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It's not a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties which is the only thing that matters.
It's a scam.
Official ABIM 2013 Thread
- Thread starter DoctorDr
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It's not a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties which is the only thing that matters.
It's a scam.
just out of curiosity r u doing mksap 16 questions or mksap 15 questions? how many times have u done bb3? and did u do awesome review? I wish you all the best. I hope you pass, u certainly deserve to pass. keep going and good luck! its so hard to study and work full time hospitalist at the same time! but it has to be done, no choice! this is academic weight lifting! keep pumping iron folks, keep going, gotta show ABIM that they cant win forever. we will conquer!!!!!!!!!
thanks a lot..I did most of my readings from MEDSTUDY books and FA...I did the big guns--CV, Pulmo/CC, Infectious dse, RHEUMA from Medstudy, the rest is from FA..regarding Q&A, MKSAP 15 did twice, Medstudy Q&A once...I did BB2 at least 3 times...
--did the BB2 and MKSAP Q&A after each Medstudy/FA system wise.. I Did tried pass machine to some extent if I am tired of reading thus I listen...
I failed before using Medstudy DVDs before and very minimal MKSAP and UW only...and was too excited working immediately after residency that took away my focus to pass this huge exam...my hospitalist program was not that supported...told me just to take the exam and you will pass...wrong decision to have my focus shifted to work....I was even working the 2 nights prior to exam and had a Vehicular accident on the day of exam, no breakfast when I started the exam, all caffeinated drinks..learned my lesson in a hard way.. Felt much prepared...I'm on 10 days off before exam day..I will have my wifey drive me as she usually do except last year..plan prepared breakfast on the day of exam and minimal caffeine....hope for the best for everyone...I hope I could give back to the people here next time after the results..,to everyone on the same boat hold on guys/gals, GOD bless us all!!!!
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why is it that we keep paying thousands of dollars for all these tests? we should really think about protesting IMO
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I know. I'm so frustrated that there are questions about babies, children, and pregnant women on this exam. I get that some medicine docs moonlight in ERs, but that's not who I took care of during my medicine residency, nor was it addressed at all! Some of the practice questions I'm doing are so ridiculous, and I have no doubt something like them will pop up on the exam---what I don't understand though, is why is being tested? Like the recommendations of the NCAA to screen in all collegiate athletes? If I had to screen someone, I would just look it up. And it's not a scientific body, so who cares? /vent
Hi Desi,
I did looked at their website and emailed them regarding them..gave me the same info n wht is on their website.. Looked at Wikipedia and they (American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), are the smallest group that provide board certification aside from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and the American Osteopathic Associations Bureau of Specialists (AOABOS). ABIM is part of ABMS. Their certification is much difficult in terms of eligibility and requirement as well as much expensive...another option other than ABIM..i did emailed them and got a reply from one of their representative....
--now finishing women's health....then questionnaire again...did you do Kaplan Q&A?
Dear, DoctorDr!
I Have only 10 days left for my exam,I need advise re:FA, I have never read it b4, is it good idea to pick it up now?
I have read boba3 three times, and MKSAP16 qs 3 times, dint study any other material, will I pass? 10 days to go, I need sincere advise,
Thanks.
I Have only 10 days left for my exam,I need advise re:FA, I have never read it b4, is it good idea to pick it up now?
I have read boba3 three times, and MKSAP16 qs 3 times, dint study any other material, will I pass? 10 days to go, I need sincere advise,
Thanks.
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Doing FA now would not be the best move...Just review the big guns MKSAP & or BB3--CV,Pul/CC, ID, Rheuma, General Internal medicine...
Im doing MKSAP Q&A...No other time for new book/s..
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yeah i thought it was bad. the test questions aren't as long as MKSAP and a lot of them don't reflect MKSAP style. i could have studied another month and it wouldn't have helped at all. i would make sure to go over the miscellaneous stuff like women's health, derm, and optho.
