Official ABIM 2015 Thread

[lantus2000]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Gutonc is way off. It is their right to want to get their score back. So much blood and sweat go into this. I am sure you wanted your score back as soon as you could, if not then great, thats you. Let them post as they want.

 

[knotoncall]

Maybe one day us mere mortals will be as cool as him. Maybe one day...

 

[gutonc]

Maybe one day us mere mortals will be as cool as him. Maybe one day...

Seems unlikely.

 

[Rongy_Dringus]

Stop it people! Can't you see, this exam is tearing us apart! It's exactly what they want...don't give them the satisfaction. Now "gutonc" and "captopril", hug and make up...we need to be united

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

OK, I'm going back to Plan A. Before a post on the last page I was content to wait until 10/17, 60 days after the last seating. Whatever happened to the August 7th seating might have resulted in a seating after 8/18. Anyway, I'm done checking my email. When it gets here, it gets here. If it never arrives that's OK too.

The ABIM is accountable to no one, the make it up as they go and change rules as they please, all of this while enriching themselves at our expense. What's not to like?

 

[anaoncmd]

Long time follower of the forum, first time posting. I've got to say, I really appreciate how supportive every one is of every one else and how willing people are to share their experiences and results, good or bad. I'm just as nervous as most every one about the results (mainly just want to get it over with and move on with my life). Wish you all the best.

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

Long time follower of the forum, first time posting. I've got to say, I really appreciate how supportive every one is of every one else and how willing people are to share their experiences and results, good or bad. I'm just as nervous as most every one about the results (mainly just want to get it over with and move on with my life). Wish you all the best.

Nicely said -- good luck.

 

[Bitterman]

Am I the only one that's not nervous and spamming refresh on their exam results page? I felt like the exam went poorly for me but frankly, I've been in this "don't give a ****" state. I kind of got over all the anxiety since step 1/2 and the match. I'm an attending now and life's a lot better than it was during residency. If I pass great, if I fail I'll just study harder and take it next go around.

 

[I8ABIM]

I told the delayed exam on August 7th and they offered we take it again Dec or next year because of the delay.

Anyone else who take the exam on August 7th notice that when you login to abim now, it says you're registered for the exam on August 7th.

It didn't say that 1 week ago and now I'm worried I failed and that's why it says you're registered.

Crying softly right now hoping everyone who took the delay exam got this...I don't want to retake this exam.

 

[Captopril]

Stop it people! Can't you see, this exam is tearing us apart! It's exactly what they want...don't give them the satisfaction. Now "gutonc" and "captopril", hug and make up...we need to be united

I love you gutonc. I always have <3

 

[rph96]

I told the delayed exam on August 7th and they offered we take it again Dec or next year because of the delay.

Anyone else who take the exam on August 7th notice that when you login to abim now, it says you're registered for the exam on August 7th.

It didn't say that 1 week ago and now I'm worried I failed and that's why it says you're registered.

Crying softly right now hoping everyone who took the delay exam got this...I don't want to retake this exam.

I would guess you are getting to the option to retake in case you failed or want to retake to improve your performance due to the delay/disruption on the exam date. Giving everyone the automatic option to retake and leaving their registrations open is probably easier to manage then giving retakes only to those who failed--one step to turn them all on rather than checking each one-by-one based on fails. I dont think I would read anything into still being registered--same issue came up with one of the other big standardized exams in the last couple of years and they gave everyone a mulligan but not everyone needed to use it. It may be affecting why the scores are not out since they need to figure out what to do with the delay issue.

What exactly happened? Was it just the computers being down and they eventually came back?

 

[I8ABIM]

I would guess you are getting to the option to retake in case you failed or want to retake to improve your performance due to the delay/disruption on the exam date. Giving everyone the automatic option to retake and leaving their registrations open is probably easier to manage then giving retakes only to those who failed--one step to turn them all on rather than checking each one-by-one based on fails. I dont think I would read anything into still being registered--same issue came up with one of the other big standardized exams in the last couple of years and they gave everyone a mulligan but not everyone needed to use it. It may be affecting why the scores are not out since they need to figure out what to do with the delay issue.

What exactly happened? Was it just the computers being down and they eventually came back?

