ITE scores

[manymc]

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CA-1 here. How does your raw score correlate with your scaled score? For example, if you scored a scaled of 35, can you assume that the number of questions you got correct was (35/50) x 200 = 140 ?

 

[partydoc]

Percentage correct is given when you get your score

 

[pgg]

CA-1 here. How does your raw score correlate with your scaled score? For example, if you scored a scaled of 35, can you assume that the number of questions you got correct was (35/50) x 200 = 140 ?

Why does % correct matter?

What matters are
1) how close or far you are from passing (historically a score around 33 was a "pass")
2) your percentile, if you have fellowship aspirations

 

[d9sccr]

Why does % correct matter?

What matters are
1) how close or far you are from passing (historically a score around 33 was a "pass")
2) your percentile, if you have fellowship aspirations

The number around my program has always been 30, is that not correct?

 

[Robotic Wis-Hipple]

The number around my program has always been 30, is that not correct?

Well, the boards are different now. I'm not sure the ITE means what it used to. The ITE you take as a CA-3 doesn't resemble the Advanced exam as much as it did when there was only one written board. Regardless, if you do well on the ITE you'll be fine for the joke of a test the Advanced board is.

 

[deleted171991]

The number around my program has always been 30, is that not correct?

I am pretty sure that the passing score, in the system that goes to a maximum of 50, is 32.

Edit:
Found it on the third page of this paper from 2012: https://www.ijme.net/archive/3/predictors-of-success-on-a-board-certification-exam.pdf .

Two-digit scaled scores on the ABA-ASA ITE were used throughout this study; we used a scaled score of 32 as equivalent to passing the ABA Part 1 examination, as recommended by the ABA-ASA in materials provided to residency program director.

 

[pgg]

The number around my program has always been 30, is that not correct?

I think no.

To my knowledge, the ABA has never publicly stated what scaled score on an ITE is equivalent to a passing score on the written exam. And I doubt they ever will, now that the ITE and the written examS are different beasts. In ye olden days (until maybe 2008?) the ITE was the exact same paper test with bubbles to fill in with a #2 pencil as the for-credit written exam, and residents took it in the same room at the same time as new grads who were taking it for board credit.

But 30 is pretty low and I think you'll find that most people will agree that somewhere around 33 is passing.

 

[pgg]

I am pretty sure that the passing score, in the system that goes to a maximum of 50, is 32.

Edit:
Found it on the third page of this paper from 2012: https://www.ijme.net/archive/3/predictors-of-success-on-a-board-certification-exam.pdf .

Nice -

There you go.

Two-digit scaled scores on the ABA-ASA ITE were used throughout this study; we used a scaled score of 32 as equivalent to passing the ABA Part 1 examination, as recommended by the ABA-ASA in materials provided to residency program directors.

Published in 2012. Which was before the ABA split the written into two parts ... so who knows what correlates with what now.

 

[pgg]

The other thing you can do is work backwards, and compare the published pass rate for a given year with the %-ile sheets they distribute with ITEs.

If 88% pass then it's likely that whatever score corresponds to the CA3 12th percentile is the absolute minimum required to pass. It'll actually be higher, because the same 12th %-ile CA3 is going to study between getting that lousy score and taking the written exam, and will have a higher level of knowledge. Moral of the story, don't coast the rest of your CA3 year if you got a 20th %-ile score on the ITE that year. You probably don't know enough.

 

[deleted171991]

The other thing you can do is work backwards, and compare the published pass rate for a given year with the %-ile sheets they distribute with ITEs.

If 88% pass then it's likely that whatever score corresponds to the CA3 12th percentile is the absolute minimum required to pass. It'll actually be higher, because the same 12th %-ile CA3 is going to study between getting that lousy score and taking the written exam, and will have a higher level of knowledge. Moral of the story, don't coast the rest of your CA3 year if you got a 20th %-ile score on the ITE that year. You probably don't know enough.

One should read pages 12-13 of this to figure out one's chances on the Advanced exam.

My money is still on 32, by the way. 🙂

 

[pgg]

One should read pages 12-13 of this to figure out one's chances on Part 2.

