Oral Board Exam

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Trefoil

A Higher Order Aberration
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Hey all,

Waiting for the results of this exam is nauseating. I walked out feeling good, but the more time passes the more I question whether that sensation was a false sense of security. To those who have passed, did you feel confident leaving the exam? To those who have failed, did you feel like you failed? I know that the perception that confident people always fail is a fallacy, but I can’t get it out of my head that I didn’t really perceive any huge issues with my examination process....is it that I was blind to my own errors? I do know of several places where I could have performed better, but they didn’t seem like glaring mistakes. Thank you for entertaining my neuroticism in advance.

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I was dead sure that I failed. Everyone is. You start analyzing every little detail and focus disproportionately on what you think you did wrong.

Can't do anything about it now. It's very normal to feel anxious until results came out, but that's the uncertainty at work and doesn't indicate anything about your performance. Try your best not to stress about what you cannot control at this point.

It's hard to keep from obsessing right now, but just know that everyone does. Wishing you the best of luck!
 
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Tha
I was dead sure that I failed. Everyone is. You start analyzing every little detail and focus disproportionately on what you think you did wrong.

Can't do anything about it now. It's very normal to feel anxious until results came out, but that's the uncertainty at work and doesn't indicate anything about your performance. Try your best not to stress about what you cannot control at this point.

It's hard to keep from obsessing right now, but just know that everyone does. Wishing you the best of luck!
Thanks for the encouragement! Hopefully they get the results out relatively quickly.
 
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Hey all,

Waiting for the results of this exam is nauseating. I walked out feeling good, but the more time passes the more I question whether that sensation was a false sense of security. To those who have passed, did you feel confident leaving the exam? To those who have failed, did you feel like you failed? I know that the perception that confident people always fail is a fallacy, but I can’t get it out of my head that I didn’t really perceive any huge issues with my examination process....is it that I was blind to my own errors? I do know of several places where I could have performed better, but they didn’t seem like glaring mistakes. Thank you for entertaining my neuroticism in advance.

I haven't posted in awhile, but thought I chime in to provide some encouragement and perspective. I took the virtual Oral Exam last year and passed--whew! I remember exiting the exam with mixed feelings. I felt confident about my performance on two blocks, but shaky on the first block--I attributed this to nerves, an unfamiliar format, and a stonewall examiner who stared at me blankly. I, too, perseverated on what I "missed," "could've said better," or "should've expanded my differential." It was a taxing mental purgatory for me, but probably more so for my wife, who had to live through my neuroticism until the verdict was released. I think sometimes our perception on how we performed can be different from reality. We strive to do well and have been conditioned to think the worse. This is magnified when you get zero feedback. In short, take a deep breath and exhale. You prepared well, you did you best, and don't count yourself short. Good luck!
 
I haven't posted in awhile, but thought I chime in to provide some encouragement and perspective. I took the virtual Oral Exam last year and passed--whew! I remember exiting the exam with mixed feelings. I felt confident about my performance on two blocks, but shaky on the first block--I attributed this to nerves, an unfamiliar format, and a stonewall examiner who stared at me blankly. I, too, perseverated on what I "missed," "could've said better," or "should've expanded my differential." It was a taxing mental purgatory for me, but probably more so for my wife, who had to live through my neuroticism until the verdict was released. I think sometimes our perception on how we performed can be different from reality. We strive to do well and have been conditioned to think the worse. This is magnified when you get zero feedback. In short, take a deep breath and exhale. You prepared well, you did you best, and don't count yourself short. Good luck!
Thanks for the encouragement. It’s kind of weird the first day, I was so happy to be done that my brain actually didn’t overanalyze anything, but every day since has been anxiety inducing. Hopefully only one more week of waiting. They did give themselves wiggle room (4-6 weeks). I’ll update when I find out.
 
Passed! Thank goodness that is over.
 
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Congrats StupidRoo. Not so "Stupid" actually! I (amazingly) passed too, as did almost 90% of test-takers. Congrats to everybody. Hopefully the high pass rates will continue, and this won't be such an albatross anymore. What a relief!!
 
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Congrats all who passed! Did anyone use ophthoquestions or ophthogenie to study and really like it?
 
Congrats StupidRoo. Not so "Stupid" actually! I (amazingly) passed too, as did almost 90% of test-takers. Congrats to everybody. Hopefully the high pass rates will continue, and this won't be such an albatross anymore. What a relief!!
Congrats all who passed! Did anyone use ophthoquestions or ophthogenie to study and really like it?
Congrats Brathmore! I did look at the pass rates and saw it was like 87%, which was a pretty dramatic swing from the previous quarter.


Salami Bahama: I used ophthoquestions and AAO questions for the WQE. I did use some oral exam ophthoquestions prep as well. It’s in it’s early phases, so not every case is polished yet, but I thought it was pretty helpful to run cases.
 
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