I would guess you are getting to the option to retake in case you failed or want to retake to improve your performance due to the delay/disruption on the exam date. Giving everyone the automatic option to retake and leaving their registrations open is probably easier to manage then giving retakes only to those who failed--one step to turn them all on rather than checking each one-by-one based on fails. I dont think I would read anything into still being registered--same issue came up with one of the other big standardized exams in the last couple of years and they gave everyone a mulligan but not everyone needed to use it. It may be affecting why the scores are not out since they need to figure out what to do with the delay issue.

What exactly happened? Was it just the computers being down and they eventually came back?

Took the exam on the east coast. Exam didn't come up till 10am, computers or software was down. They emailed everyone a month later saying we could retake in dec or next summer if we fail since the delay may have affected our performance. I just don't want to take the exam, I hope I pass. Good luck everyone.

 

[deleted272130]

On my home page, it says:

My Examinations
There are no open registration periods at this time. Click to view the dates of the next available registration periods.
You are currently registered for:

• Internal Medicine Certification Examination
  • 08/11/2015 08:00 AM at XXXX

Is that what you're talking about? Does everybody's not say that?

 

[anaoncmd]

On my home page, it says:

My Examinations
There are no open registration periods at this time. Click to view the dates of the next available registration periods.
You are currently registered for:

• Internal Medicine Certification Examination
  • 08/11/2015 08:00 AM at XXXX

Is that what you're talking about? Does everybody's not say that?

Mine says that as well (date/time/location of when I took the exam). I didn't even look at it or pay attention to it. I don't think it means any thing. With the test results not being out yet, every little thing tends to make a lot of people nervous (like getting emails about MKSAP, etc...). I don't think any of these are hints about whether or not some one passed or failed. They just play with our minds 🙂

 

[rheumshoes]

Guys ...don't fight over this. Some people are a lot calmer about these situations, but I can certainly understand how some people just want to know (me falling in the latter)
In the grand scheme of it all, its just one exam and I personally don't think a fail matters the way it would've if it were a USMLE . That being said, I still want my damn result!

 

[205321]

Well - it looks like we'll have to wait until next Monday.

 

[I8ABIM]

Mine says that as well (date/time/location of when I took the exam). I didn't even look at it or pay attention to it. I don't think it means any thing. With the test results not being out yet, every little thing tends to make a lot of people nervous (like getting emails about MKSAP, etc...). I don't think any of these are hints about whether or not some one passed or failed. They just play with our minds 🙂

Yeah. That's exactly right. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[cassrae]

Well - it looks like we'll have to wait until next Monday.

Who knows when it will be... who knows if it will be a Monday. A few years ago it was a Thursday I believe. It could be any time, it could be next month. ABIM can do whatever they want. Trying not to worry about any more.. trying 🙂

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

Sixty days after August 18 is Oct 17, a Saturday. The ABIM would suffer no consequences if they go past that, I'm sure they have plenty of provisos in whatever they use for governence, but I expect they will honor that deadline. Anything before that is just a bonus. Unless there is something devastating going on they have the results. They were having some real issues with with website, at one point they had a disclaimer that a doc may or may not be certified, please check back later. A big web database like that with a lot of legacy code is tough to work with, and they have changed the rules and are changing them again. Bet that is what is taking so long.

 

[rheumshoes]

Where is everyone getting the 60 days from ? It says 3 months when I checked .....

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

Interesting -- I swear I saw 60 days -- and it said '60 days' -- now it clearly says 'three months'. I didn't think to grab a screen shot. Looks like they needed more time, my guess on the IT side. So NOVEMBER 16th is the longest we should have to wait. TERRIFIC. Well, they are not bound by law, and being 'voluntary' they can be really loose on the delivery aspect since their is no real contract. Just like dealing with Anthem or Blue Cross -- they are always right, you are always wrong. So now we wait. . .

 

[deleted272130]

The paper they gave me after I finished the test said up to 3 months from the last testing date.

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

I could have imagined it, I remember the printout that said three months and was surprised to see 60 days. Many years ago people used to hear in December. Oh well, 90 days it is.

 

[Propofol007]

I called abim, they said, result are nowhere near release. It would be released anytime before mid November

 

[Reasonable Doubt]

I called abim, they said, result are nowhere near release. It would be released anytime before mid November

Thanks -- I'll stop checking.

 

[205321]

score are up! scores are up scores are up!!!

 

[godsfshrmn]

WOOOO Grades are up!!!! I passed!!!!
Do we get a formal report on each section online or mailed?

 

[cassrae]

Passed! Phew. Legit thought I failed. But that test totally screws with your mind!