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Any recommendations on study materials? I'm sure you passed!
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well i used medstudy 15 for reading and a combination of MKSAP 15/16 questions (not all the questions). i think that will cover everything but there are several questions that are so random that unless you've seen in some other question bank like uworld then i'm not sure how to answer it at least that was experience yesterday.
hopefully i passed. unfortunately my program doesn't have the greatest track record with the abim.
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well i used medstudy 15 for reading and a combination of MKSAP 15/16 questions (not all the questions). i think that will cover everything but there are several questions that are so random that unless you've seen in some other question bank like uworld then i'm not sure how to answer it at least that was experience yesterday.
hopefully i passed. unfortunately my program doesn't have the greatest track record with the abim.
It sucks that there isn't one all-inclusive questions bank like UWorld for the Steps. I am sure you passed. I hate reading texts. I wish more residency programs had formal didactics instead of 1 hour morning reports, half wasted on attending arguing over the cause of the FUO.
Agree. Don't add new material now, maybe more questions.
Hey, DoctorDr: Did you use UWorld questions?
No time to do more questions...I did it before but UW seems to be more difficult than the actual test....thus did not do it again...
I'm okay with MKSAP & half of MEDSTUDY
This is the problem with the abim exam, the questions they ask are so random that it feels like extra studying wont make a difference, its like either u know the answer or u don't. but i guess we just do the best we can
I agree...opthamology is heavily stressed, even though we are internists, they want us to know the eye!, no logic at the ABIM...and derm also. take the time and go thru some pictures on common derm conditions
hey guys make sure u know how to do basic statistics, sensitivity, specificity, ppv, npv, prevalance, incidence, number needed to treat NNT, number needed to harm, type 1/2 errors, they love this stuff. its easy to get confused so get the 4 x 4 table figured out BEFORE u go for the test,
review on table disease on top, test on left...TP is the first box in top left (have disease and test is positive) and TN is bottom right (no disease and test is negative). and sensitivity is TP divided by TP +FN (basically the first column in the table and specificity is TN/ TN + FP the second column in the table) and PPV is top row in table TP/ TP + FP and NPV is bottom row TN/ TN +FN
also know how to do NNT
review on table disease on top, test on left...TP is the first box in top left (have disease and test is positive) and TN is bottom right (no disease and test is negative). and sensitivity is TP divided by TP +FN (basically the first column in the table and specificity is TN/ TN + FP the second column in the table) and PPV is top row in table TP/ TP + FP and NPV is bottom row TN/ TN +FN
also know how to do NNT
I am working my way thru kaplan q/a question book second edition conrad fischer, the book is good, everyone should do the questions if they have time
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I know...also frustrating are the surgical management questions. I get the medical clearance ones, those are fine...but the ones asking me what to do with surgical patients? They would never come to me in the first place (like the neurosurgical, vascular patients).
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That's how I felt after the inservice exam a few years ago. The questions were just so random. I'll get to experience this thing first hand in a few days.
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I have thought about this a lot. If the gov't wants to force us to take all these exams, they should be free for those who qualify to take them- especially those who went to school in the US or are already practicing in the US.
By the end, when you take into account USMLE 1, 2 CK and CS, 3, ABIM and multiple specialty boards I'll have to take, I will have spent upwards of $20K on exams, board prep, flying to CS and the like. It's a complete racket.
I once did the math for CS- they make something like 25 million dollars just from US grads taking that thing every year.
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The ones that get me are the ones where you have to choose a chemotherapeutic agent. I get knowing when to order imaging and what imaging/how to workup a patient for suspected cancer. If I am ever ordering chemo on my own for someone with colon cancer or lung cancer, there should be a swarm of lawyers coming my way. A general internist shouldn't be dictating cancer plans, much less a specialist that is not h/o.
