Advanced 2021

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Guillemot said:
Isn't the pass rate like 95% or something? Did you cut the ABA for a check in the correct amount? Yes? Great. Congratulations!
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its not that high i believe. Last time I checked, 20% of examinees do not make the cut on both oral and written
 
I was not assessing the legitimacy of the exam. A particular pass or failure rate doesn't determine legitimacy.

All I'm saying is that if you studied and weren't in the midst of a personal or family crisis, you were extremely likely to have passed.

And yes, of course, you need to support the ABA with your generous donations.
 
Felt like the usual today. A bunch of ridiculously simple, med student level 1st order questions. A good amount of mildly more challenging questions. A handful of off the wall WTF questions.

I left feeling the same ambivalence I always feel after these tests.
 
You all must be geniuses. I left that exam feeling like crap. I did well on my ITE's, went through Truelearn multiple times (ITE and advanced question banks), Hall, read review books and my notes. Despite that, I felt completely unprepared for the exam. It was almost like I was taking a test for a completely different board. Am just praying it was enough to pass at this point. Because I'm not even sure what to study if I fail at this point.
 
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Spacer said:
You all must be geniuses. I left that exam feeling like crap. I did well on my ITE's, went through Truelearn multiple times (ITE and advanced question banks), Hall, read review books and my notes. Despite that, I felt completely unprepared for the exam. It was almost like I was taking a test for a completely different board. Am just praying it was enough to pass at this point. Because I'm not even sure what to study if I fail at this point.
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Guess we'll all find out in 4-6 weeks lol.
 
Aheadbyacentury said:
its not that high i believe. Last time I checked, 20% of examinees do not make the cut on both oral and written
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88% pass rate on the Advanced last year. Down from 95% a couple of years ago. Makes the waiting more stressful

aba-thelatest.org

2020 Certification Exam Results Released - THE LATEST

We’re pleased to announce the 2020 results for our initial anesthesiology and subspecialty certification exams. We recognize the impact of ABA exams on candidates’ professional advancement and thank them and our volunteers for their patience and perseverance during the challenging times...
aba-thelatest.org

In all honesty, I really don’t understand the dropping pass rate in the context of rising ITE scores…
 
ucladoc2b said:
88% pass rate on the Advanced last year. Down from 95% a couple of years ago. Makes the waiting more stressful

aba-thelatest.org

2020 Certification Exam Results Released - THE LATEST

We’re pleased to announce the 2020 results for our initial anesthesiology and subspecialty certification exams. We recognize the impact of ABA exams on candidates’ professional advancement and thank them and our volunteers for their patience and perseverance during the challenging times...
aba-thelatest.org

In all honesty, I really don’t understand the dropping pass rate in the context of rising ITE scores…
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Yikes exactly. That doesn’t make sense at all
 
OneTyme said:
An ABA examiner told me that they didn’t like that people were only using qbanks for studying, so they were purposefully testing things that weren’t in TrueLearn, etc.
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There are a finite #of topics to test on and only so many ways to test the knowledge on a topic. The question banks are the best way to zero in on what exactly are the tested points on a particular topic...
 
OneTyme said:
An ABA examiner told me that they didn’t like that people were only using qbanks for studying, so they were purposefully testing things that weren’t in TrueLearn, etc.
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I get it. People get more efficient at studying for the test, so they try to change the test. Can't argue with that.
 
Overall that sounds like failing people for the sake of failing people. Why does the standard of questions have to change just because there are better study resources out nowadays? Does that make one a worse anesthesiologist? I don’t understand that logic. It’s a multiple choice test mostly based on recalling facts. This kinda goes for all standardized tests that we did. If the standard was good enough before, why does it have to change? Why were first and second order questions okay 10 years ago and now we need to test minutiae that’s 3rd order? Makes no sense. “There is a standard base of book knowledge all doctors should know. Oh everyone is passing and reading question banks that have the questions. Let’s start testing outside the realm of what they should typically know just so not everyone passes or does worse”. So stupid.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
Overall that sounds like failing people for the sake of failing people. Why does the standard of questions have to change just because there are better study resources out nowadays? Does that make one a worse anesthesiologist? I don’t understand that logic. It’s a multiple choice test mostly based on recalling facts. This kinda goes for all standardized tests that we did. If the standard was good enough before, why does it have to change? Why were first and second order questions okay 10 years ago and now we need to test minutiae that’s 3rd order? Makes no sense. “There is a standard base of book knowledge all doctors should know. Oh everyone is passing and reading question banks that have the questions. Let’s start testing outside the realm of what they should typically know just so not everyone passes or does worse”. So stupid.
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There were a good handful of questions that were almost word for word the same as in Truelearn. You cannot say "the study resources have just gotten better" when the study resources ARE the test.
 