 

[Captopril]

Passssssssssssed

 

[rph96]

I called abim, they said, result are nowhere near release. It would be released anytime before mid November

Interesting, yesterday there is a mid-November projected time line for scores and a day later score are up. Looking back a couple of years, they have been as late as Nov 2nd. In either 2010 or 2011 they were piecemeal with scores popping up over about a week before they all got released. It will be interesting to see if these were all reported today or if it random reporting of results.

 

[Propofol007]

Interesting, yesterday there is a mid-November projected time line for scores and a day later score are up. Looking back a couple of years, they have been as late as Nov 2nd. In either 2010 or 2011 they were piecemeal with scores popping up over about a week before they all got released. It will be interesting to see if these were all reported today or if it random reporting of results.

ABIM has its own way!

 

[knotoncall]

*shake my head* now I see everyone else's posts. Congrats!

 

[Phospholipid]

RESULTS OUT!

 

[GiHOPE]

Gutonc is way off. It is their right to want to get their score back. So much blood and sweat go into this. I am sure you wanted your score back as soon as you could, if not then great, thats you. Let them post as they want.

Results are out. Check the ABIM website.

 

[flyingfree234]

Yay I passed!! I would like to know the break down too (for my own knowledge) but really who cares, I passed! Yay! Thanks for all the moral support =) Will post later about study materials etc. I think I was lucky, I totally crammed my study.

 

[flyingfree234]

Oh and also, I never received an e-mail telling me I passed - I had to check this forum. Ok now I'm paranoid, these won't be "wrong" right? Like they won't come back and say, whoops you failed?

 

[Brob311]

First attempt 296....2nd attempt pass, score pending.

 

[Phospholipid]

Just wanted to post for future ABIM takers. This was my first time taking it. I scored horrendous on my in service exam. I think it was something like 30th percentile 1st yr, 20th 2nd year, and 6th percentile 3rd year. Ironically, my percentage correct was fairly steady throughout the 3 yrs, but the grading increased as you progressed from PGY 1 to PGY 3. I know, it was terrible. I never studied towards the ABIM during my residency, and used my time to pursue getting a competitive fellowship which I was successful. After early December (fellowship match results came out), I started studying for ABIM.

I bought the UWorld 1 yr subscription. First time through UWorld (took me around 6 months) off and on, on tutor mode, I scored I believe a 59% correct, which was a pretty good percentile actually (forgot what it was, like maybe 75th percentile). I read all the MKSAP books word for word, and did all the questions on MKSAP, and BB3. I would read MKSAP and MKSAP questions on random on the books (mark off which pages I read, and which questions I did). I did not keep track of my percentile on MKSAP, though I suspect it was probably around 70%, and much easier than UWorld.

After going through MKSAP, and UWorld, and BB3, this was around mid June. After this, I did not have much more time to study as I started fellowship in July and it was hectic from there on out. I decided to only focus on UWorld, and just redid UWorld, and from mid June to early August, I was able to go through about 75% of UWorld the 2nd time around, with my 2nd time around average close to 70% correct, which correlated to around i believe > 90th percentile.

Looking back, I felt UWorld was the best resource, the questions, and answers were very high yield. Thought the question difficulty on UWorld was much harder and indepth than the actual test and MKSAP, understanding the questions and the answers I felt was very high yield towards the real exam. I do not believe it replaces MKSAP, but they are very complimentary to it. This is all I used, and I passed doing this route. Classmates used Awesome review or medstudy, and they felt it helped, but I cannot comment as I did not use it. There is no one way of doing it, just wanted to share my way. Hope it helps for the future test takers.


Addendum: Just got my score report. Score 493, referece mean 468, passing score 370

 

[205321]

Oh and also, I never received an e-mail telling me I passed - I had to check this forum. Ok now I'm paranoid, these won't be "wrong" right? Like they won't come back and say, whoops you failed?

I thought - the same thing. Checked the exam result page, then checked the home page to see if I was certified...and THEN called ABIM to just triple triple check. Ha.

 

[knotoncall]

First time taking. Completed residency May 2015, currently doing a CMR year at a large academic medical center. ITE scores all three years were very good (will post as soon as I can dig them all up).

*Found my ITE for PGY2 and 3: PGY2-81% correct, %tile rank 98
*PGY3-89% correct %tile rank 99

Result: PASSED, score pending.