The derm and ophtho stuff I guess come because they were once branches of medicine but a rash looks like a rash to me and the inside of the eye... it's just lucky if I can find an ophthalmoscope in the hospital. If I do, I might as well be divining from bone throwing. Cotton-wool spots? I didn't even see the optic disc
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Lets all become experts in cotton wool spots! everyone today read up on it, learn everything about it before you go to sleep tonight! and other opthamology stuff too glaucoma, anterior uveitis, in fact if you havent done opthamalogy review, please review it...its worth it, these are easy questions if you have read up on it and easily missed if you havent read it. so read opthamaology everyone. it has no business being tested but it is being tested
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I watched some of the medstudy videos, I was kind of disappointed. Seems like they skipped some topics.
i watched all the recert videos and it wasnt enough to pass the april exam. medstudy videos help u understand things but may not be as high yield for the exam as some other things out there
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I agree. It was challenging. I studied pretty hard and more studying def would not have made a difference. A fair chunk of the questions were very random and obscure. For example, cardiology makes up the largest % of questions, but the CV questions they asked were like from left field. I had no arrhythmia...not much acute MI management...like one question on blood pressure management. weird questions on lipid management, and of course bizarre valve questions that will not be encountered in practice.
Then another chunk had choices where I would not have done any of the things they were suggesting.
And what test would be complete without 50 questions on vasculitis and other never encountered rheum topics.
Then another chunk had choices where I would not have done any of the things they were suggesting.
And what test would be complete without 50 questions on vasculitis and other never encountered rheum topics.
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I think everything has it's downside...I found MKSAP to be inadequate because there aren't any optho questions, nothing on epidemiology, and no hint that you'll be expected to know things about adolescents/children/babies. And not enough pregnant women questions.
"""" according to ABIM score report only 67% of the 2971 who took the test passed the April recert exam. I called the ABIM and they confirmed it was one of the lowest pass rates they have had in a while. I suggested to them that a 33% fail rate is way too high...."
I have checked the ABIM website....I do not see any stats on April Recert Exam results for pass rates. The last pass rate posted on ABIM website are from 2012. Could you be specific, perhaps put in the link to that ABIM WEBSITE page that lists AprilPass rate. thank you.
I am a retaker.I have been reading the threads just lurking...my story: regarding my first attempt studied pretty much nil after practicing for 2 years...my training program has a 100% passing rate; thought I could just read for a couple weeks before and big mistake. I had never failed a test before and didnt respect it.
I have been studying since July 2012, did MKSAP 15 syllabus cover to cover. MKSAP 15 questions x3 and MKSAP 16 questions x2. BB3 multiple times ( I cannot know how many since I recorded the book and listen to it while driving and at home). Currently just doing random questions on things like Renal tubular acidosis, gaps, ascitis, effusions, i.e equation driven stuff.I will focus on statistics in the next days. I am afraid as a retaker we get a tougher test even though I have read here that it probably doesn't happen; expecting the worst case scenario. Never studied so much for a test in my life.
Regarding audio questions did you guys listen to cardiac murmurs? or anything else out there that needs to be checked? Ive done some sounds in youtube (AS,AR,MR,TF, MS,etc)but unsure if it will help or if I need to do breath sounds or some other dark thing.
I will be aking the test on the 21st of August.
After reading lately still dont know if I have done enough...perhaps should have done Medstudy or amazing review or Fisher or....its madness!!!...hopefully what Ive done is enough.
Only time will tell...
otherwise like the sports players say: theres always next season....unfortunately 12 months away.....
I have been studying since July 2012, did MKSAP 15 syllabus cover to cover. MKSAP 15 questions x3 and MKSAP 16 questions x2. BB3 multiple times ( I cannot know how many since I recorded the book and listen to it while driving and at home). Currently just doing random questions on things like Renal tubular acidosis, gaps, ascitis, effusions, i.e equation driven stuff.I will focus on statistics in the next days. I am afraid as a retaker we get a tougher test even though I have read here that it probably doesn't happen; expecting the worst case scenario. Never studied so much for a test in my life.