My money is on 32. 🙂

Neat

I wonder what happened to the poor guy who put up a 46+ on the ITE then failed the advanced exam (p 13). Must've been one hell of a hangover on test day.

 

[manymc]

Why does % correct matter?

What matters are
1) how close or far you are from passing (historically a score around 33 was a "pass")
2) your percentile, if you have fellowship aspirations

I have fellowship aspirations. I have a range of how many i got right in my head (not reliable I know) and I just want to get a feel of what my scaled score, and subsequently my percentile score, based on last years ITE scores, could be.

I know, I don't have patience to wait for the scores to come out haha.

 

[AdmiralChz]

I have fellowship aspirations. I have a range of how many i got right in my head (not reliable I know) and I just want to get a feel of what my scaled score, and subsequently my percentile score, based on last years ITE scores, could be.

I know, I don't have patience to wait for the scores to come out haha.

It changed year to year based on performance by each year. My scaled score actually went down from CA-1 to 2 but percentile (more important) went up - it was a harder test, I suppose. Percentile is what is looked at in applications (for competitive fellowships like cardiac, pain and Peds).

 

[deleted641888]

.

 

[Iso4ane]

I have fellowship aspirations. I have a range of how many i got right in my head (not reliable I know) and I just want to get a feel of what my scaled score, and subsequently my percentile score, based on last years ITE scores, could be.

I know, I don't have patience to wait for the scores to come out haha.

There is a reason why it's called a SCALED score. So it depends on how smart everyone else is your year. Theoretically speaking could've gotten 90% of questions correct and not break 10th percentile one year (because easy test), and another year get only get 50% right and be at the 90th percentile another year.

Also, you must be new, if you haven't realized that residents in threads like this on average tend to have fellowship aspirations (your's truly included).

AKT-6 wasn't too long ago, did you take that test? It's a totally different test, but that should at least give you a glimpse where you stand, right? (Anybody can correct me if I'm wrong)

Speaking of, anyone have any idea what it takes to be considered "competitive" for those fellowships? I know for Step I the magic score was "250" for nearly all specialties a few years ago, so I'm curious if there's a magic percentile beyond which you can be reassured to match into any fellowship (probably not, I know).

I would like know the answer to this as well for the different specialties. Obviously 90th percentile and above is nice, but that only 150 of so people per class.

 

[AdmiralChz]

AKT-6 wasn't too long ago, did you take that test? It's a totally different test, but that should at least give you a glimpse where you stand, right? (Anybody can correct me if I'm wrong)

When I started CA-1 almost 3 years ago over 50% of programs used AKT, now it is less than 25% and most are in the process of dropping it. Was extremely unpopular and mostly viewed as unnecessary (since the "Anesthesia Knowledge Test" was given at 0 months, 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, 12 month, etc... it simply got excessive). My program dropped it as soon as it was able (it agreed to a 2-3 year trial run as part of the initial study). We haven't had it here in over 2 years. I'm sorry you've been subjected to it!

Speaking of, anyone have any idea what it takes to be considered "competitive" for those fellowships? I know for Step I the magic score was "250" for nearly all specialties a few years ago, so I'm curious if there's a magic percentile beyond which you can be reassured to match into any fellowship (probably not, I know).

It's not nearly as important as Step 1 (or MCAT) for residency/med school purposes. A solid score (~ > 70th percentile) is nice, but a marginal score (< 30th percentile) is much more dangerous as fellowship programs get knocked if you fail the Advanced exam while you are there. For our cardiac and peds program we essentially cut out those below the 30th. Our pain division as a soft rule only interviews those with > 60th, since the demand is so much higher (but pain is interdisciplinary and gets over 5-7x the number of applications peds/cardiac does).

That being said, it is so easy to overcome one poor score with an otherwise excellent application with research, good LORs (which play a much larger role than residency since the fields are smaller).

 

[Iso4ane]

When I started CA-1 almost 3 years ago over 50% of programs used AKT, now it is less than 25% and most are in the process of dropping it. Was extremely unpopular and mostly viewed as unnecessary (since the "Anesthesia Knowledge Test" was given at 0 months, 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, 12 month, etc... it simply got excessive). My program dropped it as soon as it was able (it agreed to a 2-3 year trial run as part of the initial study). We haven't had it here in over 2 years. I'm sorry you've been subjected to it!

