Official ABIM Exam/study tools thread!

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Congrats to buying! I've been lurking in the misery of this thread and wanted to post my experience.

Passed with a 536. I took the exam on 8/21 and got my e-mail at around midnight last night. Score report dated 10/5/17. I felt terrible leaving the test (whole sections where I was guessing on 1/2 the questions) and found 5-6 questions I got wrong after looking them up post-exam. I did the MKSAP questions 1.5 times and read the oncology section in board basics (it was still my lowest section). I was in the high 50s on MKSAP during my first pass and went to 80-90 on second pass (mostly because I remembered the questions). I was ~70th->50th percentiles on my 1st and 2nd year ITE (didn't take it third year) and had good step scores in the past. I'm thrilled to have this beast of a test and terrible reporting process behind me.

Best of luck to everyone that's still waiting.
 
You guys are almost there... I know its the most annoying wait anyone go through. I promise myself I am never going to give medicine boards, I am only doing sub specialty boards, because I cant go through this for 3 times every 10 years.
 
For those of us waiting (including myself) this is torture. For those who have gotten their results: Did you guys check the abim website first where you check your cert or where you see if you got your results yet, OR did you just wait for the email? I was thinking maybe we can preemptively check online to see if the results come online first vs email?
 
For those of us waiting (including myself) this is torture. For those who have gotten their results: Did you guys check the abim website first where you check your cert or where you see if you got your results yet, OR did you just wait for the email? I was thinking maybe we can preemptively check online to see if the results come online first vs email?
Most of them had an email alert first, and then they have checked results.
Honestly all three of them are happening at the same time.
Personally I have taken out email alert, as spam alerts were torturing me.. I was just refreshing my ABIM site to see the results. and then I checked my email which is around the same time.
 
You guys are almost there... I know its the most annoying wait anyone go through. I promise myself I am never going to give medicine boards, I am only doing sub specialty boards, because I cant go through this for 3 times every 10 years.

Amen to that.
 
Failed last time w a 362. Was up all night w a barfing kid - which wasn't so bad bc it distracted me from the waiting. How much longer can this go on for? On the website they now say results will be released the 'week of October 23.' Does that mean by Friday or Sunday?
 
This just makes it more exciting like when you are watching your soccer, football and baseball team come back and score last minute and win the game ( yes, defense mechanism).
 
This just makes it more exciting like when you are watching your soccer, football and baseball team come back and score last minute and win the game ( yes, defense mechanism).
This is definitely baseball. Too slow for anything else.
 
This is not ok, especially if you didn’t pass adding this element of torture. I haven’t slept in 2 days and still waiting
Failed last time w a 362. Was up all night w a barfing kid - which wasn't so bad bc it distracted me from the waiting. How much longer can this go on for? On the website they now say results will be released the 'week of October 23.' Does that mean by Friday or Sunday?
I am so Sorry for you dear. I am with you in this, Similar situation last year, failed by 4 marks. And got result few hrs ago. I passed.
Don't loose your hope.. You will pass.. I understand your pain.. I guess you will have result today.. There is no pattern to release of results. Its very random.
 
Amen to that.
New here - mostly bc I cant handle this anymore!!
Most of the ppl who are talking about boards have already recieved their scores in my program.
I am so Sorry for you dear. I am with you in this, Similar situation last year, failed by 4 marks. And got result few hrs ago. I passed.
Don't loose your hope.. You will pass.. I understand your pain.. I guess you will have result today.. There is no pattern to release of results. Its very random.

Is it really at random?
I dont know anyone who has failed yet - everyone around me has found out and passed.
 
Congrats to both of you!!!!

By the way, was it like this last year?
I'm home w my kids right now, not working, so I didn't find out until I got the email. I bet all this was going on (seems very ABIM-ish), but I was blissfully unaware. I only checked bc the review course I took sent out an email saying results were out...just not mine 🙂
From my readings of old posts I think this has been going on for a while.
 
Well 90% pass rate, so unlikely you will hear from anybody. So I think lets just wait, no need to panic.
 
New here - mostly bc I cant handle this anymore!!
Most of the ppl who are talking about boards have already recieved their scores in my program.


It's random. People have posted about failing. You just haven't heard about fails bc people don't announce them.
 
New here - mostly bc I cant handle this anymore!!
Most of the ppl who are talking about boards have already recieved their scores in my program.


Is it really at random?
I don't know anyone who has failed yet - everyone around me has found out and passed.
Welcome to this forum.. Still many residents haven't found out.. I am looking at certification of various residents who I know will definitely make it.. Results are not completely out.. Its very random, I tried to analyze.. But couldn't come to any conclusion.
 
Its hard for anyone who have failed to come out and post something in this forum at this time. Its painful..
Eventually will come out once they settle down..
Its hard not to think about failure at this time, given that you havent received results.. pray ..pray.. pray.. may be that helps.
As some one was saying, try to get distracted with shows, game, food.
 