Regarding audio questions did you guys listen to cardiac murmurs? or anything else out there that needs to be checked? Ive done some sounds in youtube (AS,AR,MR,TF, MS,etc)but unsure if it will help or if I need to do breath sounds or some other dark thing.
I will be aking the test on the 21st of August.
After reading lately still dont know if I have done enough...perhaps should have done Medstudy or amazing review or Fisher or....its madness!!!...hopefully what Ive done is enough.
Only time will tell...
otherwise like the sports players say: theres always next season....unfortunately 12 months away.....
I've taken the test more than once, just took it again a few days ago. In answer to the poster above, we aren't aloud to address specific points on the examination (I know you aren't asking for that.) I'll simply say that video and audio presentations may be part of the test and leave it at that.
IMHO, while mksap is a nice overall review of medicine, the questions seem insufficient. Or more succinctly, the boards seem to favor having maybe 30-40% more obscure ddx than even mksap. Uworld seems to be closer on the mark on that count. There are A LOT of questions that if you were lucky enough to see the correct pattern previously on a practice question or whatever, you could get it but otherwise you'd be completely out. I've done MedStudy, Pass Machine, Front Runners and looked at a couple of the others; they were all inadequate.
I wouldn't pitch MKSAP though. I think if you can get most of that material down, memorize some stuff from Uworld and sharpen up on test taking skills you have a fighting chance. While supposedly the test isn't really curved, it bears remembering that group performance on individual questions does count towards determining the validity of a question.
All-in-all, it saddens me that Boards seem to have devolved into testing how much random, obscure crap you can pack into your skull like an undergraduate. The purpose of the test is to guarantee candidates reach a minimum level of performance in real life, not in examination land. The way the thing is written now, someone could be a glutton for obscure presentations, have below average knowledge on basic internal medicine and probably pass. Worse still, since there's no official curriculum and basically no feedback when you get your score (unless you consider "you achieved the 47%tile in rheum" feedback), docs who don't make it have no idea how to improve. Pathetic.
I'm an avowed conspiracy theorist (I wasn't before the damned test - thanks ABIM) and I agree with some of the posters above, this is a racket. Whether it's to support the testing industry or to prove some political point (perhaps about work hours), I don't know. But something is amiss - if I made it this time I'll do whatever I can to skip the MOC when it comes around.
IMHO, while mksap is a nice overall review of medicine, the questions seem insufficient. Or more succinctly, the boards seem to favor having maybe 30-40% more obscure ddx than even mksap. Uworld seems to be closer on the mark on that count. There are A LOT of questions that if you were lucky enough to see the correct pattern previously on a practice question or whatever, you could get it but otherwise you'd be completely out. I've done MedStudy, Pass Machine, Front Runners and looked at a couple of the others; they were all inadequate.
I wouldn't pitch MKSAP though. I think if you can get most of that material down, memorize some stuff from Uworld and sharpen up on test taking skills you have a fighting chance. While supposedly the test isn't really curved, it bears remembering that group performance on individual questions does count towards determining the validity of a question.
All-in-all, it saddens me that Boards seem to have devolved into testing how much random, obscure crap you can pack into your skull like an undergraduate. The purpose of the test is to guarantee candidates reach a minimum level of performance in real life, not in examination land. The way the thing is written now, someone could be a glutton for obscure presentations, have below average knowledge on basic internal medicine and probably pass. Worse still, since there's no official curriculum and basically no feedback when you get your score (unless you consider "you achieved the 47%tile in rheum" feedback), docs who don't make it have no idea how to improve. Pathetic.
I'm an avowed conspiracy theorist (I wasn't before the damned test - thanks ABIM) and I agree with some of the posters above, this is a racket. Whether it's to support the testing industry or to prove some political point (perhaps about work hours), I don't know. But something is amiss - if I made it this time I'll do whatever I can to skip the MOC when it comes around.