Yes I do realize. But even then, to purposefully try to find obscure things to test is disingenuous imo. If there’s a standard to know then that is the standard. No need to go fishing for random things just for the sake of trying to make people do worse or fail them. I mean this for all tests including the step, comlex etc.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
Yes I do realize. But even then, to purposefully try to find obscure things to test is disingenuous imo. If there’s a standard to know then that is the standard. No need to go fishing for random things just for the sake of trying to make people do worse or fail them. I mean this for all tests including the step, comlex etc.
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I 100% agree with you. There is a difference between knowing minutia for a 3rd order question vs 1st order question. Theoretically one could argue that the former is testing synthesis and application of your depth of knowledge while the latter is testing your ability to memorize tons random facts.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
Overall that sounds like failing people for the sake of failing people. Why does the standard of questions have to change just because there are better study resources out nowadays? Does that make one a worse anesthesiologist? I don’t understand that logic. It’s a multiple choice test mostly based on recalling facts. This kinda goes for all standardized tests that we did. If the standard was good enough before, why does it have to change? Why were first and second order questions okay 10 years ago and now we need to test minutiae that’s 3rd order? Makes no sense. “There is a standard base of book knowledge all doctors should know. Oh everyone is passing and reading question banks that have the questions. Let’s start testing outside the realm of what they should typically know just so not everyone passes or does worse”. So stupid.
Click to expand...

Overall, I think this exam is harder than the Basic or the ITE. I looked at the pass rate charts from a couple of years ago (the ones that show pass rate correlated to ITE score). It looks like the mean scaled score was significantly lower for each ITE range on the advanced than on the Basic.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
Yes I do realize. But even then, to purposefully try to find obscure things to test is disingenuous imo. If there’s a standard to know then that is the standard. No need to go fishing for random things just for the sake of trying to make people do worse or fail them. I mean this for all tests including the step, comlex etc.
Click to expand...
Agreed this 100%. That’s why I feel this is a money grab. Who cares how you learn the information. If there are a set of standards that need to be know to make a good anesthesiologist then it shouldn’t matter if it’s a 100% pass rate. Why do they have to throw in random questions just to drop pass rate ?
 
For those in fellowship right now, when are you guys taking the Applied? I was thinking taking it after fellowship like in Sept or Oct time since I just wanna focus on my fellowship. Any major cons to doing that? If I were to fail, when and how many times can I retake the exam? What’s the time limit after finishing residency to take/pass?
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
For those in fellowship right now, when are you guys taking the Applied? I was thinking taking it after fellowship like in Sept or Oct time since I just wanna focus on my fellowship. Any major cons to doing that? If I were to fail, when and how many times can I retake the exam? What’s the time limit after finishing residency to take/pass?
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I am taking it in May. I am taking the echo boards in July, so I wanted to be done with it before I start studying for the echo boards. My non-cardiac knowledge is only getting weaker each day. I was thinking about taking it in September, but I think starting a new job under my own license is stressful enough, so I don't think I could study intensely leading up to September exam.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
For those in fellowship right now, when are you guys taking the Applied? I was thinking taking it after fellowship like in Sept or Oct time since I just wanna focus on my fellowship. Any major cons to doing that? If I were to fail, when and how many times can I retake the exam? What’s the time limit after finishing residency to take/pass?
Click to expand...
Get it out if the way. I was glad I took the orals in March of ccm year.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
For those in fellowship right now, when are you guys taking the Applied? I was thinking taking it after fellowship like in Sept or Oct time since I just wanna focus on my fellowship. Any major cons to doing that? If I were to fail, when and how many times can I retake the exam? What’s the time limit after finishing residency to take/pass?
Click to expand...
Agree with the post above. Please take it as early as possible and get it out of the way. I didn't have a choice this year because of COVID and they made me take my boards in August. I am not sure what fellowship you are in but you may even have a specialty boards that are usually given once a year. Hence I am cramming for my fellowship specialty boards right now. You will also need time dedicated to that test. Now factor in work, stresses of being a new attending etc.... Also, when you are applying for hospitals lot of them (especially ASCs) would like it better that you were board certified when coming in as an attending.
 
