Oral boards 2015

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Good luck to the fellow early test takers. Will be really glad to have this behind me (I'm ignoring the next 30 years of MOCA ahead of me for the time being).
 
I'm done as well. I'm pretty sure I failed. I thought my first case went okay and then my second was a disaster from the start. Although my patient didn't die, I was blanking on direct questions, flustered and rambled. And my examiners were rough! Hope my first case performance saves me.

What did you all think?
 
What did you guys do to study? I didn't sign up early enough and have to take them in May instead. I'm banking on my CCM fellow experience to take care of the communication aspect, but having to talk about peds and regional and some weird medical diseases definitely makes me a little nervous
 
G-Man82 said:
What did you guys do to study? I didn't sign up early enough and have to take them in May instead. I'm banking on my CCM fellow experience to take care of the communication aspect, but having to talk about peds and regional and some weird medical diseases definitely makes me a little nervous
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I know people crap on Michael Ho's course but it was the best decision I ever made. I took the crash course in the testing city the week prior to my exam. It's heavy on the details but I never felt more prepared and felt that I would've probably failed had it not been for that course. Look into and see if you think it would work for you.
 
Iluvpassingas said:
I'm done as well. I'm pretty sure I failed. I thought my first case went okay and then my second was a disaster from the start. Although my patient didn't die, I was blanking on direct questions, flustered and rambled. And my examiners were rough! Hope my first case performance saves me.

What did you all think?
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Dude, I was there too. Appears we were the first ones of the season. Hopefully we just set the curve and don't fail?

Thought the stems were the real deal. Lot of ancillary questions I even have trouble finding after Googling. I knew examiners tried to question the management and get you to second-guess, but geez, thought it was extreme!

Anyways, I'm there with you so no frets! It's about 90% pass, right?
 
Took my oral exam in February too. I know it's supposed to take 2 weeks but anyone gotten their results yet? Thought since we were in the first group our results may roll out a little faster?
 
Got mines next month, any tips of what u would do differently
 
lilzelda2 said:
Got mines next month, any tips of what u would do differently
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I used big red and board stiff 3. The best thing to study though is to do as many practice oral exams as possible. I utilized the many ASA board examiners that are on faculty at my institution and let them grill me a few times a week. If you feel amazing after a practice session then find someone who is going to be harder on you. Get out of your comfort zone as much as possible. I also did practice exams with my friends, who were also studying for the oral exam, almost every night. This test is not just about fund of knowlege it's about application of that knowledge and your ability to convey that in a coherent manner. The only way to get good at that is by practicing over and over and over. As to what I would do differently....I would have pushed my comfort zone with practice sessions more and more often by chosing the most intimidating people available to quiz me. There will never be anything as nerve racking as the real thing but the closer you can get to the real thing the better.
 
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Maverick2016 said:
Anyone got their results yet? They say 2 weeks just curious if they're posting yet?
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They said two weeks from the Friday of the week you took your test. So I'm thinking Friday is the day. Sooner would be better.
 
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Congrats ! to those who passed , any tips / advice for future test takers ?
 
Passed em, feels good.

My tip is just pick a good study reference and do it all in an exhaustive manner. Doing practice questions outloud is most important, and repeating similar scenarios.
 
Took Orals in March, have one more week to wait for results, feel like time is standing still and all I can remember is everything I was unsure of 🙁
 
Anyone interested in selling me their "Big Red" study materials?
 
Seems like if you are a reader+poster on SDN, you pass the oral boards. Taking in April, hope I don't ruin the trend
 
Passed!😀 Still in total shock!

To risnwb, I am a regular reader of this board and failed last year which was my first attempt. I know most people pass on the first try and I wish I had because I studied so hard last year, but going through that hell again makes me appreciate this so much more!!
The difference between my approaches was that last year I did more book studying and took about 8 total mock orals, this time it was closer to 30.
Last year I felt very confident after I had taken it; my examiners didn't second guess or offer alternatives to any of my answers and were completely poker faced. I was totally blindsided when I saw the FAIL in my results box.
This time around, I was certain I had failed it again. The first stem especially was way more difficult than any practice exam Id taken, I fumbled and floundered and made several errors that I can recall...still can't see how I managed to pass it. All I know is I'm so grateful that I did; can't remember stressing out this much over anything before.

Congrats to everyone who got good news today and good luck to everyone who has it coming up! To those that didn't make it, I know how much it sucks and how hard it is to be happy for everyone else posting on facebook etc, their "BOARD CERTIFIED!" status updates, but trust me that you will push yourself even harder and enjoy it so much more when you kill this beast.
 
Congrats to everyone who passed. It's such a rewarding feeling to see "PASS" and "Certified" next to your name on ABA website. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cried tears of joy when I found out I passed.