I was a re-taker this year (turns out I missed by a tiny margin last year using only MKSAP for a couple of weeks in a semi-serious fashion). I went into a deep depression and questioned my career choice every time I went to work last year. I was the kind of resident that skipped meals and conferences all the time to be with patients and their family and I stayed up with them all night to stabilize them when they were really sick. This made the failing score last year even harder to accept--especially when I (albeit inappropriately) started to think of some of my peers who were barely clinically competent with general medicine and openly cared little about patients and would hide when patients were sick or leave for conferences etc. at the drop of a hat....yet still passed the ABIM certifying exam, likely because they just memorized the random things tested. The ABIM exam (and probably) the ABIM seems to care little about how diligent you are and how hard you work to remain clinically competent, and the exam is the gold standard. Like others have said, just respect it and accept that it tests 'something'--even if you do not agree or understand what that something might be.
MKSAP IMHO is not enough unless you are very good at gaming exams or are very lucky with the version of the test you get. The questions are just too different from anything you've ever taken - not like the inservice, not like the NBME or Step exams, not like med school exams. I'll let you know how I do (I took it last week on the first available date), but sad to say that I felt no different from last year. I was supposed to study with someone on this board, but he dropped the ball (you know who you are), so I flew solo.
I was more focused this year. I also was working a lot more as a hospitalist, and studying actually did improve my patient care when diagnoses were unclear. This was satisfying. I studied slowly from November 1 last year until June, and then ramped it up on June 1 a lot until the test last week. I read all of the Medstudy books, and transferred them to > 24 hours of audio which I listened to every single day running, gardening, and when I was in the car. I got sick of listening to my own voice. I then watched the Medstudy videos. I also used the Medstudy flash cards a little. I made my own notes on things I was perpetually tripped up on (different and odd presentations of RTAs, different guidelines and side effects of meds for rheum conditions, rare heme conditions, chemo regimens etc.) I did maybe 30-40% of MKSAP 15 over but did not use it as my focus and it's crap preparation IMHO. I did all of the latest medstudy board review questions, I did around 85% of Harrison's IM Board Review Questions (they were hard), and 85% of USMLEWORLD questions (they were really hard!). I also read First Aid for IM boards, and made my own notes in the margin. I did very well on the general medicine section last year, and so decided to focus on the four subjects that got me in trouble on my first attempt...I read them over, and over, and over, and listened to the MKSAP lectures and Medstudy lectures over until I was nauseated.
Oh yes...almost forgot...I also purchased iMedicine Review for my hand-held device. Save your money as it's a piece of junk. They seem to have plagiarized the EXACT format of another commercially-available IM prep course, and are getting fat from the proceeds. It is RIDDLED with typos and mistakes making me question the quality control. Don't buy it.
Overall, it was just as hard this year, and many of the question stems in my opinion are random, tricky, and seem to withhold vital info. that would be freely available in real life to make the diagnosis obvious. Lastly, I finished each section around 20-30 minutes early last year and am sure that it why I lost the few vital points that might have tipped me into the passing range with the others. This year, I slowed WAY down, and read very carefully. Give it the respect is deserves. The biggest different this year were my preparation, and my attitude toward the exam. Studying any more than I did would make not one bit of different, in my opinion...
Good luck to you all. I love internal medicine, and gave it my best this year. I wish all of you the best of success.