Katheudontas parateroumen said:
For those in fellowship right now, when are you guys taking the Applied? I was thinking taking it after fellowship like in Sept or Oct time since I just wanna focus on my fellowship. Any major cons to doing that? If I were to fail, when and how many times can I retake the exam? What’s the time limit after finishing residency to take/pass?
Click to expand...

Not sure what fellowship you’re doing but oral boards is partially about getting to the point where you can reflexively and conversationally deliver responses and differential for common scenarios (IE failed attempt at intubation, hypotension, desaturation). You are presented with scenarios where you have to choose between two bad options and succinctly acknowledge the pros and cons of each side. It is much less of a knowledge test.

If you have attendings willing to give you practice sessions while you’re doing a case, this will greatly reduce the amount of studying you will need to do outside of work. More than half of oral boards is about efficient outlining and delivery that is best practiced out loud with a friend/attending/partner acting as an examiner.
 
I did not pass.

Came as a surprise given consistent ITE scores of 60-70 percentile (every year of residency…and my strongest performance was ironically in the advanced sections). Felt like I walked out of a completely out of the blue exam much different than the Basic or ITEs.

I used True Learn x 2 and M5. Not sure exactly what to do at this point.
 
Tireddoc20 said:
I did not pass.

Came as a surprise given consistent ITE scores of 60-70 percentile (every year of residency…and my strongest performance was ironically in the advanced sections). Felt like I walked out of a completely out of the blue exam much different than the Basic or ITEs.

I used True Learn x 2 and M5. Not sure exactly what to do at this point.
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If the ites and basic are any indication, I think there’s a fair number of recycled questions on the advanced each year.
When advanced keywords come out, review the heck out of your list. Ask former coresidents from previous years for their lists of advanced keywords. Rinse, repeat.

Ive known several peoplewho failed advanced and this seemed to work well for them.
 
Tireddoc20 said:
I did not pass.

Came as a surprise given consistent ITE scores of 60-70 percentile (every year of residency…and my strongest performance was ironically in the advanced sections). Felt like I walked out of a completely out of the blue exam much different than the Basic or ITEs.

I used True Learn x 2 and M5. Not sure exactly what to do at this point.
Click to expand...
Sorry about the grade but don’t stress. You will pass the next time. I recommend redoing tru learn and if you can get your hands on the ACE questions from previous years and purchase the ones from this year I think you should be fine for the exam. Another question bank you can use is the hall book. I also did M5 but I felt like questions from ACE and trulearn were the most helpful for advanced. And yes the advanced exam did feel different from the ITE when I took it last year too. Just make sure you understand the answers from trulearn and you are not memorizing them.
 
Tireddoc20 said:
I did not pass.

Came as a surprise given consistent ITE scores of 60-70 percentile (every year of residency…and my strongest performance was ironically in the advanced sections). Felt like I walked out of a completely out of the blue exam much different than the Basic or ITEs.

I used True Learn x 2 and M5. Not sure exactly what to do at this point.
Click to expand...
I didn’t either. I was half expecting it because I didn’t study like I should have been. I got so incredibly burnt out during CA3 out of all the years. I was looking for a way to postpone the exam because I wasn’t in the right state of mind but they don’t open the registration again until September so I took a shot and lost. The worst part about this is how isolating it is. I’ve never failed a big exam like this.
I was in the same boat as you, I had good ITEs with higher percentages in the advanced sections.
 
Anyone get this mythical letter yet?

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When I took it I used the pass machine course alongside truelearn. I def felt like it covered a lot of high yield material and the videos were easy to digest. Scored 90th percentile with those two resources, recommend purchasing the course for anyone looking for additional resources beyond truelearn
 
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