Official ABIM Exam/study tools thread!

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Mine says certified and I went ahead and enrolled myself in the MOC program. If it is fail after this then they will have to dis-enroll me.
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pendrin said:
Did anyone call ABIM for score reports?
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I did call them this morning and waited on hold for 20 min only for a representative to tell me that he cannot tell me if I passed or failed even though my status shows that I am certified. He also told me that the score reports will be released today. I have incessantly been checking my email and the ABIM website for my score report to no avail. Hopefully, I will get something by tonight so I can sleep peacefully.
 
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futureneph said:
I did call them this morning and waited on hold for 20 min only for a representative to tell me that he cannot tell me if I passed or failed even though my status shows that I am certified. He also told me that the score reports will be released today. I have incessantly been checking my email and the ABIM website for my score report to no avail. Hopefully, I will get something by tonight so I can sleep peacefully.
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My status still says not certified, I called this morning ABIM and the lady told me that they are still in the process of releasing reports and I shud be getting one by the end of the day . Does that mean that it still hope or I have to move on as I failed ?
 
Alphaville24 said:
My status still says not certified, I called this morning ABIM and the lady told me that they are still in the process of releasing reports and I shud be getting one by the end of the day . Does that mean that it still hope or I have to move on as I failed ?
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Everyone I know of who took it (minus two who I didn't think would pass) has had their status change from "not certified" to "certified". It seems unlikely, based on this and prior years, that they would suddenly change it to certified this late.
 
Score report came today. Passed, not an amazing score but who goes a crap.
 
Did anyone take the ABIM exam in Manhattan, at 100 William street? If so, please PM me.
 
no score report yet...as usual abim slowly releasing data so some people get information sooner than others
 
no score report here either, still waiting, but glad they are rolling it out now, a good chance i will continue to compulsively check until i get it, did they email it to you or just kept refreshing online?
 
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Got an email. It was strange because it was sent about 3 nanoseconds after I had just refreshed the score report page.
 
I just got my scores and am very happy. But for those of you who did not pass, please don't be too discouraged. I have several friends who failed that shocked me and who are in prestigious fellowships, so I think it was just a ridiculous test...
 
CPRBandit said:
I just got my scores and am very happy. But for those of you who did not pass, please don't be too discouraged. I have several friends who failed that shocked me and who are in prestigious fellowships, so I think it was just a ridiculous test...
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No score report or email yet. What time did you guys get stuff?
 
Frank Costanza said:
Got an email. It was strange because it was sent about 3 nanoseconds after I had just refreshed the score report page.
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Same thing happened to me. I refreshed the score report page and right after got the email.
 
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just got an email, has a detailed score report. Glad I'm done with this test. Low 500s, could have been better. Oh well.
Dr. Baron from ABIM is making a lot of money from all this.
 
Gosh this system is annoying- still no score report. Know I probably passed based on certification status, but this is just a teaser. Is there any point refreshing the ABIM page once in a while or should I just wait till my phone beeps about new emails?
 
Just got email and score report. They are burning the midnight oil it seems. Is the highest score really 800? Regardless so happy it's done now. I would agree that USMLE system was a lot more uniform and i prefer the all at once release.
 
RheumBoom said:
Gosh this system is annoying- still no score report. Know I probably passed based on certification status, but this is just a teaser. Is there any point refreshing the ABIM page once in a while or should I just wait till my phone beeps about new emails?
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You'll get the email.

I was refreshing every few minutes, got the email simultaneously to the score report being available.

For all that they touted the new score reports as having more detail, they're still pretty thin. No numbers regarding percentiles or anything, though there's a bar graph you can estimate on.

It'll also have a list of concepts you missed so general that I feel comfortable posting about it in public... things like "Tachyarrhythmias treatment care/decisions", "Other diseases of the stomach or duodenum diagnosis". A few of them are more specific about what disease they were on (no details from me) but still not super duper useful to guide studying if you failed. Thank God I didn't.

thierryhenry said:
Just got email and score report. They are burning the midnight oil it seems. Is the highest score really 800? Regardless so happy it's done now. I would agree that USMLE system was a lot more uniform and i prefer the all at once release.
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Per their FAQ
http://www.abim.org/about/exam-information/score-report.aspx#score-scale
Your performance on the entire examination determines your examination pass-fail decision. Overall performance is reported on a standardized score scale ranging from 200 to 800 in increments of 1 point. The mean standardized score for first-time takers of this examination is 500 with a standard deviation of 100. For example, a score of 600 is one standard deviation above the mean of first time takers. Candidates with equal ability will achieve the same standardized score.
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So not only is the highest score 800, but the 240 question test has 600 possible scores. It does say there's a SEM of 12 though.
 
Average score reported slightly lower than your reported quote there.
Agree about score report very vague but then again the questions I remember marking come up so it's likely accurate just vague.
Also their average is not just our year. It rather says "first time test takers in recent years."
 
Anyone who was "not certified" get a confirmatory fail? Or vice versa, a pass?

Anyone who was "certified" get a fail? Seems like most of you who received that "certify" got a confirmatory pass.
 
thierryhenry said:
Average score reported slightly lower than your reported quote there.
Agree about score report very vague but then again the questions I remember marking come up so it's likely accurate just vague.
Also their average is not just our year. It rather says "first time test takers in recent years."
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More importantly the score means absolute jack. So if you pass with a 500 or an 800 it amounts to the same thing.
 
so from viewing my score report I learned this: this test is essentially pass/fail for a reason, because there is a low margin for error. I don't know if they throw questions out, but from what I can tell you would need ~70% correct for a bare minimum pass. I'm sure it's a lot more complicated than this, but it makes me appreciate how few questions can separate those who passed from those who failed.

