HORRILE experience AP/CP BOARDS

[Andrea17]

I just took the AP/CP Board,,, it was the most horrible exprience of my life, I can't believe there are so many malicious people behind this test. The majority of the questions were so ambiguos and so "NOT" important. CP the worst, so many gels, questions that you never heard before, the topics were not even in Henry, etc... Something needs to be done about this test,,, probably is the most difficult test among all the medical specialties.

Good luck everybody.........

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[pathdawg]

Welcome to pathology, kid.

The exam is what it is. It won't change. The justification is that everyone can diagnose the easy stuff. Lets separate the "men from the boys" so to speak. So they ask ambiguous questions, touch on very rare and difficult diagnoses, and show cases that honestly have debatable differential diagnoses (all of which of course are each listed as options from which to answer). And I am not even talking about the CP exam, which is simply brutal.

The fact that the failure rate for this test is 30-40% is outrageous. I direct a medical school pathology course. If I gave an exam in which 30-40% of the students failed, the administration would (rightly) tell me that something was wrong with my test. A national board exam should have a failure rate of 10-12%. Period. But the ABP gets away with this.

Don't stress too much. The post-exam feelings you are experiencing are not unique. You'll pass and this will soon be a distant (but unpleasant) memory.

 

[LADoc00]

I just took the AP/CP Board,,, it was the most horrible exprience of my life, I can't believe there are so many malicious people behind this test. The majority of the questions were so ambiguos and so "NOT" important. CP the worst, so many gels, questions that you never heard before, the topics were not even in Henry, etc... Something needs to be done about this test,,, probably is the most difficult test among all the medical specialties.

Good luck everybody.........

Yep, welcome...welcome. [cue Beethoven's 9th Symphony Choral...]

😛

 

[PathOne]

Yeah, those insanely high fail rates makes you wonder: Is training really that bad? Are Path residents really such *****s? Or is there something else which is at play?

Doesn't even stop with the AP/CP boards. Fail rates at Dermpath boards are also insanely high. Seems to me that somebody ought to look into what's going wrong and why...

 

[pathdawg]

Yeah, those insanely high fail rates makes you wonder: Is training really that bad? Are Path residents really such *****s? Or is there something else which is at play?

Doesn't even stop with the AP/CP boards. Fail rates at Dermpath boards are also insanely high. Seems to me that somebody ought to look into what's going wrong and why...

Its not only dermpath. Pretty much all of the subspecialty boards have failure rates on par with that of the AP/CP exam. Cyto, hemepath, FP, TM. They are all bad. And to think that the people taking these subspecialty boards are already AP/CP certified. So, 30% of AP/CP certified examinees can't pass a subspecialty exam? Doesn't sound right to me. The system, as set up by the ABP, is f'ed up.

 

[Matte Kudesai]

Its not only dermpath. Pretty much all of the subspecialty boards have failure rates on par with that of the AP/CP exam. Cyto, hemepath, FP, TM. They are all bad. And to think that the people taking these subspecialty boards are already AP/CP certified. So, 30% of AP/CP certified examinees can't pass a subspecialty exam? Doesn't sound right to me. The system, as set up by the ABP, is f'ed up.

Are the following pass rates inaccurate?

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:AvOKDeoMQBYJ:www.abpath.org/200601newsltr.htm+abp+newsletter+board+2006&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3

 

[PathOne]

Actually seem a bit on the low side, if anything. Don't have the data at hand, but I think fail rates in Dermpath has recently been above 30%. Rather insane....

 

[pathdoc68]

Andrea, I agree with you 100%, but think about the ABP collecting all of those fees for repeat test takers....... CHA CHING!!!!!! That is why the failure rate is so high.

 

[peb120]

Andrea, I agree with you 100%, but think about the ABP collecting all of those fees for repeat test takers....... CHA CHING!!!!!! That is why the failure rate is so high.

exactly.

 

[deschutes]

A delegate from the recent contingent to Tampa said that of 350 questions, they were sure of 10 answers. In about 100 questions, they could get down to 2 answer choices. The remaining 200+ they had no clue, with question stems containing words they had never seen before.

 

[LADoc00]

A delegate from the recent contingent to Tampa said that of 350 questions, they were sure of 10 answers. In about 100 questions, they could get down to 2 answer choices. The remaining 200+ they had no clue, with question stems containing words they had never seen before.

I had some ?s on my exam related to the gross pathology of torture victims. Im serious. I half expected a naked one-eyed midget to jump out of a box and try to rape people in the afternoon session, thats how relevant to real life pathology that exam was.

 

[djmd]

I had some ?s on my exam related to the gross pathology of torture victims. Im serious. I half expected a naked one-eyed midget to jump out of a box and try to rape people in the afternoon session, thats how relevant to real life pathology that exam was.

