ConCert time

Started by dchristismi
Applications for CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service are open through June 19, 2026.
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
dchristismi

dchristismi

Gin and Tonic
20+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Ug.
I go tomorrow. Mostly just want to get the damned thing over with. I know there are others doing the same, so good luck guys.

I ended up doing about 1000 Rosh questions, but was mostly on the treadmill, so it's not like I spent much time I was going to use for something else.
 
Me too! Tomorrow! Afternoon session. I found Rosh to be really, really hard (did I ever know any of this?) and also took the Vegas class. I admit, I'm worried. There's a lot I didn't realize I had to know, and feel I never knew, and probably don't know now.

Best of luck to all....
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
ok, so I am now confused. Is ABEM doing away with the 10 year recert, or only in the process/prelim stages right now? Or are both options on the table?
 
The other option isn't really an option for another year or two. Too late for me, as mine expires in Dec 2019.
There's a spring ConCert next year in addition to the fall, and I think the alternate version won't be in place until 2020. Apparently even then you'll have your choice. At least, that's how I read it.

I thought Rosh was well written and some of the questions really challenging... to the point that most of the acid-base complexities I have elected to wing. I look all that up anyway, so I'm not going to relearn Winter's formula. (But did I ever really know it, or just plug it into my Palm Pilot? Even then I had a peripheral brain, although perhaps I wasn't as dependent on it then?) Of course, when they throw the same perilunate dislocation photo at you 3 times in a 50 question test, well, you had better believe that I've got that one down.

Good luck, M. We've got this.
 
dchristismi said:
The other option isn't really an option for another year or two. Too late for me, as mine expires in Dec 2019.
There's a spring ConCert next year in addition to the fall, and I think the alternate version won't be in place until 2020. Apparently even then you'll have your choice. At least, that's how I read it.

I thought Rosh was well written and some of the questions really challenging... to the point that most of the acid-base complexities I have elected to wing. I look all that up anyway, so I'm not going to relearn Winter's formula. (But did I ever really know it, or just plug it into my Palm Pilot? Even then I had a peripheral brain, although perhaps I wasn't as dependent on it then?) Of course, when they throw the same perilunate dislocation photo at you 3 times in a 50 question test, well, you had better believe that I've got that one down.

Good luck, M. We've got this.
Click to expand...

Palm... Pilot....
 
dchristismi said:
Ug.
I go tomorrow. Mostly just want to get the damned thing over with. I know there are others doing the same, so good luck guys.

I ended up doing about 1000 Rosh questions, but was mostly on the treadmill, so it's not like I spent much time I was going to use for something else.
Click to expand...
Good luck! You will pass!
 
Well, it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. More straightforward, and the only math was easily done in my head. (Suck it Winter's formula!)

But... staring at that screen for 4+ hours I realized that my eyes aren't as young as they used to be... Took a bit for my accommodation to come back. (Which usually only happens when I read for hours like on a long flight and it's a really good book.) Yep, I feel old.

And I imagine that will be the last one for me. I don't have another 10 years in the pit, which is why I'm taking the subspecialty plunge. The main question now is if I keep my FACEP or just stick with AAEM... I do both for now, but aside from the 4 days of fun that is ACEP, it's getting harder to justify...
 
dchristismi said:
Well, it wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. More straightforward, and the only math was easily done in my head. (Suck it Winter's formula!)

But... staring at that screen for 4+ hours I realized that my eyes aren't as young as they used to be... Took a bit for my accommodation to come back. (Which usually only happens when I read for hours like on a long flight and it's a really good book.) Yep, I feel old.

And I imagine that will be the last one for me. I don't have another 10 years in the pit, which is why I'm taking the subspecialty plunge. The main question now is if I keep my FACEP or just stick with AAEM... I do both for now, but aside from the 4 days of fun that is ACEP, it's getting harder to justify...
Click to expand...

Congrats and I hope you pass.