Welcome to this forum.. Still many residents haven't found out.. I am looking at certification of various residents who I know will definitely make it.. Results are not completely out.. Its very random, I tried to analyze.. But couldn't come to any conclusion.
Im a hospitalist but they just told me 4-5 residents havent receive their grades yet.
 
Hi everyone, new here, day off from patient care today. No results yet. Trying to pace myself with checking, but easier said than done. Anyone still waiting? Please let me know.. I don't know what to make out of it. Most of you guys got your scores and passed. Congratulations!!! But... really, anyone still waiting? They send the fail emails at the end? Any thoughts?
 
Hi everyone, new here, day off from patient care today. No results yet. Trying to pace myself with checking, but easier said than done. Anyone still waiting? Please let me know.. I don't know what to make out of it. Most of you guys got your scores and passed. Congratulations!!! But... really, anyone still waiting? They send the fail emails at the end? Any thoughts?
Still waiting
Know of people that got fail emails 1st day
Still hoping to know asap
 
Hi everyone, new here, day off from patient care today. No results yet. Trying to pace myself with checking, but easier said than done. Anyone still waiting? Please let me know.. I don't know what to make out of it. Most of you guys got your scores and passed. Congratulations!!! But... really, anyone still waiting? They send the fail emails at the end? Any thoughts?
Hi Arielle,,,Welcome..
Just summarize all the above conversations, there is no pattern to the emails. People have received failed emails too, just that they are not posted here. late emails doesn't mean fail. Keep your spirits high( I know its difficult waiting for so long).
And many in this forum are waiting too like you..
 
Hi Arielle,,,Welcome..
Just summarize all the above conversations, there is no pattern to the emails. People have received failed emails too, just that they are not posted here. late emails doesn't mean fail. Keep your spirits high( I know its difficult waiting for so long).
And many in this forum are waiting too like you..
Thank you !
 
Passed; just got the email. I know a few people who haven't received their scores, however. Just wanted to give a shout-out to Kn0wmedge. Not sure if they're still blocked here, but it was my most important resource in hindsight. I didn't do all that well in the ITEs and I was in a busy fellowship working my ass off, so I was unable to take the awesome review course, and was beating myself up for it as I had only gone through MKSAP 17 once. In the last two months, I decided to take a chance with kn0wmedge because I liked their sample videos which had alot of useful mnemonics. I think the fact that I passed was in large part because of their video explanations, which I found to be phenomenally helpful. For anyone looking for resources and are unable to do a live course, give them a try. Their on-call system for responding to questions wasn't all that great, but the videos more than made up for it.

Futronius
 
Passed; just got the email. I know a few people who haven't received their scores, however. Just wanted to give a shout-out to Kn0wmedge. Not sure if they're still blocked here, but it was my most important resource in hindsight. I didn't do all that well in the ITEs and I was in a busy fellowship working my ass off, so I was unable to take the awesome review course, and was beating myself up for it as I had only gone through MKSAP 17 once. In the last two months, I decided to take a chance with kn0wmedge because I liked their sample videos which had alot of useful mnemonics. I think the fact that I passed was in large part because of their video explanations, which I found to be phenomenally helpful. For anyone looking for resources and are unable to do a live course, give them a try. Their on-call system for responding to questions wasn't all that great, but the videos more than made up for it.

Futronius
Congratulations.......
 
Lurker in this forum. 1st time taker graduated from mid/mid-upper tier university program and matched to a competitive fellowship. Slightly above average on USMLEs and average on ITEs. Felt like my study for the ABIM was really sub-par given some family changes in the preceding months and a cross-country move for a work-intensive fellowship. Came out of the exam with about 95% confidence that I had failed. Had already planned my new study initiative for the re-take. Emailed at 11:18AM EDT and I passed. Such a relief. For me, at least, my third year ITE was incredibly accurate for predicting my score (even with my subpar studying efforts). The entire experience is very humbling as although I feel great having passed- I am very aware of how much more I need to learn and how many incredibly brilliant people are out there practicing around me. Best of luck to everyone who still waits.
 
Lurker in this forum. 1st time taker graduated from mid/mid-upper tier university program and matched to a competitive fellowship. Slightly above average on USMLEs and average on ITEs. Felt like my study for the ABIM was really sub-par given some family changes in the preceding months and a cross-country move for a work-intensive fellowship. Came out of the exam with about 95% confidence that I had failed. Had already planned my new study initiative for the re-take. Emailed at 11:18AM EDT and I passed. Such a relief. For me, at least, my third year ITE was incredibly accurate for predicting my score (even with my subpar studying efforts). The entire experience is very humbling as although I feel great having passed- I am very aware of how much more I need to learn and how many incredibly brilliant people are out there practicing around me. Best of luck to everyone who still waits.
Congrats dear
 
As anyone who took the test on August 22, 2017 gotten their results back?
 
As anyone who took the test on August 22, 2017 gotten their results back?
I took it August 22 and I'm still waiting. I know multiple people who took it on the same day and got their passing scores which is making me anxious although practically I realize there has been no clear pattern to this. Good luck to everyone still waiting
 
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