Correlation between inservice exam scores and passing boards?
Started by mimi1
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Our program director says that of all the program graduates over the last 20 years, everybody who got a 350 or higher passed their boards.
Its not a useful statistically-accurate promise, but hey its whats available
I think that the inservice exams can serve as a "wake up call". While I don't think that an excellent score should be viewed as an excuse to "coast" for the remainder of the residency, a weak score will hopefully motivate a resident in their individual studies as they continue their long-term preparation for the boards. And the aggregate scores can be used by program directors to improve their curricula, particularly if there are areas that seem to be uniformly weak.
Now that there is time-limited specialty certification in all specialties, residents will be taking exams intermittently for the remainder of their careers. So self-study and improvement should become part of your professional life. And I predict that the re-certification (and potentially re-licensure) will become more rigorous in the future, possibly as one of the trade-offs for malpractice reform.
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Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHA!
That was a good one.
Just to clarify, the last life-time certification exams in either general pediatrics or any subspecialty was in about 1988 (maybe 1989). So, this has been true for a while. Voluntary recertification for us lifers has been suggested to be linked to hospital privileges and malpractice rates. I'm not sure how much this has happened yet though if at all.
Speaking from my own experience, there is zero correlation with in-service exam and board scores. Most people don't put any studying into in-service exams (though there are probably exceptions) but everyone studies of the board (though there are probably exceptions again).