MKSAP IMHO is not enough unless you are very good at gaming exams or are very lucky with the version of the test you get. The questions are just too different from anything you've ever taken - not like the inservice, not like the NBME or Step exams, not like med school exams. I'll let you know how I do (I took it last week on the first available date), but sad to say that I felt no different from last year. I was supposed to study with someone on this board, but he dropped the ball (you know who you are
), so I flew solo.I was more focused this year. I also was working a lot more as a hospitalist, and studying actually did improve my patient care when diagnoses were unclear. This was satisfying. I studied slowly from November 1 last year until June, and then ramped it up on June 1 a lot until the test last week. I read all of the Medstudy books, and transferred them to > 24 hours of audio which I listened to every single day running, gardening, and when I was in the car. I got sick of listening to my own voice. I then watched the Medstudy videos. I also used the Medstudy flash cards a little. I made my own notes on things I was perpetually tripped up on (different and odd presentations of RTAs, different guidelines and side effects of meds for rheum conditions, rare heme conditions, chemo regimens etc.) I did maybe 30-40% of MKSAP 15 over but did not use it as my focus and it's crap preparation IMHO. I did all of the latest medstudy board review questions, I did around 85% of Harrison's IM Board Review Questions (they were hard), and 85% of USMLEWORLD questions (they were really hard!). I also read First Aid for IM boards, and made my own notes in the margin. I did very well on the general medicine section last year, and so decided to focus on the four subjects that got me in trouble on my first attempt...I read them over, and over, and over, and listened to the MKSAP lectures and Medstudy lectures over until I was nauseated.
Oh yes...almost forgot...I also purchased iMedicine Review for my hand-held device. Save your money as it's a piece of junk. They seem to have plagiarized the EXACT format of another commercially-available IM prep course, and are getting fat from the proceeds. It is RIDDLED with typos and mistakes making me question the quality control. Don't buy it.
Overall, it was just as hard this year, and many of the question stems in my opinion are random, tricky, and seem to withhold vital info. that would be freely available in real life to make the diagnosis obvious. Lastly, I finished each section around 20-30 minutes early last year and am sure that it why I lost the few vital points that might have tipped me into the passing range with the others. This year, I slowed WAY down, and read very carefully. Give it the respect is deserves. The biggest different this year were my preparation, and my attitude toward the exam. Studying any more than I did would make not one bit of different, in my opinion...
Good luck to you all. I love internal medicine, and gave it my best this year. I wish all of you the best of success.
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In my opinion MSKAP is more than enough. MKSAP is way, way way harder than the actual test. The ITE is also way harder.
The ABIM is an easy test. Questions are most of the times straight-forward and short. You have more than enough time to answer the questions and review them.
I only did few questions of MKSAP on the weekend before (did not have time to read anything since I started my fellowship) and did really well. I was able to leave the center 3 hours before the exam was done. I do not want to sound a smart ass or anything, I just think it is an easy test and you should not freak out about it.
The ABIM is an easy test. Questions are most of the times straight-forward and short. You have more than enough time to answer the questions and review them.
I only did few questions of MKSAP on the weekend before (did not have time to read anything since I started my fellowship) and did really well. I was able to leave the center 3 hours before the exam was done. I do not want to sound a smart ass or anything, I just think it is an easy test and you should not freak out about it.
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I was a re-taker this year (turns out I missed by a tiny margin last year using only MKSAP for a couple of weeks in a semi-serious fashion). I went into a deep depression and questioned my career choice every time I went to work last year. I was the kind of resident that skipped meals and conferences all the time to be with patients and their family and I stayed up with them all night to stabilize them when they were really sick. This made the failing score last year even harder to accept--especially when I (albeit inappropriately) started to think of some of my peers who were barely clinically competent with general medicine and openly cared little about patients and would hide when patients were sick or leave for conferences etc. at the drop of a hat....yet still passed the ABIM certifying exam, likely because they just memorized the random things tested. The ABIM exam (and probably) the ABIM seems to care little about how diligent you are and how hard you work to remain clinically competent, and the exam is the gold standard. Like others have said, just respect it and accept that it tests 'something'--even if you do not agree or understand what that something might be.