That said, stick with AAEM, the one organization that is not in the pocket of the CMGs and actually represents your interests, unless you are a regular attendee at ACEP, and your employer doesn’t pay for cme.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You won't be the first. Apparently ABIM (According to Dr Wes, the anti-MOC cardiologist) gave at least someone an additional year. I couldn't find anything on ABEM's policies, probably because they have a policy, they just don't want to advertise it so people don't blow off the exam (just my guess.) But... what's the worst thing that could happen? I mean, seriously? I had a BOM complaint a couple of years ago, and ultimately realized that the worst thing I could think of was that I'd lose my license and have to go do something else outside of medicine altogether. Which, in my crispy-burned-out mindset, wasn't ultimately that bad. And nothing came of it. This is one of the principles of stoicism I find incredibly helpful - negative visualization is pretty powerful. And if I don't pass, well, I probably retake it, but maybe I gracefully retire from "general EM" at the end of 2019 and just do hospice. But I digress.

But you probably passed.
I do agree with you that there was a lot of minutiae, and it's not really the kind of test you can study for per se. I mean, sure, you can brush up on perilunate dislocations but there is SO MUCH to EM, that I honestly think there were only a handful that I knew due to Rosh.

Have faith,
D
 
Here's what happens: https://www.abem.org/public/docs/de...oncert-alternatives-faqs_6-4-18.pdf?sfvrsn=20

Seriously, my exam was really, really hard, and the three or four people I spoke to felt the same. I sadly need to work a few more years, so it will be a big deal for me. I've never had a problem with exams, but this was terrible. I don't even know if I could have prepared better- it was all insane minutiae.

Well, guess I will hope it's easier in March.
 
Last edited:
miacomet said:
Like, what happens if I fail?
Click to expand...

You will go through a de-boarding ceremony. You’ll get spanked by your boss in front of everybody, and be forced to work 24 hour shifts in a FSED for the rest of your career...






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Well, got the email that results were on the ABEM website today. (It still seems annoying that a computerized test takes 6 weeks to score, but whatever...at least it wasn’t 12 weeks, I guess.)

Regardless, I passed and am very glad that annoying hoop is over.
Hoping to hear the same from my colleagues...
 
Was way easier than I expected. Took it a year early just so I didn't feel the pressure to study. I went in completely blind, not a single video or practice question. Was also a little hungover from a golf outing the previous day. Nearly aced the thing. It was MUCH easier than I expected it to be, I would encourage anyone recerting to never waste time studying for this test, just take it a year early that way you have the ability to study the next year if for some reason you'd actually fail. Any time spent studying is a waste of your valuable time IMO.
 
I passed, comfortably, but I still say it was a crazy, irrelevant, and arcane test. GLAD I NEVER HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN. I feel better.
 
Congrats on passing. I was planning to go in cold, but after paying the $1850 I decided to do some questions, mainly to treat my own anxiety.
 
Also passed. Shockingly poor method of evaluating the needed skills to practice EM.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
WilcoWorld said:
I don't disagree. What would you suggest as an alternative?
Click to expand...
We work up and manage patients in parallel, not series. I would propose a test that more mimics the oral boards where there is a range options available and critical actions that must be hit. I would suggest that non life threatening derm not show up and that questions consist of more than a rhythm strip and a 7 word stem as the question. The technology exists, and it’s stupid that we’re spending the time and money to deal with a test that feels like it was cribbed off of other specialties’ in-service exams.
 
Hopefully when it’s time for me to recert in 2026, we’ll be done with closed book exams..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

xaelia
CMS "Immediate Jeopardy" 3rd time in two years
Replies
20
Views
2K
alpinism
alpinism
N
Critical care time fraud?
2 3
Replies
104
Views
10K
emergentmd
E
A
Arsenic death time
Replies
5
Views
440
Apollyon
A
O
No incentive to be full-time ED doc? What to do
Replies
19
Views
4K
AlmostAnMD
AlmostAnMD
petomed
EM part time
2
Replies
57
Views
9K
Arcan57
Arcan57