You have to study for this (you can see my story above, essentially, UWorld). I do echo doing at least two question banks, and if live reviews work for you, going that route. You do have to achieve a high bar of (useless) knowledge for this.
 
The website says I'm certified, but I'm also waiting for my score report.
 
Passed.

My ITE scores were not that great (<30th)
Read all of MKSAP during PGY2
My only study tool was Board Basics with MKSAP questions. I took one month off after residency and studied religiously in the mornings and did questions in the afternoons. I was scoring >80% correct the week prior to my exam.

I do not enjoy prep courses but everyone I know who took Awesome Review absolutely loved it, particularly those in fellowships.

When leaving the test I was certain I had failed. It felt like after a step exam but with much more on the line. So glad it's over.

Sorry to those who did not pass. It's not at all reflective of you as a physician.
 
Frank Costanza said:
Passed.

My ITE scores were not that great (<30th)
Read all of MKSAP during PGY2
My only study tool was Board Basics with MKSAP questions. I took one month off after residency and studied religiously in the mornings and did questions in the afternoons. I was scoring >80% correct the week prior to my exam.

I do not enjoy prep courses but everyone I know who took Awesome Review absolutely loved it, particularly those in fellowships.

When leaving the test I was certain I had failed. It felt like after a step exam but with much more on the line. So glad it's over.

Sorry to those who did not pass. It's not at all reflective of you as a physician.
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what time did you get your score report email?
 
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Passed and certified. Crappy score though, didn't have a lot of time to study being in a fellowship. Do our fellowship PDs get score reports? Or just pass or fail reports?
 
Should fellows of a specialty keep up with MOC? IE should I enroll in MOC?
 
RheumBoom said:
Should fellows of a specialty keep up with MOC? IE should I enroll in MOC?
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Put it off as long as you can. Hopefully you'll be able to ditch the Gen IM MOC and just do your sub-specialty.

Or, by the time it matters, MOC will be dead.
 
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Still no results yet for me, I am listed as certified. I'm getting nervous they are going to change my status and show me a failure on my score report. Anyone else in the same boat?

How is it they are releasing these scores? Descending order of scores? Date taken? Area of the country?

I wish this would just end...
 
Jsmith123321 said:
Still no results yet for me, I am listed as certified. I'm getting nervous they are going to change my status and show me a failure on my score report. Anyone else in the same boat?

How is it they are releasing these scores? Descending order of scores? Date taken? Area of the country?

I wish this would just end...
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I am in the same boat as you are. I am showing up as certified but have yet to get my score report. The guy on the phone told me that I would get my score report today, but I have been checking my email almost every 5 minutes and NOTHING yet! #panicmode!
 
Just got mine...missed passing by 10 #$%^&( points...

The only good news is that I rocked the area I'm in fellowship for.
 
I actually didn't even realize scores were coming out until friends on Facebook started posting that they were board certified. I haven't got a score report yet but after skimming this thread went ahead and used the "check certification" link which seems to suggest that I'm certified. Has anyone confirmed that this is working or is that status totally random?
 
I got mine back too. Just wait for the email to be pushed to your phone. I passed ~560. I have 31 knowledge points listed that I am supposedly deficient in. Does that mean I got 31 questions wrong out of this 240 Q test? Because holy moley that means an 87% is still under 1 SD above the average
 
HoldTheCoffee said:
I actually didn't even realize scores were coming out until friends on Facebook started posting that they were board certified. I haven't got a score report yet but after skimming this thread went ahead and used the "check certification" link which seems to suggest that I'm certified. Has anyone confirmed that this is working or is that status totally random?
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I like you. You can stay.
 
RheumBoom said:
I got mine back too. Just wait for the email to be pushed to your phone. I passed ~560. I have 31 knowledge points listed that I am supposedly deficient in. Does that mean I got 31 questions wrong out of this 240 Q test? Because holy moley that means an 87% is still under 1 SD above the average
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So does this mean it could come anytime tonight?
 
RheumBoom said:
I got mine back too. Just wait for the email to be pushed to your phone. I passed ~560. I have 31 knowledge points listed that I am supposedly deficient in. Does that mean I got 31 questions wrong out of this 240 Q test? Because holy moley that means an 87% is still under 1 SD above the average
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I missed passing by 6 points. And if I'm interpreting the score report correctly, I got 75% of questions right. So apparently you can be about one SD below average and fail while still getting 3/4 questions right. If that's true, the whole test needs to be redone.
 
bball1984 said:
I missed passing by 6 points. And if I'm interpreting the score report correctly, I got 75% of questions right. So apparently you can be about one SD below average and fail while still getting 3/4 questions right. If that's true, the whole test needs to be redone.
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Were you listed as certified?
 
Got my email about 530 pm central time. For the record, everyone I have spoken to who was listed as 'certified' has passed.
 
bball1984 said:
I missed passing by 6 points. And if I'm interpreting the score report correctly, I got 75% of questions right. So apparently you can be about one SD below average and fail while still getting 3/4 questions right. If that's true, the whole test needs to be redone.
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I'd be careful calculating a percentage.

While you know the # of points you missed (presumably = to the number of missed concepts on the score report), the denominator isn't necessarily 240. There's experimental questions on the real thing that probably don't count. Additionally, the questions likely aren't all worth the same, they describe a weighting process on their FAQ.
 
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