Oral board prep time (2017) - Okuda book and time

[deleted859535]

Question to those who have completed the oral boards in the last few years, and so as to not bump an old thread: how much time did you allot for prep / how long?

Have the Okuda book. Not planning on course. Maybe prep with a friend in person once or twice. Am aware 2016 pass rate was 98%.

Did mock orals with residency program a few times as a resident.

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[Daedalus]

Over the course of the 3 weeks or so before the test, I read through most of the cases in the Okuda book. That's all I did. Kinda wish I had done a few practice cases with a friend/mentor a day or two before the exam to get in that mindset, but oh well - passed comfortably. Don't stress about it too much.

 

[deleted859535]

Not to bump my own thread, but having taken the orals just recently (looks like ~4-5 weeks until results online, historically?), definitely would vouch for the Okuda book. Never did take a course -- unsure if I should have.

My understanding of scoring per multiple online links and old ABEM published policy, now cited elsewhere since I can't seem to find on their site, is that passing is:

(a) get a minimum of 5.75 in each case, or;
(b) get an average of 5.00 across all scored cases with averaging across all eight performance criteria for all scored cases AND the highest and lowest case scores are averaged to equal ≥5 AND the remainder of your cases are scored ≥5.

In keeping with ABEM policy, all I'll say is that I feel like I missed a few things that conceivably could be critical actions. By the math, it seems like you could miss more than one critical on more than one case and still pass -- but who knows.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

My understanding is you can completely botch one case as long as you do really well on the others, and that's pretty much what I did and barely passed. I would not expect to botch two cases and pass.

I wouldn't take this test for granted. I know lots of people who barely passed and am surprised to hear there is a 98% pass rate. Much higher than I would have expected. It's not THAT hard, but it's definitely worth practicing for.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

98% pass rate is decieving. It’s 98% for people that passed the written on the first try. The 8-10% of people who couldn’t pass the written don’t get a chance to take the oral board. And the people failed the written on the first chance, then passed on the second or third chance, are not included in that data since it only includes people who pass the written on the first try.

Essentially, that statistic already weeded out all the people who are not good test-takers, so of course the pass rate is going to be higher than the written.

 

[deleted245139]

I liked OKUDA alot. And I'll vouch for not overlooking this thing. I did 100% solo prep and passed comfortably, but I think it was a mistake. You need to practice and preferably with another person

 

[deleted859535]

Seems like many have felt crappy walking out of this test and feeling like several things were missed despite passing. Pretty much the case?

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Seems like many have felt crappy walking out of this test and feeling like several things were missed despite passing. Pretty much the case?

Haha. Yeah, I swore I failed it. I made so many boneheaded mistakes. When I got my score back, I swore it was a failure letter. Then I saw my score and realized I actually did well. How? I have literally no idea, because I made a bunch of mistakes. I didn't even finish one of the triples. I thought I was sure to have bombed that thing. Looking back its laughable now, because I've taught how to help beat the boards to both my own residents and with AAEM for 5 years now. But god damn, it was not funny at the time. One of the most awkward levels of nervous tension in my life was the 10 min period where you and about 10 other people are just standing/sitting in a little area off the elevator at the end of a hotel hallway, waiting for the go ahead to start your first case. The level of nervousness is palpable.

Sooooo... good luck!

Just remember, the best analogy I ever heard re: the oral boards to put passing into perspective. You don't have to be perfect. When lawyers pass the bar exam, they don't have to show they can litigate a case for the Supreme Court, they just have to show they can argue a case to Judge Judy. Same with the oral boards. You aren't trying to prove you are superior, but rather just trying to prove you aren't dangerous.

 

[Redrox]

Used the book and it was my best resource, probably went over kill prepping myself doing all of em. Like others have said in this post and before it's more of a process test. Don't think there was anything contentwise on my exam that couldn't be handled by a good 4th year medical student but the flow and organization was more the challenge. Asking the right questions, systematically and efficiently. Playing the game right, book was great for that.

Especially helpful if possible, was doing the cases with a non medical peep, my girlfriend in this case. Because the test is such an artificial format, was good to have some one who didn't know how we'd do things in the real world, helped keep me on the semi-rigid track of how ABEM wants us to be doing these things.

That being said, I got pretty flustered on a few cases myself. Was hard to keep track of what I've ordered or haven't ordered yet on those multicases, shouldn't practiced writing things down more.

^^my two cents

 

[The White Coat Investor]

Here's my tip- If the patient is getting worse, go back to the beginning and start over. You've got the wrong diagnosis. Don't worry, it isn't an obscure one, but you've gotten nervous and locked into the wrong one. It's actually a good tip for practicing medicine too. Maybe that board exam isn't so unrealistic after all...

 

[deleted859535]

Here's my tip- If the patient is getting worse, go back to the beginning and start over. You've got the wrong diagnosis. Don't worry, it isn't an obscure one, but you've gotten nervous and locked into the wrong one. It's actually a good tip for practicing medicine too. Maybe that board exam isn't so unrealistic after all...

Well, I guess I got that. Like @gamerEMdoc said, I made some silly omissions here and there (in some cases after THINKING about it and failing to speak up before end-case), but all of my patients improved with at least some of the style points for the "game" hit, so... surely I'm not in that 2-3% of those first-time takers from EM residencies who fail. I mean, hopefully.

 

[deleted859535]

So hey, board certified folks, what was the time to results in past years? Four or five weeks like I thought I saw? We're at about three weeks. Would love to see that "certification expires" notification on my ABEM page sooner rather than later.

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

I'm trying to force myself to get through this book.

 

[deleted859535]

I'm trying to force myself to get through this book.

Since you bumped my thread - the Okuda book was excellent for board prep. Feel that a big part of me passing reasonably comfortably, as unsure as people feel after, was that prep with things along the way in residency.

 

[Angry Birds]

I’m pretty sure I’m over studying for this. Mostly because I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of an examiner.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

I’m pretty sure I’m over studying for this. Mostly because I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of an examiner.

When lawyers study for the bar exam, they aren't preparing to try a case in front of the Supreme Court, they prepare to try a case before Judge Judy. Don't sweat the oral boards. Just practice basic EM.

 

[bravotwozero]

and for heaven's sake, wear a suit! You lose points if don't wear one, I still couldn't believe a few people showed up in casual clothing, it's the easiest thing to avoid.