MKSAP IMHO is not enough unless you are very good at gaming exams or are very lucky with the version of the test you get. The questions are just too different from anything you've ever taken - not like the inservice, not like the NBME or Step exams, not like med school exams. I'll let you know how I do (I took it last week on the first available date), but sad to say that I felt no different from last year. I was supposed to study with someone on this board, but he dropped the ball (you know who you are
I was more focused this year. I also was working a lot more as a hospitalist, and studying actually did improve my patient care when diagnoses were unclear. This was satisfying. I studied slowly from November 1 last year until June, and then ramped it up on June 1 a lot until the test last week. I read all of the Medstudy books, and transferred them to > 24 hours of audio which I listened to every single day running, gardening, and when I was in the car. I got sick of listening to my own voice. I then watched the Medstudy videos. I also used the Medstudy flash cards a little. I made my own notes on things I was perpetually tripped up on (different and odd presentations of RTAs, different guidelines and side effects of meds for rheum conditions, rare heme conditions, chemo regimens etc.) I did maybe 30-40% of MKSAP 15 over but did not use it as my focus and it's crap preparation IMHO. I did all of the latest medstudy board review questions, I did around 85% of Harrison's IM Board Review Questions (they were hard), and 85% of USMLEWORLD questions (they were really hard!). I also read First Aid for IM boards, and made my own notes in the margin. I did very well on the general medicine section last year, and so decided to focus on the four subjects that got me in trouble on my first attempt...I read them over, and over, and over, and listened to the MKSAP lectures and Medstudy lectures over until I was nauseated.
Oh yes...almost forgot...I also purchased iMedicine Review for my hand-held device. Save your money as it's a piece of junk. They seem to have plagiarized the EXACT format of another commercially-available IM prep course, and are getting fat from the proceeds. It is RIDDLED with typos and mistakes making me question the quality control. Don't buy it.
Overall, it was just as hard this year, and many of the question stems in my opinion are random, tricky, and seem to withhold vital info. that would be freely available in real life to make the diagnosis obvious. Lastly, I finished each section around 20-30 minutes early last year and am sure that it why I lost the few vital points that might have tipped me into the passing range with the others. This year, I slowed WAY down, and read very carefully. Give it the respect is deserves. The biggest different this year were my preparation, and my attitude toward the exam. Studying any more than I did would make not one bit of different, in my opinion...
Good luck to you all. I love internal medicine, and gave it my best this year. I wish all of you the best of success.
I had a similar experience. The funny thing is, last year, when I took the exam, I thought I passed. I too also finished the exam super quickly last year.
I think some people are just good with/enjoy the minutia. Personally, I never memorized cardiac murmurs before...I'm more of a pattern recognition person, and look things up. When it comes to clinical practice, I don't memorize things, and thought this test would test realistic clinical practice rather than another minutiae type exam, esp since others said that the exam wasn't that bad...and it didn't seem that bad when I took it. And I never had any issues with standardized exams before. Anyway, we're all different, and everyone has a different goal when it comes to their medical career, and will focus on different things along the way. And inevitably this results in different residents getting different things out of their residency, though I think that there should definitely be some sort of curriculum aimed at teaching to what is focused on the boards. Unfortunately my program didn't do this for us, and we have a high fail rate.
This year I studied for months and skyped with a study partner several times a week for months. I learn best by listening to audio, which is why the med study videos seemed helpful for me at least. I did re-do the MKSAP questions, and MedStudy questions. I also forced myself to just sit and memorize things (like those cardiac murmurs, finally). Really hope it payed off. :-/ I also took my time this time around as well. We'll see what happens...
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Just took it today and agree with the previous poster who said MKSAP and the ITE seemed more difficult. That being said, I obviously don't know yet how I did.
Does anyone know the percentage needed to pass? 70% correct?
Does anyone know the percentage needed to pass? 70% correct?
its not on their website, it is printed in the score report sent by the ABIM to the candidates who took the april recert. I copied it word for word from the score report. other people who have their april recert score report can verify it...they should post it on the website because its so far away from their own usual scores. in fact since the exam pass rate was so bad, maybe they should make the fall one easier to compensate!
