May oral board

[PikminOC]

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I know alot of psychiatrists have taken the oral board in May. Some of those people had failed in the past. Did you feel any difference since the oral exam will be phased out? Any advice for the last ppl who have to take the oral?

 

[benjee]

I know alot of psychiatrists have taken the oral board in May. Some of those people had failed in the past. Did you feel any difference since the oral exam will be phased out? Any advice for the last ppl who have to take the oral?

I guess you are asking advcie from those who passed after failed oral few times?I don't know since I don't have this experience.But I will find the process is painful( proof from clinical director on clinical skills up to par) just to be qualified to take the new format of board after the oral board phased out.

 

[atsai3]

I know alot of psychiatrists have taken the oral board in May. Some of those people had failed in the past. Did you feel any difference since the oral exam will be phased out? Any advice for the last ppl who have to take the oral?

Could you clarify your question? Are you asking whether people who have failed the oral boards in the past and who took them in May -- whether they felt like the experience was any different compared to their previous attempts?

I took the oral boards in May but this was my first time taking them. I'm not sure what you are asking, but in general it felt like a fairly stressful atmosphere. The ABPN ?president took Q&A during the orientation and people were asking dumb questions like "How subjective is the grading? Can you tell us about the evidence for the inter-rater reliability of the grading?" To my casual observation there appeared to be a large number of IMGs (i.e., non-Caucasians) and older persons present, and in walking about I heard a lot of accented English (e.g., Caucasians speaking in Eastern European accents, non-Caucasians speaking in Indian or Chinese accents). That could simply reflect the profession (more IMGs and older medical graduates matriculating into psychiatry compared to other specialties), or it could reflect Part I or Part II pass rates within the profession (higher failure rate among IMGs vs USMGs) -- I don't really have any information to speculate.

My advice would be to read the Boarding Time book and to practice vignettes (and there are a few video vignettes in the CDR that comes with the boarding time book). On exam day, spend a lot of time talking yourself up from perceived shortcomings and move forward. Otherwise, by the end of the day, after going through the clinical interview and the vignettes, you will talk yourself down into a hole. One of my friends forgot to administer the Folstein MMSE on his very-geriatric patient; he was stressing about this the whole time he was going through the vignettes, and that didn't help his anxiety levels. (He passed.) I started with vignettes, and the examiners kept asking me questions like "anything else?" which made me think I left things out. When I got to the clinical interview, I thought I did very well... except I forgot to ask my patient's name (whoops). Passed anyway.

 

[whopper]

I didn't like it. I passed on the second attempt. The first attempt I had a guy that literally would not talk to me. Then the people reviewing my performances asked me questions like "give us your diagnosis."

I did what I would've done in clinical practice. I told them I couldn't diagnose him but gave a differential. They asked me things like what I would've done, in clinical practice, and I told them I would've waited a few hours, talked to staff members concerning what they saw, get collateral information, but I didn't think I could really do anything else.

I didn't pass.

I passed the second time, and had a perfect patient. The guy was in remission for his disorder and was an open book with my questions. He was succinct, cooperative and friendly.

I really think this exam's results is highly dependent on the person you interview, and that person is completely based on random luck.

My only advice other than the above is prepare for nightmare scenarios, such as what to do if you get a nightmare patient who wont' talk to you or is suicidal or psychotic during the interview cause these do happen to people.

One guy I know had a guy so psychotic that he even told the examiners the guy needed to be sent to the hospital and they just sat there coldly and told him to proceed with the examination. He didn't know what to do because clinically this he thought was inappropriate (and so did I).

 

[Protest ABPN]

Please read my blog about my frustrations with the ABPN adult oral board exam.
http://abpnoralboardexamsucks.blogspot.com

 

[whopper]

Well I said this once and I'll say it again. To charge as much money as they do for the exam, the amount of trouble you have to go through (thousands of dollars, a weekend blown) with such little respect for the examinations validity, and no data as far as I'm aware showing the actual exam has some validity, overall I'd say this exam blows.

 

[atsai3]

Please read my blog about my frustrations with the ABPN adult oral board exam.
http://abpnoralboardexamsucks.blogspot.com

No question all of the factors you've highlighted are frustrating. It's clear that ABPN has structured their policies so as to minimize and discourage against any sort of post-exam feedback or contact.

 

[Protest ABPN]

Well I said this once and I'll say it again. To charge as much money as they do for the exam, the amount of trouble you have to go through (thousands of dollars, a weekend blown) with such little respect for the examinations validity, and no data as far as I'm aware showing the actual exam has some validity, overall I'd say this exam blows.

Thanks for your comment and support!

 

[Protest ABPN]

Totally agree with above!