Good luck on Boards

[Dr_Feelgood]

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I just want to wish the Class of 2009 good luck on part I boards. 👍

 

[Feli]

Thanks man...

I think the Sam Adams is gonna taste extra good this evening.

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

Thanks man...

I think the Sam Adams is gonna taste extra good this evening.

Yes, I consulted the founding fathers afterwards. Those founding fathers being Aldolphus Busch, Aldolphus Coors, and Fredrick Miller. They all said I did fine so I know I passed the test.

 

[Feli]

Wow... difficulty was about what I planned on, but question distribution was not what I was expecting.

I guess it was a fair test and highly pod-focused, but only one question on NSAID Rx? No ossification questions? No antifungal MOA questions? No serum markers for inflammatory and auto-immune diseases? No bone tumor question? No cephalosporin gen/coverage questoins? No penicillin combo questoins? No Rx insulin questions, and only one oral hypoglycemic Rx question? Wow. While prepping for the exam, I sure would've bet on all of those areas being more important and high-yield... at least worth asking a question about. I guess not this year.

My overall impression was that the anat (esp lower) was cake, but some of the pharm, path, and micro questions were pretty in-depth. They certainly covered common pod path (DM, gout, etc) well, but most of the questions were either picayunish details that almost nobody would've known or big picture stuff that everyone should've nailed. The bioch and physio also ranged from very easy to pretty tough, but the test did a nice job of correlating those basic science subjects to pathology and pod med.

Oh well... it's over. Time to raise my serum BAL and rank fantasy football RBs... 🙂

 

[discusdan]

Yea, that test was a tough one. Like you, I thought the distribution was poor. Not what I expected. I also didn't like how we weren't able to go back and review questions or leave questions blank and come back to them.

 

[Feli]

Yea, that test was a tough one. Like you, I thought the distribution was poor. Not what I expected. I also didn't like how we weren't able to go back and review questions or leave questions blank and come back to them.

I actually liked that we weren't allowed to go back to previous questions. That helps prevent people from spending their remaining time memorizing questions to pass them on and give future test takers an edge. That's what caused a whole ton of problems a few years back.

However, I realized that you can accidentally click "next" without selecting an answer. It shoudl really prompt you with "are you sure" before it lets you move on. That hurts; I did that by mistake on an early question and realized my error but could do nothing about it. Whoops

Oh well... nothing left to do but sit and wait for the thin "you passed" letter from NBPME 😳

 

[Dr_Feelgood]

I actually liked that we weren't allowed to go back to previous questions. That helps prevent people from spending their remaining time memorizing questions to pass them on and give future test takers an edge. That's what caused a whole ton of problems a few years back.

However, I realized that you can accidentally click "next" without selecting an answer. It shoudl really prompt you with "are you sure" before it lets you move on. That hurts; I did that by mistake on an early question and realized my error but could do nothing about it. Whoops

Oh well... nothing left to do but sit and wait for the thin "you passed" letter from NBPME 😳

I don't think that not allowing people to go back necessarily stops the same thing that happened before. It does make it more difficult. If the NBPME was smart they would work with COMLEX or USMLE to develop the test. It would be cheaper and you could have a huge question bank. That would eliminate the past issues.

Also, if any school gets caught doing something out of the realm of fair and equitable, they should ban the school from taking the test for a set time period or until the administration is replaced. I bet the deans will be "aware" of the unethical practices then.

 

[jonwill]

Yea, that test was a tough one. Like you, I thought the distribution was poor. Not what I expected. I also didn't like how we weren't able to go back and review questions or leave questions blank and come back to them.

For part II, you were able to mark things unanswered and go back to them. I don't know why they didn't do the same thing for part I. I assumed one would be the same format as two was for us. Strange.

 

[krabmas]

For part II, you were able to mark things unanswered and go back to them. I don't know why they didn't do the same thing for part I. I assumed one would be the same format as two was for us. Strange.

I thought the reason for this was because as soon as you answered enough correct you would get the "you passed" message on the screen.

I guess not.

 

[IlizaRob]

Yea, that test was a tough one. Like you, I thought the distribution was poor. Not what I expected. I also didn't like how we weren't able to go back and review questions or leave questions blank and come back to them.

Man that really bites. Its kind of hard to take a timed test when you cant skip questions that you may need more time on.

 

[PMSIII]

Thanks for the well wishes.

Here's my take about the whole exam. First of all, not being able to go back to a question in my opinion was a mistake. I tend to go after the questions I know first then leave the ones that require more thinking at the end. I don't know if this was a significant statistical factor for everyone taking this - but it sure was annoying not going back. (my opinion at least).

As for the exam itself. I was a little disappointed in the lack of Lower Anatomy questions - and lack of in depth lower anatomy knowledge. Not only were the questions in this section weak, but some of them were extremely poorly written

The exam covered very little pathology. They hit the micro and pharm really hard which was expected. They covered some Gout.

This exam really made me realize how much we need to push our profession to take the USMLEs, or a podiatry version of the USMLE with more Lower Anatomy questions.

 

[Feli]

...This exam really made me realize how much we need to push our profession to take the USMLEs...

Whoa... whoa. Let's not get crazy now 🙂. I'd be fine with pod students having the option to sit for USMLE, but requiring it would be risky, don't you think?

I feel that we would benefit from a scored podiatry basic sciences board exam, though. I think people would study harder (I know I would've). At the least, a uniform % grading system at all the pod schools would be nice. The top student at school A that scores on % system having a 3.4 or 3.5 while other schools with straight letter grades have multiple 4.0 graduates is kinda crazy...

 

[PMSIII]

Careful, Careful, careful. You signed a paper saying that you would not discuss questions after taking the test.

Please do not talk about specific questions.

my appologies. I was venting my frustration with this exam and I guess I got carried away. I'll edit out the questions from my originl post.