybe that was flagged by the center?
Point being, we will never know why we got selected for pending (unless our score report is borderline passing etc) so try not to think of it. Likely scenario is we all did fine. Worst case scenario is we retake in November.
The June results email will be here before you know it.
 
Back 5 said:
On my test day, it took over an hour to check everyone in. I didn’t actually start my test until after 0900. Maybe that was flagged by the center?
Point being, we will never know why we got selected for pending (unless our score report is borderline passing etc) so try not to think of it. Likely scenario is we all did fine. Worst case scenario is we retake in November.
The June results email will be here before you know it.
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Thanks so much
 
watwat said:
Took it yesterday. Random is the correct way to describe it. It was totally doable but i thought nothing was straight forward. What i thought would be answer after the question stem would appear as two ambiguous choices below. Felt like i marked alot more than i normally do. There were a good amount of you know it or you dont type questions. It was like something i never came across before in practice or in questions. Some were word for word repeats from abfm/aafp and some with a little variation to it. I did two run throughs of the aafp videos and slides, did ITEs 2017-2020, and abfm/aafp questions. After my exam, i went through all the aafp slides and some of the questions from my board werent in the slides because the question was too specific. My MSK questions were basically about one body part. I did not feel great about it afterwards but felt like i knew more than half the test at least lol. Will update in a couple days i guess
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I passed!
 
I am majorly impressed by the study skills of people on this thread. Just to round out the study experiences for anyone finding this thread later, life and clinic being what it is, I studied for about 10 days. Did half the AAFP modules (those groups of 60 questions you have to do before you can sign up for the test) and half the 2020 ITE.

Do I wish I studied more? Yes
But also did I pass? 🎉😝
 
I studied for about 2-3 hours here and there randomly. Then studied hard the last 3 weeks. Did free aafp questions, UW, and 3 last ITEs. Most of my coresidents used the same resources and majority has gotten prelim pass.
 
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I lost my ID twice while on break. Would that trigger pending review 😂😂😂
 
Screen Shot 2021-05-06 at 13.44.25.png
 
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King1111 said:
Ended up getting a pending review email today around 2:30 EST time. I studied at least 6 weeks, nightly for 4-6 hrs and almost every weekend for 8-10 hrs. Did the entire AAFP review videos, AAFP questions and skimmed back through First Aid 2 and 3.
Can only hope that it turns out better after everyone completes testing after Mat 4th.
Click to expand...
any updates?
 
nishasstish99 said:
During my exam the pro metric exam worker stopped by my desk & asked me to have my mask up I didn’t realize it had slipped down. This was for few seconds. I don’t know if that was marked as an incident during the exam & triggered a pending review???
Click to expand...
No. I actually took my off because it was fogging my glasses. They came in and told ke
To put it back on. I passed.
 
Just FYI, spoke with ABFM and they reported "The final score reports start deploying tomorrow, June 4th! You should receive an email once your exam results have been posted inside of your physician portfolio!". May the odds be ever in your favor!
 
xdaretodream said:
Just FYI, spoke with ABFM and they reported "The final score reports start deploying tomorrow, June 4th! You should receive an email once your exam results have been posted inside of your physician portfolio!". May the odds be ever in your favor!
Click to expand...
Thank you!!Got my results today around 1:25 pm, My results went on pending review, I passed it!! It was a very tense 6 weeks... for the future physicians who take the certification exam stay positive even with pending reviews, you will be fine. Thank you everyone for being so supportive. This is a great group!
 
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Congrats to everyone who passed so far this year. I am starting to study for November because I am bad with test taking and want to make sure I am on top of it. I am several years out from finishing residency. Are there mock exams available somewhere? Apart from the ITEs from residency.
 
Don’t know if there’s any mock exams out there but I believe just a thorough review of ITEs and maybe supplement with a q bank and you’re golden. I passed with a 650s.
 
swimdoc86 said:
Aw man. Well, keep your chin up. Everything I’ve read points to the mast majority of people who were “pending” end up passing. It is a 98.5% passing rate for first-time takers - the overwhelming odds is that you did just fine.
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Where did you find this 98.5% passing rate for first-time test takers? I am taking mine in November and getting nervous.
 
swimdoc86 said:
Aw man. Well, keep your chin up. Everything I’ve read points to the mast majority of people who were “pending” end up passing. It is a 98.5% passing rate for first-time takers - the overwhelming odds is that you did just fine.
Click to expand...
Where did you find this 98.5% passing rate for first-time test takers? I am taking mine in November and getting nervous.
 
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