Absite

[madtowndoc]

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Here is the official breakdown relating percent correct to percentile among PGY1's taking the exam only. There are similar lists for each other PGY level taking the exam, but I only have the patience to type the PGY1 scoring in for now:

Percent Correct:----Percentile:
17-40 ------------- 0
41-43 ------------- 1
44 ---------------- 2
45 ---------------- 2
46-48 ------------- 3
49-50 ------------- 5
51 ---------------- 6
52 ---------------- 8
53 ---------------- 10
54 ---------------- 12
55 ---------------- 13
56 ---------------- 15
57 ---------------- 17
58 ---------------- 19
59 ---------------- 22
60 ---------------- 25
61 ---------------- 28
62 ---------------- 32
63 ---------------- 35
64 ---------------- 38
65 ---------------- 41
66 ---------------- 45
67 ---------------- 49
68 ---------------- 52
69 ---------------- 56
70 ---------------- 59
71 ---------------- 63
72 ---------------- 67
73 ---------------- 72
74 ---------------- 75
75 ---------------- 78
76 ---------------- 81
77 ---------------- 83
78 ---------------- 86
79 ---------------- 87
80 ---------------- 90
81 ---------------- 92
82 ---------------- 93
83 ---------------- 95
84 ---------------- 96
85-86 ------------- 97
87 ---------------- 98
88-95 ------------- 99

 

[cw05]

where did you find this list?

 

[surg2004]

yes I would also like to know where I could find the rest of the figures?

 

[madtowndoc]

These PDF files have the scoring distributions for the Junior and Senior level examinations. Not sure if there are rules about distributing this info, but it was simply given to me, so here they are.

 

[bcoak]

Is the absite a computer-based test or is it all paper booklet & scantron?

 

[Tigger14]

It is a paper test. The American Board of Surgery exam is computer based, though.

 

[absite2008]

Does anyone have an actual study schedule or know where to find one?

 

[bcoak]

It is a paper test. The American Board of Surgery exam is computer based, though.

By the "American Board of Surgery exam" you are talking about the boards you take after you finish residency, correct? The only reason I'm asking is because I thought that the ABS was responsible for writing the Absite as well.

 

[Tigger14]

The ABS administers several exams, and their website helps a little with this. For a general surgery resident, there are 3: the ABSITE, the qualifying exam and the certifying exam. The ABSITE is on paper, and given the last Saturday in January for all residents. The qualifying exam is held (I think) twice a year, is computer based and is written. It must be passed to be eligible to register for the certifying exam, which is an oral exam... three 30 minute rooms. Once both of these are passed, you are board certified in general surgery.

Hope this helps! 🙂

 

[bcoak]

It does a great deal...thanks!!

 

[tozer800]

I found someone with an original .pdf file of the absite killer. Email [email protected] and I'm sure he'd willing to hook you up.

Good luck!

 

[Blade28]

Does anyone have an actual study schedule or know where to find one?

I'm not sure about a study schedule - most people study on their own time, and commonly the junior residents at any program will have chapter reading assignments from whatever book their department uses.

 

[surgeon18]

You guys have a good thread going here.
Can anyone tell me the website for the American Board of Surgery?
And does anyone have any input on new review material for the senior level exam?

Thanks!

 

[Blade28]

Via Google:

http://home.absurgery.org/

 

[vvt1975]

Does anybody have any comments or reviews/advice in regards to the following books?

* "Mastery of the ABSITE" by Bardia A Anvar, MD
* "The ABSITE Review, Second Edition" by Steven M Fiser
* "ABSITE Practice Exam & Answer Guide II" by Richard A Dean
* "ABSITE Combat Manual"
* "The Senior ABSITE Review" by Steven M Fiser
* "The Practice ABSITE Question Book" by Steven M Fiser
* "Review of Surgery: Basic Science and Clinical Topics for ABSITE" by Gamal Mostafa, Frederick Greene, Cathey Lamont
* "General Surgery ABSITE and Board Review" by Matthew J Blecha and Andrew Brown

 

[Blade28]

Please read this thread and do a search - some of the above books, especially the Fiser ones, have been discussed in the past.

 

[vvt1975]

Please read this thread and do a search - some of the above books, especially the Fiser ones, have been discussed in the past.

Steven M Fiser has written a lot of books on the ABSITE. The ABSITE Review, First Edition was commented on in past posts in this thread. None of the books I have listed have been discussed or reviewed. Hence my asking about opinions about them before I went out and purchased them.

Before making such a comment, maybe you should take your own advice and go back and read through the threads yourself and then make appropriate and sensible comments. I thought this forum was about helping each other out, not about deprecating your fellow surgeon-in-training.

 

[Blade28]

Steven M Fiser has written a lot of books on the ABSITE. The ABSITE Review, First Edition was commented on in past posts in this thread. None of the books I have listed have been discussed or reviewed. Hence my asking about opinions about them before I went out and purchased them.

