Official ABIM Exam/study tools thread!

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Wow i can't believe so many are still waiting. My heart goes out to you.
 
Still waiting.. geez
This is absolute torture. Its nice to know others are waiting. Has anyone heard if any "fail" emails have been sent? If so I guess that would support the idea that this delay isnt related to our scores... 🙁
 
This is absolute torture. Its nice to know others are waiting. Has anyone heard if any "fail" emails have been sent? If so I guess that would support the idea that this delay isnt related to our scores... 🙁

Yeah people did post they have heard of people getting fail emails. People from earlier dates and later dates of received their scores. There is literally no logical way I can think that they are releasing these scores. It is driving me nuts, I just want to see a past, I can give 2 craps about the number
 
Yeah people did post they have heard of people getting fail emails. People from earlier dates and later dates of received their scores. There is literally no logical way I can think that they are releasing these scores. It is driving me nuts, I just want to see a past, I can give 2 craps about the number
Okay thanks. The only reasonable conclusion that can be made is that the ABIM peeps are total sadists. this is like cruel and unusual treatment...
 
...still waiting. This really isn't right at all. Fine, delay releasing the results but to let some find out and others not over a span of 24hrs is really messed up.
 
And I have colleagues who have received fail emails. So it's entirely random.

This is absolute torture. Its nice to know others are waiting. Has anyone heard if any "fail" emails have been sent? If so I guess that would support the idea that this delay isnt related to our scores... 🙁
 
I got my result at 6:54PM EST (Pass) and was around average per my score report. The date on my report is 10/4/17 yet I got my result later than some others with score reports dated 10/5/17. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the time of release other than an attempt to spread out access to their servers?
 
I got my result at 6:54PM EST (Pass) and was around average per my score report. The date on my report is 10/4/17 yet I got my result later than some others with score reports dated 10/5/17. There seems to be no rhyme or reason for the time of release other than an attempt to spread out access to their servers?

congrats @mstp.

I am getting mood swings from being apathetic and manically refreshing the certification page.
 
This is ridiculous. The problem is that about 10 minutes after seeing 'PASS' (setting myself up for a real doozy here) I'm going to go from pissed to apathetic and not thinking about it until 10 years from now. I wish we could capture the frustration here in a battery and use it to force change to this bull**** process. 😡
 
Whoohooooo! Finally, I passed! Got my email at 16:42 here in California. I took it on 8/16 in Phoenix, AZ. This is my third attempt. You can imagine how I've felt waiting for today. I can finally walk with my head looking up. LOL.

Here's what I did. I studied AWESOME review books twice. And, I mean study not just to memorize but to understand. I studied Board Basic 3 once. Lastly, I did MKSAP 17 questions twice. For those that failed, just simplify your materials and know them well. I studied for 5 months straight while working full time. Good luck to those still waiting.
 
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Whoohooooo! Finally, I passed! Got my email at 16:42 here in California. I took it on 8/16 in Phoenix, AZ. This is my third attempt. You can imagine how I've felt waiting for today. I can finally walk with my head looking up. LOL.

Here's what I did. I studied AWESOME review books twice. And, I mean study not just to memorize but to understand. I studied Board Basic 3 once. Lastly, I did MKSAP 3 questions twice. For those that failed, just simplify your materials and know them well. I studied for 5 months straight while working full time. Good luck to those still waiting.
Congratulations dear... so proud of you..I appreciate your honesty.... I know how it feels to be in your shoes..
 
How many people still waiting?

Getting harder and harder to believe I didn't fail
 
Is it only for me?? or Is ABIM certification not working for everyone??
 
Is it only for me?? or Is ABIM certification not working for everyone??
It works if you’re connected to the internet. When I was checking on my phone off the internet it wasn’t working. I just checked and it was working for me. Still waiting on my score
 
It works if you’re connected to the internet. When I was checking on my phone off the internet it wasn’t working. I just checked and it was working for me. Still waiting on my score
So you can see that you are certified?? but not received official email.
 
i am a long time lurker of SDN who has finally decided to post in order to offer a little bit of kindness and consolation to those still waiting.

i graduated from a top-tier academic medicine residency on the west coast and only about 40-50% of my residency class of ~50 has received their scores. with that information, it's HIGHLY unlikely that not receiving your score as of now is any indication that you failed, as some of the best and brightest residents in my class are still waiting as well. in addition, some of the first people in my class who received scores on the morning of day 1 landed below the mean, indicating that they aren't reporting scores in order of high to low.

i'm in the same boat, still waiting as well, but trying my best to keep the anxiety at bay because it's ultimately not worth it. chin up, try to distract yourself with some exercise or a movie or something productive, and don't let catastrophic thinking get the best of you.
 
