If you do take a review course, you NEED to put time into reading the material before attending. Don't be a lazy douche and expect to be spoon-fed everything at the course. I will bet you fail using that approach. .
Laters.
I don't agree with this. The more studying you do the better. If you study before going to the Ho course, that's good, but I would not say it is necessary. I say this because I took the Ho 6 day course in July. I did no studying before I got to the course. I just showed up. I did this after talking to a resident who was in the class above me who did the same thing--no studying prior to Ho course. We both passed.
Let me assure you that neither of us are top 90% ITE anesthesiology geniuses.
FAR FROM IT.
We both took the early Ho 6 day course, and we both did not look at his review book until we got to the course, and we both passed. I would agree that if you wait to do one of the Ho review courses 2-3 weeks before the exam without studying, you might be in trouble.
STUDY HABITS
-Everyone is different. We all know how we learn best. The problem is that this is an oral exam, and many of us have never taken a major oral exam. So a lot of us are uncertain on what would work best for us to prepare for this kind of exam. Overall you will see these recommendations:
a) Review courses
b) practice exams
c) Certain texts (Ultimate bord prep, Board stiff)
d) PRACTICE--Mock orals (examiners at your institution, Skype with partner, JustOrals)
e) Review of your weaker subjects
I feel that those things sum it up. You just pick and choose how much of each.
I did:
a) Ho's 6 day review course in July
b) Studied Ho's texts
c) practice exams
I disagree with YoGabba and I felt the Ho review course was excellent. I was able to use CME funds to pay for it which was a huge plus. It is an intense 6 days of 12 hrs/day of nonstop anesthesia talk. It is an exhausting week, but he really covers a lot, and more improtantly he helps you with how to answer. "What would you do?" Don't say, "I would give this". Say, "I would first look at these monitors to look for this. If i felt the problem was b/c of this, I would do this, because of that. On the other hand, if this monitor showed that, and I felt the problem was due to this, I would perform this alternate intervention.
My take on the review courses is that they help with the same aspects: Covering the material and assisting on how to answer. So I am not sure if one is superior to the other. I just feel that they are different.
Since Ho's texts covered tons of info, I just used that to study, and then occasionally went to Barash, Miller, Faust Keywords to brush up on stuff I didn't have down, but I never used an oral board textbook to study other than the Ho book I received at the course.
Agree with YoGabba 100% on the practice exams. No answers, but you see the layout of the questions. You see how things will get asked and what things are likely to get asked.
Finally, in regards to practicing mock orals with other people or online. I heard many people tell me that I need to practice more than I study. "You have to practice talking out loud". I agree there is a lot of value in that. I also have seen many people on studentdoctor state that the key is to doing A LOT of mock orals. Well I didn't. I did the 4 private mock orals that came with the Ho course, and I did one online in early August with a candidate I met at the course. Very early on with the mock orals I did at the Ho course I discovered that if I knew the material or was comfortable with the case, I answered the questions fine. If I was uncomfortable with the case material, I couldn't even form a response to some of the questions. There is no faking an oral answer. That practice oral I did in August with my friend, I just found myself saying "I don't know" too often, but I knew it was stuff that I needed to review. I felt then my time was better spent studying the material. Getting closer to the exam, I did just go over the practice exams a lot by myself and talked out my answers in my head. Let me stress too that unlike YoGabba, I was not in the 90th percentile on the written...far from it. So it's not like I was so confident in my knowledge that I felt I didn't need to practice mock orals. I just never have had a problem explaining material to people if I am well versed in the topic. Maybe some people have a problem communicating key points to others even though they understand the topic perfectly, and that is why they need to practice mock orals. Or maybe it is to try and relieve some the anxiety that comes with the nature of the exam. My friend who I did the mock oral with in August probably did like 50 mock orals. She passed the exam as well. So the test can be passed with taking a lot of mock orals or with taking few mock orals.
My final summary of studying. People use some combo of the five things listed above. Each person is different and you have to get a sense of what works best for you. I am an advocate of any review course particularly if your institution will pay for it, because it vaults you in terms of preparation. When I was done with my course, I felt like I had a good handle on what I needed to work on and the common topics that pop up.
. Now on to the Pain Boards! However, after the orals, I am definitely not sweating another written exam.