From http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=5634111&highlight=fiser#post5634111 :

Agreed...The Absite Review by Fiser is a great book. For those contemplating doing so, do not waste the time on the other books he put out this year (Senior Absite Review and Absite Q&As): they are essentially retreads of his Review, much less well done and not updated. They also look like they were done on the cheap.

And from http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=5575577&highlight=fiser#post5575577 :

There are many good resources for the ABSITE; the following tend to be the most popular:
...
The ABSITE Review: Steven Fiser - available on Amazon; high yield, much better (IMHO) than his recent additions, The Senior ABSITE Review and ABSITE questions

 

[gasnewby]

that guy needs a thicker skin, if he's really surg resident.

fiser has a new edition? cool! that book rocks.

 

[Blade28]

Does anybody have any comments or reviews/advice in regards to the following books?

* "Mastery of the ABSITE" by Bardia A Anvar, MD

Recent thread about this book

* "General Surgery ABSITE and Board Review" by Matthew J Blecha and Andrew Brown

From http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=451042& :

I've often wondered about these guarantees. The book by Blecha and Brown, which is just AWFUL IMHO, rife with errors, promises a money back guarantee if you don't pass your boards after using their book.

 

[Swimdoc]

Has anyone used clinical review? Their website is www.clinicalreview.com

Do you recommend it for the ABSITE

 

[maverick_pkg]

hey how are you guys getting time to read, am busy from 5:30am-7:30pm almost every day. havent started reading anything

 

[gasnewby]

keep fiser in your pocket. i do a lot of studying during endless conferences!

 

[Blade28]

hey how are you guys getting time to read, am busy from 5:30am-7:30pm almost every day. havent started reading anything

10 pages of Sabiston's, every day. Only takes around 20-30 minutes if I'm not falling asleep. I'll usually play catch-up, if possible, on my day off.

 

[maverick_pkg]

so you mean you read a page of sabiston every 2-3 mins?

 

[Blade28]

so you mean you read a page of sabiston every 2-3 mins?

At full speed, when I'm concentrating with highlighter in hand, yes.

 

[Castro Viejo]

At full speed, when I'm concentrating with highlighter in hand, yes.

Wow. That really is pretty damn fast.

 

[Blade28]

Wow. That really is pretty damn fast.

You should see me read novels...or type. 🙂

 

[afreakforjc]

Has anyone used clinical review? Their website is www.clinicalreview.com

I'm also wondering if anyone has any experience with clinicalreview.com or any of the other website based ABSITE reviews. Any luck with these? Is it worth the money?

Also, anyone know of good question-and-answer review books/websites for the junior ABSITE exam? I know SESAP is supposed to be a good Qbank-type thing for the seniors, but now that we've got the junior/basic-science version of ABSITE, any thoughts for practice questions? I work better off questions rather than the outline format of Fiser etc.

 

[Blade28]

I've always used Rush - tough, but good explanations.

 

[filter07]

The second edition of Absite Review is awesome. Full color diagrams make it sweet. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the text; hopefully they corrected the mistakes from the first edition.

 

[SLUser11]

The second edition of Absite Review is awesome. Full color diagrams make it sweet. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the text; hopefully they corrected the mistakes from the first edition.

I'm bumping this thread for the interns.

My best advice is to know Fiser's book cover to cover. All the other resources should come secondary.

Even ABSITE killer, which is somewhat of a mythical forest creature (shh!), is covered almost word for word in the pages of Fiser.

 

[europeman]

hi sorry to bump this old post, but i was curious about the troll's question which i have copied below:


I'm wondering how much ABSITE scores factor in for surgical fellowship applications?

How would you rank ABSITE scores among:
-program where you did your GS residency
-PD's letter
-letters of recommendation from surgical faculty at your program
-research/publications

thanks

 

[opr8n]

These PDF files have the scoring distributions for the Junior and Senior level examinations. Not sure if there are rules about distributing this info, but it was simply given to me, so here they are.

anyone have the distribution graphs for 2008??

Winged Scapula??

 

[Celiac Plexus]

anyone have the distribution graphs for 2008??

No. But I contemplated rickrolling you.

 

[opr8n]

No. But I contemplated rickrolling you.

thanks, appreciate it

 

[razor411]

I would say from my experince:

Score
Research
Program where you from
PD letter

in that sequence.

cause everybody get great letters, it is the score singles you out. it may not make such big difference between 5-10 percentile, but if somebody is scoring
50% to compete with others always above 90th, I am sure the PD knows who he wants. because they also under the pressure for their fellows to pass the subspecialty board. good absite score can translate into better chance of passing.

hi sorry to bump this old post, but i was curious about the troll's question which i have copied below:


I'm wondering how much ABSITE scores factor in for surgical fellowship applications?

