ITE exam

[Bbutterfly]

I am not sure if I am worrying too much about this, but I am trying to figure out what resources I have to study for my first ITE that we will take later this month (peds). Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated

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[Raryn]

Ask your upper levels.

In general, ITE exams are low stakes and supposed to just be a gauge of your knowledge that can be compared year over year. No one really expects an intern a month after they started to do all that well and you're better off studying for your individual patient care than trying to study for the test.

Note: This doesn't hold in surgery, where the ABSITE is not low stakes and can be a big deal for fellowship placement and such.

 

[togaedere]

As an intern the stakes are pretty low. Don’t know about your program but in mine I took it cold and no one expected us to do well. I prepared more my second year and saw my score jump, which made my program happy.

For resources, the only one I’ve used is the AAP prep questions (pedialink.aap.org). They store three years of board style questions on the site - it’s a good idea to start going through those at some point, and the ITE is as good a time as any.

Forgot to mention that you need an AAP account to have access to those questions. Your program probably has signed or will sign you up for access.

I am not sure if I am worrying too much about this, but I am trying to figure out what resources I have to study for my first ITE that we will take later this month (peds). Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated

 

[xffan624]

I am not sure if I am worrying too much about this, but I am trying to figure out what resources I have to study for my first ITE that we will take later this month (peds). Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated

No one expects you to do well. When looking at your score you are compared against other interns(who also had zero time to study or learn). If it's above average, you're fine. If it's not, it probably just means you should study more over the course of the year as your knowledge base is behind other interns. It's a tool to help you see where you are for the board exam. Every year you take it and see where you're at and it gets more relevant as you get closer to your board exam.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Our peds residency also had us take our ITE shortly after starting intern year. It means they don't care how you do, in fact our chiefs joked that you "should" do poorly to make yourself look good when your score goes up in later years.

Instead, start acting like you're studying for your boards. Find time for PREP questions, even 1-2 per day. Actually read about your patients instead of just putting orders in and signing the obligatory note each day. You'll ramp up your board studying during 3rd year and after graduation, but doing a little bit day by day will go a long way to passing your boards, and a happy byproduct is that your ITE scores will get a bump.

 

[Perrotfish]

First have you passed step 3? As others have said the intern ITE is low stakes, unless your seniors tell you otherwise (a PD can obsess over whatever he wants to) while a step 3 failure is a big red flag. If you haven't passed the step your studying should focus on that.

If you have passed Step 3, I agree don't stress, but studying for a test does help some people focus. There are a few options:

1) Prep. The advantage of these questions is that they are free. The disadvantages are that they're really hard (60% correct is usually enough to pass boards) and the interface sucks. Finally there aren't that many of them and many people like to save them for board study.

2) Medstudy: The advantage to these questions is that there are a LOT of them. There are enough that you can use the questions to study for individual electives (do the (100+) cardiology question on your cardiology rotation, etc). The disadvantage is that they tend towards trivia rather than practical information, and the questions cost a LOT. Most people won't pay for them until it's time for actual boards.

3). Laughing your way. Cheap and aimed at being easy to retain, this is probably a food option for an intern. There is no interface, it's a book (actually two books, one of questions and one review book).

4). HIPPO Board prep. This is the new kid on the block. 1200 questions and a 40 hour video review for $800. I haven't used it but their CME product for attendings is fantastic and most ER docs I know swear by their ER board prep product. Might be the best option if you want a study tool for residency.

5) .Just read on your patients. Lots of people don't study for boards until third year. There is nothing wrong with focusing on your rotations and leaving the test prep alone.

 

[mvenus929]

I just finished my (peds) chief year, where part of my job was advising people based on their ITE scores.

Unless you do very, very poorly on ITE (as in, you score in the low 100s or double digits) and have a history of poor test taking, no one will care about your score intern year. And you should definitely be focusing on taking and passing Step 3, since it doesn't have a lot of peds specific content, before you worry about studying for the ITE or boards. Your second and third year ITE scores will be much more important for determining your trajectory and additional study resources you may need to study for and pass boards.

And Peds ITE scores are not released to fellowships, so it's very low stakes.

 

[geripalgal]

I cant answer specifically for peds, but the advice I gave my interns during residency is this:

to date, no matter how low or high the stakes, whether it be a drivers written test or calculus, I have never gone to any exam without having done some prep work or with the intent to do poorly. Some people may advise you to do this, but i doubt if any of them really didnt do any prep, and if true, im sure they regretted not doing ANY. In any case, Im not about to start giving things away to chance at this stage of my career. It wouldnt be a good reflection of my ability if i did the opposite of what has brought me success in the past.


Even if the stakes are low, trust me, the PD knows how you did, and looking smart in their eyes does give you an advantage.

However, Dont kill yourself to prep

crack open a review book or read a section in an area that maybe you dont feel comfortable with. For IM - high yield for me was always review of the antibodies for rheum. Or Read a section (for IM specificaly mksap) Related to your current rotation to help it stick. Whatever you read will help you on the ITE as well as with your current day to day training

Most importantly, remember that your final board exam is testing the knowledge you have gained over the next three years (or more depending on specialtiy). Dont stop reviewing immediatly after the ite. You have 3 years to prep for boards because you need 3 years! Study your patients, and cases everyday, supplement with qustions all year long and by the time boards roll by, you will be more than ready.

Good luck!

 

[atomi]

Goal for these should be >50%-tile, not >90% like every other exam you've ever taken.
Remember, residency programs do not fail out 25% of their residents. So even if you are bottom quartile, it's not the end of the world. Unless you are consistently <10%-tile every year it will be hard for them to use it against you.

 

[togaedere]

Worst thing that happens where I am if you don’t do well on the ITE is that you meet with the PD or aPDs and come up with a study plan. As everyone else has been saying it becomes more of a big deal as the years go on. We do have a policy where you have to have a certain percentile to moonlight and stuff but I think even then you can get around that by sticking to your study plan.

Goal for these should be >50%-tile, not >90% like every other exam you've ever taken.
Remember, residency programs do not fail out 25% of their residents. So even if you are bottom quartile, it's not the end of the world. Unless you are consistently <10%-tile every year it will be hard for them to use it against you.