So you can see that you are certified?? but not received official email.
No sorry, I thought you said the website wasn’t working in general. I haven’t got my score yet but the website is working when I check my friends who I know passed
 
No sorry, I thought you said the website wasn’t working in general. I haven’t got my score yet but the website is working when I check my friends who I know passed
oh okay, for me its not working for anyone name even though i have good internet connection.
 
i am a long time lurker of SDN who has finally decided to post in order to offer a little bit of kindness and consolation to those still waiting.

i graduated from a top-tier academic medicine residency on the west coast and only about 40-50% of my residency class of ~50 has received their scores. with that information, it's HIGHLY unlikely that not receiving your score as of now is any indication that you failed, as some of the best and brightest residents in my class are still waiting as well. in addition, some of the first people in my class who received scores on the morning of day 1 landed below the mean, indicating that they aren't reporting scores in order of high to low.

i'm in the same boat, still waiting as well, but trying my best to keep the anxiety at bay because it's ultimately not worth it. chin up, try to distract yourself with some exercise or a movie or something productive, and don't let catastrophic thinking get the best of you.
Thanks buddy,, makes me feel slightly better
 
oh okay, for me its not working for anyone name even though i have good internet connection.

Don't worry buying, I promise they're not detecting the IP address and only making it not work for those who failed 🙂. It's not loading for me either.
 
A friend posited that they may be releasing based on test version/form. That could be why it seems so horribly random.

Also people in my program who passed are still showing as “no results found” on the certification site, including those who found out this morning. I don’t know anyone who found out yesterday so I don’t know if ABIM just prevented it from updating after a certain point or if they disabled the search entirely or if their IT folks really are super incompetent. Either way, the ABIM sucks and I hate them.

Still no results. Going to finish my notes and then find some random book to engross myself in. Any sci fi recommendations? I’m thinking about starting the dark tower series.
 
my two best friends passed yesterday and they appear as certified on the website.

I am doing a cop show marathon while reading thread of people being kicked out of residency. It reminds me that I am very lucky even if I ended up failing.

Maybe my email will come tonight, maybe twmr, or may Thursday when we are interviewing. Ugh!
 
A friend posited that they may be releasing based on test version/form. That could be why it seems so horribly random.

Also people in my program who passed are still showing as “no results found” on the certification site, including those who found out this morning. I don’t know anyone who found out yesterday so I don’t know if ABIM just prevented it from updating after a certain point or if they disabled the search entirely or if their IT folks really are super incompetent. Either way, the ABIM sucks and I hate them.

Still no results. Going to finish my notes and then find some random book to engross myself in. Any sci fi recommendations? I’m thinking about starting the dark tower series.

Read Name of the Wind (book 1) aka The Kingkiller Chronicles - 3 book series, only 2 books out so far. 3rd one is highly anticipated. Great scifi.

And yea, I am still waiting.

If you have any scifi recs, please share.
 
i am a long time lurker of SDN who has finally decided to post in order to offer a little bit of kindness and consolation to those still waiting.

i graduated from a top-tier academic medicine residency on the west coast and only about 40-50% of my residency class of ~50 has received their scores. with that information, it's HIGHLY unlikely that not receiving your score as of now is any indication that you failed, as some of the best and brightest residents in my class are still waiting as well. in addition, some of the first people in my class who received scores on the morning of day 1 landed below the mean, indicating that they aren't reporting scores in order of high to low.

i'm in the same boat, still waiting as well, but trying my best to keep the anxiety at bay because it's ultimately not worth it. chin up, try to distract yourself with some exercise or a movie or something productive, and don't let catastrophic thinking get the best of you.
Thanks for giving us some hope...though I am still scared. I guess another sleepless night ahead..
 
Read Name of the Wind (book 1) aka The Kingkiller Chronicles - 3 book series, only 2 books out so far. 3rd one is highly anticipated. Great scifi.

And yea, I am still waiting.

If you have any scifi recs, please share.

Did you read the Red Rising series by Pierce Brown? First time in a while where I wished for retrograde amnesia so I could re-read a book again for the first time. Will check out the Kingkiller
series!
 
Just got the email and I PASSED!!!!!!