That being said, it is so easy to overcome one poor score with an otherwise excellent application with research, good LORs (which play a much larger role than residency since the fields are smaller).

Yeah, still subjected to it, but my program only does the 0,1,6,and 24 (which all in all isn't too bad, I'm guess the akt-6 is to help get us into the mindset for the upcoming ITE). Going through the process, and doing well (above average) on the AKT-6 and noticed that a lot of the attending are nicer to me recently, so between that and working hard, I guess I am doing something right. Hopefully, I did well on ITE, we'll see, but from my short experience I'm guessing it will be a little easier getting a good LoR.

 

[deleted641888]

.

 

[TeslaCoil]

So where are the scores reported? And how long does it take for them to report? Can we log in somewhere to see them or do we just wait for our program to let us know?

 

[Shinkansen]

So where are the scores reported? And how long does it take for them to report? Can we log in somewhere to see them or do we just wait for our program to let us know?

score reports are released to the programs and the program will release it to the residents. didn't happen last year until early april for most.

 

[San Marzano]

Yeah, I did well on it last year as an intern just due to having a strong knowledge base from med school/intern year, but some people didn't do too hot and honestly, I think there is a difference in how residents are treated based on ITE scores. Our program looks at ITE scores very closely, and it's pretty much sink or swim.

That is interesting to hear. Our attendings couldn't give a flying rat's ass what our ITE scores are. As long as you're a warm body willing to sit in the OR for them while they drink coffee and browse Facebook, they like you. ITE couldn't have less meaning in my program.

 

[Iso4ane]

That is interesting to hear. Our attendings couldn't give a flying rat's ass what our ITE scores are. As long as you're a warm body willing to sit in the OR for them while they drink coffee and browse Facebook, they like you. ITE couldn't have less meaning in my program.

It is possible that you did just well enough to stay off the 'bad' radar, but not good enough to be on the 'great' radar. Do you see how your attendings interact with all your other colleagues?

 

[Arantius]

This year I felt like I studied for the wrong test. Questions were straight up splitting hairs-- even looked up topics in big miller and couldn't find what they were asking. Here's hoping I didn't f up too bad.

 

[rocsux]

does anyone know how the ITE is graded? I.e. no penalty for guessing right?

 

[AdmiralChz]

I.e. no penalty for guessing right?

Oh gosh, I think that’s only a gawd-awful SAT thing.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Back in the day, the score that correlated with a passing score was typically 32. When the real boards were administered with the ITE, they always include some trial questions that were scored for the ITE, but not scored for those taking it for ABA credit. Therefore, if you got all of the trial questions correct but missed a lot of the real questions, I believe it was possible to get a 32 scaled score equivalent but still fail the exam if you were taking it for real. Therefore, I always told people that 33 was the score to shoot for. However, newer data shows that if you barely pass the written exam after residency, your likelihood of failing the orals on the first try was about the same as flipping a coin. Whereas, if you excel on the written and ITE's and get a 40 or greater (which is typically a pretty high percentile), you have a mid 90's percent chance of passing the orals on the first try. The moral of the story is, it is short-sighted to aim for a 33 scaled score when that will leave you deficient in many key knowledge areas making it way too risky for failing the oral boards. Aim for 40 on the final ITE. It will put you in good shape. You will almost certainly achieve a passing score on the advanced written exam a few months later and it will put you in an excellent position to pass the oral exam on the first attempt. It does not mean that you should not continue to study for the orals and take lots of practice exams. Some people struggle with the verbal communication part of the equation, despite having adequate knowledge to pass the exam. The most common reason to fail the oral boards is inadequate medical knowledge. A 40 on the final ITE will likely correlate with adequate medical knowledge, but you still need to ensure that you have the ability to adequately verbalize that knowledge in a coherent manner in the exam room. The best way to ensure that is to take practice exams from people who will be honest with you and identify areas of weakness (perhaps you speak too slowly or have long pauses that cause you to be unable to complete an exam).
The whole process is tough, so don't wait until the last minute for any of it.