So worked with my attendings before?


ahh I kid, becuase next year I will be taking this test..
and the year after that... 😡

and the year after that..... 😡

 

[RyMcQ]

A delegate from the recent contingent to Tampa said that of 350 questions, they were sure of 10 answers. In about 100 questions, they could get down to 2 answer choices. The remaining 200+ they had no clue, with question stems containing words they had never seen before.

Okay, I can accept that people walk out of boards thinking that they failed. Some of the residents that intimidated the hell out of me told me that I would walk out of the test thinking that I failed. Most of us aren't used to missing 10 percent of the questions, let alone four times that many. But my experience wasn't even in the same universe as what you guys are describing. And no, I don't have a photographic memory. I have a big stack of books that I heavily rely on when I sign out fairly routine stuff.

I think people have so much mental trauma in taking the boards that their recollection cannot be remotely accurate. 10 out of 350 questions? Come on. I swear there were probably 5 questions alone on the basic immunoprofile of CLL. If there are BS questions on the boards, then everyone is going to miss them and no harm done (other than traumatizing everyone here, obviously).

 

[djmd]

The 'joke' here is when you leave boards you either:
-Think you failed, but then most likely didn't
-Think you did fine, but actually tanked it...

 

[pathdawg]

I had some ?s on my exam related to the gross pathology of torture victims. Im serious. I half expected a naked one-eyed midget to jump out of a box and try to rape people in the afternoon session, thats how relevant to real life pathology that exam was.

I think I remember that naked one-eyed midget trying to rape test takers in the afternoon session. I seem to remember his name sounding like "Cartman". Cart, hart, something like that...

 

[LADoc00]

Okay, I can accept that people walk out of boards thinking that they failed. Some of the residents that intimidated the hell out of me told me that I would walk out of the test thinking that I failed. Most of us aren't used to missing 10 percent of the questions, let alone four times that many. But my experience wasn't even in the same universe as what you guys are describing. And no, I don't have a photographic memory. I have a big stack of books that I heavily rely on when I sign out fairly routine stuff.

I think people have so much mental trauma in taking the boards that their recollection cannot be remotely accurate. 10 out of 350 questions? Come on. I swear there were probably 5 questions alone on the basic immunoprofile of CLL. If there are BS questions on the boards, then everyone is going to miss them and no harm done (other than traumatizing everyone here, obviously).

You hit on something, those with very solid hemepath knowledge are at a HUGE advantage both on the CP and AP sides. Along with Cytology, would be one of the areas most grossly overemphasized. Yes I had like half a dozen CLL ?s as well...many on the AP side. Realize that at some lesser path residencies, bone marrow/hemepath is completely CP and in some cases is even totally under the control of the clinical Hematology/IM department!

 

[LADoc00]

I think I remember that naked one-eyed midget trying to rape test takers in the afternoon session. I seem to remember his name sounding like "Cartman". Cart, hart, something like that...

Inside joke.....inside joke...yes, rhymes with Cartman...retired now.

 

[deschutes]

You hit on something, those with very solid hemepath knowledge are at a HUGE advantage both on the CP and AP sides.

Heme stood out on the RISE as well, be it AP, CP or Special Topics. So this thing about RISE and boards performance might not be total chopped liver.

 

[deschutes]

Okay, I can accept that people walk out of boards thinking that they failed. Some of the residents that intimidated the hell out of me told me that I would walk out of the test thinking that I failed. Most of us aren't used to missing 10 percent of the questions, let alone four times that many. But my experience wasn't even in the same universe as what you guys are describing.

I think it's all about the half-full/half-empty glass and the individual's level of comfort. I've walked out of every single national-level medical licensing exam I've taken on both sides of the border in the last 4 years thinking, "I don't know if I passed, but I don't know what else I could have done." I haven't failed anything yet, but I always am a little surprised that I pass. That is my honest experience. I can't help it if a med student passes by and is traumatized... But who knows, maybe after I take the boards I'll be as indignant as RyMcQ about the cycle of misinformation 😉

I'm satisfying my own academic curiosity by participating in these board-prep discussions. Am I motivated to start studying sooner? Maybe. Am I actually going to study sooner? Hardly likely.

 

[Doctor B.]

I just took the AP/CP Board,,, it was the most horrible exprience of my life, I can't believe there are so many malicious people behind this test. The majority of the questions were so ambiguos and so "NOT" important. CP the worst, so many gels, questions that you never heard before, the topics were not even in Henry, etc... Something needs to be done about this test,,, probably is the most difficult test among all the medical specialties.

Good luck everybody.........

I agree with you Andrea. I just took it earlier this week and it was the worst test of my medical career. While admittedly, some of the questions were fair, many, especially on the written portion of both AP and CP, were absolutely ludicrous; things that I would not have run across not matter how much I had studied. The other people from my program, who took it on the same day, felt the way I did and they had consistently out-performed me on the RISE. So, everyone feels like they failed. I remember feeling that way about Step 1 as well. I just hope they set the pass rate low...