First time test taker and took it on 08/17. I started a busy job pretty much right after residency ended. The only dedicated time I had was the 1 week off that I took the week before my exam.

I told my self that if I passed, I would post my study methods.

Study material used: MKSAP 17 questions, Board Basics, and MedStudy Videos

I started MKSAP 17 questions in the second half of third year of residency and did it over and over again until test day (including going through the incorrects, and also did the 120 question self assessment). I probably ended up doing MKSAP 3-4x.

I read random parts of Board Basics during residency, but nothing seriously. About 5-6 weeks before my test day, I read through it like reading novel (i probably memorized a few random facts from each chapter). The second time, I skimmed it, going over the parts I highlighted, and the clinical pearls. I also memorized more things (definitely not everything in the book) the second time.

In terms of the MedStudy videos, I did not watch them in any particular order. I started by watching the topics I was weak in. I probably watched close to all of them, but there were certain topics that I probably skipped because I did not watch them in any particular order.

I know people who used multiple sources in addition to what I used, such as UWorld, MedStudy books, etc. I think the key is using 2-3 sources and knowing those sources well.

If you use MKSAP 17, Board Basics, and MedStudy Videos I believe that will cover everything and if you know everything in those sources (which I definitely didn't) you will crush the exam (which I also definitely didn't do). If there is one thing that I would do differently its that I would consider doing a live review course (likely Awesome Review, which I heard is the best one). I didn't have time to do a review course because I could get days off.

Walking out of the exam, I definitely thought I failed, thought I made several silly mistakes, and was preparing myself to retake it. I looked up several questions after my test and convinced myself that I made several mistakes. I would say do your best not to look up anything, it will just sike you out for no reason. I felt none of the sources I used were helpful, but I guess that was fear/anxiety talking because I passed.

Finally, as a side note and I am not sure of this, but I have been told there are experimental questions on the real exam. Of course, there is no way to know which questions are experimental.
 
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Just got the email and I PASSED!!!!!!

First time test taker and took it on 08/17.

Study material used: MKSAP 17, Board Basics, and MedStudy Videos

I started MKSAP 17 in the second half of third year of residency and did it over and over again until test day (including going through incorrects, and also did the 120 question self assessment). I probably ended up doing MKSAP 3-4x.

I read random parts of Board Basics during residency, but nothing seriously. About 5-6 weeks before my test day, I read through it like reading novel (i probably memorized a few random facts from each chapter). The second time, I skimmed it, going over the parts I highlighted, and the clinical pearls. I also memorized more things (definitely not everything in the book) the second time.

In terms of the MedStudy videos, I did not watch them in any particular order. I started by watching the topics I was weak in. I probably watched close to all of them, but there were certain topics that I probably skipped because I did not watch them in any particular order.

I know people who used multiple sources in addition to what I used, such as UWorld, MedStudy books, etc. I think the key is using 2-3 sources and knowing those sources well.

If you use MKSAP 17 questions, Board Basics, and MedStudy Videos I believe that will cover everything and if you know everything in those sources (which I definitely didn't) you will crush the exam.
finally tendon.... congrats...
 
I am still waiting, Any one with me in this forum still??
 
Passed. Time stamp 9:39pm

The ABIM ruined any joy in passing for me. I almost certainly will not be recertifying in 10 years.
 
530..the avg was 470...do you understand statistics? That's the upper 1/3 not "barely made it"
passing scire is 370. as long as it is 370 it should be okay.. guys you passed.. enjoy... dont think any further than that..
 
Passed. Time stamp 9:39pm

The ABIM ruined any joy in passing for me. I almost certainly will not be recertifying in 10 years.
Yes you will. Because in 10 years you won't give a s***. You'll pay your dollahs and take your test. Then you'll go back to work and rake in some more dollahs.
 
The way they are releasing scores is completely unprofessional and honestly, mind blowing in how ****ed up it is. We've paid them $1400 for a product that is complete BS and they can't even do us the courtesy of releasing scores in a timely manner (or at one time). Rich Baron should be ashamed of himself and his organization. They need to figure out a way to fix this for the next year's test takers because the way this is being done is nothing short of ridiculous.
 
I say this as someone with a CS background: there is absolutely no reason for results to take this long. They are probably experiencing more traffic from refreshes than if everyone just logged in once. It's clear that ABIM is an incompetent organization and a leech in a similar way that state medical boards are.

Obviously this post makes absolutely zero difference either now or in 10 years (assuming I pass) but if they are ever in trouble as an organization I will refuse to support them.
 
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