Its not on the website, its in the april recert score report that was sent to the people who took the test. okay folks this is exactly what it says in the score report word for word
"the examination pass-fail decision is based on your performance on the entire examination. Overall examination performance is reported on a standardized score with a range of 200-800. The mean standardized score for first time takers on the base test form of this examination is 500 and the standard deviation is 100. For example, a score of 600 is one standard deviation above the mean. Candidates with equal ability will achieve the same standardized score. In order to pass the examination your overall score must equal or exceed the standardized passing score of 366
For your information, 2971 candidates took this examination and 67% passed. Of the total group, there were 1692 candidates with time limited certificates taking exam for first time and 80% passed"
so what I posted in the earlier post was the 2971 total and of this total only 67% passed. which means that 33% of the people who took the recert failed. In my opinion this is way too high! so i called ABIM and they confirmed on the phone that it was one of their lower pass rates that they have had in a while.
now its a great question why abim is not putting it on the website, but anyone who has the score report from april can verify that this is what they sent out. only 67% of people who took the april recert passed the test
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Well I took the beast today. It was far less random than MKSAP. A lot of the questions were very straight forward. A few of them were rote memorization. The stems were a lot shorter than MKSAP. There were only a handful you had to scroll down for. I had plenty of time. I took a break after each section and took my time during the sections and still finished almost all of them with about 30 minutes to spare (on each section).
Of course there were a lot that were kinda random. After a bunch of questions I was thinking, well I just need one piece of information that you'd normally have to distinguish between two choices. For me there were a lot of questions on vasculitis. I didn't have a lot of derm or ophtho questions but there were a few. The cards questions were not all that obscure. Most had a multiple clues that would lead to the answers. Critical care questions were straight forwards. Occasionally I was thinking for the Abx questions that in real practice you would cover someone much more broadly than any of the options provided an await cultures.
I used MKSAP questions (did some 15 and most of 16). I checked out BB 1 from the library and read it once or twice a few days before the exam. I also checked out first aid but didn't read much of it.
Unfortunately, on the last section during one of the audio questions the software shut down suddenly. They were able to start it back up but who knows what it did to my answers for the other sections. So that sucked. We'll see what happens.
Good luck all.
Of course there were a lot that were kinda random. After a bunch of questions I was thinking, well I just need one piece of information that you'd normally have to distinguish between two choices. For me there were a lot of questions on vasculitis. I didn't have a lot of derm or ophtho questions but there were a few. The cards questions were not all that obscure. Most had a multiple clues that would lead to the answers. Critical care questions were straight forwards. Occasionally I was thinking for the Abx questions that in real practice you would cover someone much more broadly than any of the options provided an await cultures.
I used MKSAP questions (did some 15 and most of 16). I checked out BB 1 from the library and read it once or twice a few days before the exam. I also checked out first aid but didn't read much of it.
Unfortunately, on the last section during one of the audio questions the software shut down suddenly. They were able to start it back up but who knows what it did to my answers for the other sections. So that sucked. We'll see what happens.
Good luck all.
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The only reason the 2013 April examination results are not posted on the ABIM site is because results on that site are reported only for every year, not for every examination. So, the annual results for every year posted represent the cumulative results of both the spring and fall exams. Likewise, in early 2014 they will post the cumulative results for 2013. As you correctly said, the only people who have access to this information at this time are the ones who took the 2013 spring exam.
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I had a handful of murmurs. Most stems allowed you to narrow down a lot of the answer choices. A few essentially gave the answer flat out. There was one where after the stem I wasn't sure and wasn't too sure even after listening.
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Recover what you feel weak on.
Do a mix of questions and perusing BB3
Know the sensitivity, specificity, NPV, PPV, LR+, LR- stuff. It seems everyone gets a few questions on that
For me there were a good amt of low complement/high complement nephritic and causes of nephrotic syndrome...
Others have said look at derm and ophtho.
Good luck.
I thought the test was hard and at times unfair. They would leave to believe one diagnosis only to throw more information in there to confuse you. Awesome review was great but not sure if I passed.
Tons and tons of rheum.
Tons and tons of rheum.
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