How would you rank ABSITE scores among:
-program where you did your GS residency
-PD's letter
-letters of recommendation from surgical faculty at your program
-research/publications

thanks

 

[barcalounger]

Great info on the ABSITE exam. Can anyone let me know what other exams an intern doing a general surgery year is going to have to take prior to starting his advanced subspecialty? I did some searches on intern year surgery exams but all I found was ABSITE.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Great info on the ABSITE exam. Can anyone let me know what other exams an intern doing a general surgery year is going to have to take prior to starting his advanced subspecialty? I did some searches on intern year surgery exams but all I found was ABSITE.

That's because that's all there is (not counting ACLS, ATLS, etc.) for national standardized intraining exams.

 

[barcalounger]

Thanks, Winged. Is it possible a program would administer some kind of in-house exams? Is this ever done? I was wondering what kind of evaluation process there is for surgical interns.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks, Winged. Is it possible a program would administer some kind of in-house exams? Is this ever done? I was wondering what kind of evaluation process there is for surgical interns.

I suppose its possible, but I venture most PDs would use the ABSITE since its standardized and then written evals from senior residents and faculty during your rotations. Neither I nor none of my friends has had any other type of testing done during residency than the ABSITE.

All accredited programs are required to have an evaluation process in place which generally consists of the above.

 

[barcalounger]

Thanks. I'll concentrate on not embarrassing myself on ABSITE, then.

 

[XoQo]

Thanks. I'll concentrate on not embarrassing myself on ABSITE, then.

Rumor had it that the designated prelims tended to not take the ABSITE as seriously as the categoricals or non-designated prelims -- partly because since they were doing subspecialty areas they would be evaluated in the future by other exams (like the OITE for ortho for example).

From reading SDN, this was thought to be possibly the reason why the curve got harder between intern year and second year.


who knows.


any updated thoughts from people out there?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Rumor had it that the designated prelims tended to not take the ABSITE as seriously as the categoricals or non-designated prelims -- partly because since they were doing subspecialty areas they would be evaluated in the future by other exams (like the OITE for ortho for example).

From reading SDN, this was thought to be possibly the reason why the curve got harder between intern year and second year.


who knows.


any updated thoughts from people out there?

I think it depends on the program.

Certainly what you've heard is true and I've heard the converse - where designated prelims were told that they HAD to do well on the exam, so they did. Some designated prelims apparently don't have to take the exam either.

So, YMMV significantly from program to program and individual to individual.

 

[XoQo]

I think it depends on the program.

Certainly what you've heard is true and I've heard the converse - where designated prelims were told that they HAD to do well on the exam, so they did. Some designated prelims apparently don't have to take the exam either.

So, YMMV significantly from program to program and individual to individual.

makes sense

 

[DrDawg]

Some designated prilims don't sit for the ABSITE here. I think the ENT prelims have their own exam a few weeks later. Not sure if that is true elsewhere, and for any other specialties.

 

[SLUser11]

Bumping an old thread for the benefit of the new residents......


Also, I just did about half the questions out of the Johns Hopkins ABSITE Review Manual, which was my sole purchase to augment my existing study material.....anyway I think it sort of sucks.

1. Questions are not in the style of ABSITE
2. Way too detailed, Rush-esque
3. Reeks of feelings of awesomeness. They seem a little too proud of themselves, not sure why this comes out in the question book, but it does. Maybe as great as these "Halsted Residents" are, they need to go back to question writing school.
4. The format is a little goofy, and the answers too close to the question itself, making it difficult to do without accidentally reading the answer.

I say save your money. I still haven't found a real good question bank. Fiser is too simplified, Rush and the Johns Hopkins book too detailed, other ones don't have answer explanations.......

 

[sleeping]

Bumping an old thread for the benefit of the new residents......


Also, I just did about half the questions out of the Johns Hopkins ABSITE Review Manual, which was my sole purchase to augment my existing study material.....anyway I think it sort of sucks.

1. Questions are not in the style of ABSITE
2. Way too detailed, Rush-esque
3. Reeks of feelings of awesomeness. They seem a little too proud of themselves, not sure why this comes out in the question book, but it does. Maybe as great as these "Halsted Residents" are, they need to go back to question writing school.
4. The format is a little goofy, and the answers too close to the question itself, making it difficult to do without accidentally reading the answer.

I say save your money. I still haven't found a real good question bank. Fiser is too simplified, Rush and the Johns Hopkins book too detailed, other ones don't have answer explanations.......

Any other, better, source for questions?

 

[Winged Scapula]

A lot of people use this: http://www.amazon.com/Surgery-Revie...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232205347&sr=1-1

Its more detailed, on the order of Rush, but not as simplistic as Fiser's question book or even the Schwartz book.

 

[PinkSurgeon]

Does anyone have any thoughts on the various ABSITE question banks out there? is Absite.org good? What about the Clinical Review of Surgery by Surgisphere?