All my colleagues said they thought they failed after the test. I was 100% certain that I failed because my 1st session started on shaky ground and I asked the examiners to repeat or rephrase their questions at least 5 times. At one point I wondered if they thought I had a learning disability. Hell, I wondered if I had a learning disability that I did not realize during 25 mock orals. I thought that I was well-prepared; in the preceding months, I had gone through Yao & Artusio, ASA Refresher Course, parts of Barash, nearly all of Board Stiff 3, and my notes for the written. The most important thing is having knowledgeable, critical practice examiners. 20+ mocks with average or below-average examiners are not as helpful as having 1-2 mocks with excellent examiners who provide valuable feedback, test the depth and breadth of your knowledge, and try to sway your decisions.

The exam has to be difficult because if it was easy, then everyone would pass. The key is having a solid DDx, knowing what can go wrong at which time, and knowing what to do before walking into the exam room. And it goes without saying that you must be fluent in English.
 
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Colba- congrats on a job well done. I'm sure it's even more terrifying to take for the 2nd time and it sounds like you really upped your game. Glad to hear all the posts of folks who passed even though they missed certain things or had other hiccups.
 
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Unlike some of the other colleagues, my studying was not as extensive. I found Ultimate board prep case books to be the most helpful. I had three of them and went through them 2-3 times each. They provide excellent explanations for many difficult scenarios typically encountered on the orals. Some of the questions were exactly the same as UBP. If you have some high yield notes from written boards, use them to solidify or refresh your knowledge base. I also utilized close to 6-8 different examiners, doing a total of ~20 mock orals. During your practice focus on areas you feel uncomfortable in, for instance if you are doing a peds fellowship focus on non peds scenarios, which you might not have encountered recently.

Best of luck!!!
 
Can anybody tell me, what happens after you fail. Do they send a letter detailing what your deficiencies were?

When I received my pass letter, it mentioned absolutely nothing about my performancE. So I have no idea how well or poorly I performed.

Do they give feedback to people who fail?
 
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Pretty sure I failed. Felt like the main stems where ok but got beat up on the extra topics and barely started the last one in room two. Well here is to next year.
 
Wow that was a terrible experience.... I can't even fathom having to sit through that again. I didn't realize how quickly they slam you with questions...
 
The main stems are much more highly weighted than the grab bags. I did poorly on two grab bags. One I could have done well if i just had a minute to collect my thoughts. The patient was complex enough that it could have been a main stem in its own right. The other was trivia and nothing I could have prepared for. Time will tell for me.
 
It's comforting to hear that no one really walked out feeling amazing. My first stem was a nightmare. I feel like it started off well, but then I was was fumbling over myself. The second stem went alot better. I hope the first stem doesnt mess this up for me. I'm anxious and hoping for good news...
 
fireorose said:
It's comforting to hear that no one really walked out feeling amazing. My first stem was a nightmare. I feel like it started off well, but then I was was fumbling over myself. The second stem went alot better. I hope the first stem doesnt mess this up for me. I'm anxious and hoping for good news...
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It is said that most who pass don't walk out feeling good about how the test went. I sure questioned myself afterwards, but it had gone fine in retrospect.

BTW if you get a string of really oddball, esoteric stuff at the end of a round, don't fret too much: apparently this is the examiners ad-libbing questions, which means you've used up everything they meant to ask.
 
I passed! So glad the hard work paid off.
 
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anyone else get theres? i took mine 31st. of course the portal is down
 
mikey1982 said:
anyone else get theres? i took mine 31st. of course the portal is down
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Portal goes down when they're importing results I think. That's what happened with me. Should not be long.
 
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I just was able to log in and I passed.
Thank god, my family, and all of my attendings both in residency and on here!
 
I passed! I also took it on April Fool's day, just after lunch. Raleigh had such beautiful weather that day, and I didn't get to enjoy it at all.

For anyone waiting, the portal is back up. I was going to check once a day, but this morning it said it was down for maintenance, which typically means they were uploading information. I checked it 5 times.

I failed it last October. That was a huge shock. Like someone said above, I walked out of it thinking that I had done really well, perhaps missing just one or two questions. When leaving this time I thought I had done poorly. Perhaps because now I better understood what questions they had been asking me.

I had done extremely well on the in-training exams and passed the written without any problem. So why would I fail? I think my problem was I had studied for the wrong test, I had studied for the writtens and assumed that that would get me through it. I went to the Dr. Ho course, read his book thoroughly, and all of my practice examiners there said I would pass without a problem. I listened to the Audio Digest series. But I didn't pass. When I found out I failed I bought Big Red, which was full of facts, but I don't think I would have passed with just that.

The biggest help was Just Oral Boards by Joe Tran. His review book explained the essence of the test. What are they looking for when they ask a question? His didactic sections were arranged for me to remember them in that format. I also did 4 practice exams via Skype.

I highly recommend it.
 
Thank you everyone for their help and advice, I passed. I used ubp online course which I did not really like but the mock exams were helpful. I read Yao and Ho but the the biggest thing I thought that helped me was my fellowship experience. I think practicing is key, I happy this is over now on to my ccm boards.
 
I passed! felt surely I had failed. I didn't do well on the extra topics. Had at least three not go well. Who cares now, Board Certified Baby!
 
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