Participated in our faculty-led weekly board review course (attended all but about 3 sessions, 1.5 hours each) over 6-8 weeks (began in early spring)
Purchased MKSAP 16 online in spring, had done about 40 questions until July. Approximately first week of July began doing just MKSAP questions (way too many per day).
Test date was August 3rd, finished MKSAP on August 1st.
Did not read anything specific for the boards, just questions as outlined above.

I started WAYYY too late and it was very very stressful. Luckily, I had a great deal of time during the month of July to study, as I was on the administrative block of my CMR year (not attending on the wards).

Certainly, would suggest to future test takers to start much much earlier.

 

[bruce4ever]

RESULTS OUT!

PASSED!
Multiple attempts , did all the usual (bb, mksap, u world,awesome) and still failed by a couple points.

What I did this year? Started early. Made my own flash cards using ankii. Had 2800 at exam time! Ankii program has app so you can review your cards on your phone anytime. Making the cards yourself also reinforces knowledge.

Prob not for most candidates, because it is so time consuming, but ankii helped me.
I suffer from severe test anxiety and would score 90% on mksap, but then in a test I would forget. I was still anxious, and felt terrible post test.

Hope this helps someone. I don't post much, but this board is valuable and helped me tremendously.

 

[anaoncmd]

Congrats to every one who passed. I passed as well. Multiple attempts. To those who did not pass, do not despair. I'm at work now, but will post how I preped this time around, after work tonight in case it ends up helping some one else.
Whatever happened, it's over people. On to the next challenge 🙂

 

[rheumshoes]

Congrats to everyone who passed . I did too , thank god . Def a challenging exam. When I get a moment will discuss how I studied !

 

[rph96]

First attempt 296....2nd attempt pass, score pending.

That is quite an improvement. How did you make that happen?

 

[Articuate]

Passed. Phew! ! Awesome review plus mksap plus board basic which is essentially condensed and High yield MKSAP.
Anxiety relieved Until the pulmonary and critical care boards.

 

[flyingfree234]

Since I used this forum for study strategies, would pay it forward. Don't remember exact % on the in-training ACP exams - remember scoring better in first year in the 70th+ percentile then it dropped a bit in second and third year due to busy rotations. Did not get ANY time off to study specifically for this (had banked on a week of vacation didn't get it). I would suggest to study earlier than I did - I felt super stressed by the end. I started reading in February - did MKSAP in first year and did it again in third year - make flashcards out of the answer explanations. Was still doing rotations so studying was very sparse.

I used UWorld for all my USMLE's and found it really helpful since all my other exam prep was also quite limited and my school does not do any specific prep for these exams at all. So I used it again for this and I really liked it - not just for exam prep but for learning, the charts and explanations were not too verbose and it was VERY hard but forced you to know your stuff. I scored ~ 50% on it first go. Went through the questions I marked again - well tried to, didn't get through everything. Wanted to add I used BB3 - went through it about 2 times (quick go through the second time) and made flashcards out of it.

In the last month, essentially crammed like crazy and memorized flashcards. Did not use any prep courses or any other resources beyond what I had in residency, Uworld, BB3, and MKSAP. No study group either.

I would recommend getting at least 2 weeks off for this (or at least 1 week for your sanity). Good luck!

 

[Brob311]

First attempt 296....2nd attempt pass, score pending.

First Day I found out I failed started studying.

Read, re-read, re-read MedStudy books. After each section I completed MKSAP 16 ?'s on that subject. Repeat/Rinse. I had gone through each subject x 3 and focused on the high yield material regarding detailed studying during that time. I did some Med Study ?'s close to the exam for extra reps.

My mistake during the first attempt was that I was not focused and did not spend enough time doing high yield material. My cardiology, Onc, and Pulm were low, and they made up the bulk of my exam regarding %ile.

 

[Brob311]

I don't mean to be a "Debbie downer". but has anyone heard of someone failing?

 

[cassrae]

I don't mean to be a "Debbie downer". but has anyone heard of someone failing?

Yes.

 

[gutonc]

Interesting, yesterday there is a mid-November projected time line for scores and a day later score are up. Looking back a couple of years, they have been as late as Nov 2nd. In either 2010 or 2011 they were piecemeal with scores popping up over about a week before they all got released. It will be interesting to see if these were all reported today or if it random reporting of results.

They got tired of you guys calling them. Classic misdirection. Worked like a charm.