Oral Boards 2022

Started by Chowda
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Mman said:
because it is. You don't think twitchy internet connections and lags impact oral exam performance and evaluation????

So if you failed via Zoom you wouldn't want a chance to do it in person???
Click to expand...
Just saying something is better doesn't make it so.

Absolutely twitchy internet could impact oral exam performance and evaluation. Like I said earlier technical issues are a reasonable discussion point but they by themselves don't make in-person oral exams de facto better.

You're ignoring the negatives of in-person exams. I don't practice anesthesiology the way in-person exams are administered (likewise zoom exams). I practice anesthesiology after sleeping in my own bed, drinking my own coffee, eating my own breakfast if I want, and after kissing my family goodbye for the day. Plus I don't spend hundreds of dollars to drive or fly to work and hope my travel arrangements don't wreck the entire situation.

As to your repeat of the question that I avoided earlier, if I failed because of technical issues, then yes I would want a chance to do it in person. But if I failed an in-person exam because of delayed flights, a sleepless night, etc, then I would want a chance to do it over zoom.

Neither style of exam approximates the actual practice of anesthesiology in any way and I argue that the exam is nothing more than a wallet biopsy. We all implicitly agree to it when we decide on medical school, and then enter an Anesthesiology residency. It's not going away any time soon because it lines too many pockets and pays too many debts. Let's not continue trying to justify the means.
 
DocVapor said:
Just saying something is better doesn't make it so.

Absolutely twitchy internet could impact oral exam performance and evaluation. Like I said earlier technical issues are a reasonable discussion point but they by themselves don't make in-person oral exams de facto better.

You're ignoring the negatives of in-person exams. I don't practice anesthesiology the way in-person exams are administered (likewise zoom exams). I practice anesthesiology after sleeping in my own bed, drinking my own coffee, eating my own breakfast if I want, and after kissing my family goodbye for the day. Plus I don't spend hundreds of dollars to drive or fly to work and hope my travel arrangements don't wreck the entire situation.

As to your repeat of the question that I avoided earlier, if I failed because of technical issues, then yes I would want a chance to do it in person. But if I failed an in-person exam because of delayed flights, a sleepless night, etc, then I would want a chance to do it over zoom.

Neither style of exam approximates the actual practice of anesthesiology in any way and I argue that the exam is nothing more than a wallet biopsy. We all implicitly agree to it when we decide on medical school, and then enter an Anesthesiology residency. It's not going away any time soon because it lines too many pockets and pays too many debts. Let's not continue trying to justify the means.
Click to expand...

This. Neither zoom or the way the in person exams are given approximate actual anesthesia practice. I think it is quite crazy to judge people on 2-35 min sessions when it took 4 years of residency to become an anesthesiologist.

If the main goal of the exam is to determine if someone is truly unsafe, zoom can easily accomplish this.

Of course if you fail you can continue to practice anesthesiology. The entire concept of oral boards is strange when you think about it.
 
Mman said:
because it is. You don't think twitchy internet connections and lags impact oral exam performance and evaluation????

So if you failed via Zoom you wouldn't want a chance to do it in person???
Click to expand...
Is there any data on the pass/fail rate on Zoom vs in person?

If i can pass on Zoom, literally anyone can 😂
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
This thread is hilarious. While I definitely see value in Oral boards in order for a consultant to successfully talk about an anesthetic plan and go through the thought process whenever things change in the OR; this could easily be done virtually. Having to spend 100s of dollars flying, hotel, and days off is just not worth it. Emergency Medicine has said that since it virtual exams worked so well for them, they might continue it in the future. The OSCE on the second hand is a freaking joke. Adding unnecessary bloat in a field where we have to take FOUR TESTS (basic, written advance, oral and now OSCE). Geez i$ there any po$$ible rea$on why the ABA would de$ire to have in-per$son exam$ again 🤔🤔🤔? It couldn't be from the new OSCE building that they just built. It's embarrassing that we were one of the last specialties to become virtual when the pandemic hit, and we're the first one to go back to in person when there was a sprinkle of a chance that COVID is on the downtrend. This reeks of greed
 
IMGASMD said:
We also don’t get to be an anesthesiologist by telling people what we’re about to do.

All of my evaluation is from my history and physical. If the patient doesn’t pass my eye ball test, then I get more information.

There’s guideline for cardiac work up, sure. But if I see you coming with both hands on your chest…. I wouldn’t give any credence to the cardiac clearance that you have even if it was done less than 24 hours ago.
Not only I have to say it out loud, also while being asked what is the difference of cerebral salt wasting, siadh and di.

I also don’t recite causes of hypotension, hypoxemia, delay awakening in my head before I go into the OR.

Nor do chest compression, while drawing up drugs, thinking about monophasic or biphasic defibrillator, making sure my chest compression is prefect for 2 minutes. All at the same time, of course.

Obviously, I am a little bitter about the whole experience.
Click to expand...
gagyekum said:
This thread is hilarious. While I definitely see value in Oral boards in order for a consultant to successfully talk about an anesthetic plan and go through the thought process whenever things change in the OR; this could easily be done virtually. Having to spend 100s of dollars flying, hotel, and days off is just not worth it. Emergency Medicine has said that since it virtual exams worked so well for them, they might continue it in the future. The OSCE on the second hand is a freaking joke. Adding unnecessary bloat in a field where we have to take FOUR TESTS (basic, written advance, oral and now OSCE). Geez i$ there any po$$ible rea$on why the ABA would de$ire to have in-per$son exam$ again 🤔🤔🤔? It couldn't be from the new OSCE building that they just built. It's embarrassing that we were one of the last specialties to become virtual when the pandemic hit, and we're the first one to go back to in person when there was a sprinkle of a chance that COVID is on the downtrend. This reeks of greed
Click to expand...

The osce is a huge waste of time and it is a shame that anyone would be forced to come back again to retake it.
 
DocVapor said:
Neither style of exam approximates the actual practice of anesthesiology in any way and I argue that the exam is nothing more than a wallet biopsy.
Click to expand...
While I sympathize with some of the horrific technical aspects of actually doing the exam, the quoted above is just plain false. I've been academic staff for over 4 years now. I've worked with all the residents who easily passed orals and those who are on their third retake.

And I know which co-faculty of mine took multiple tries to pass and which didn't. Passing the orals absolutely correlates with having a competent consultant anesthesiologist who has a good plan for most situations and can actually communicate that plan. Is the correlation perfect? Of course not. But it's strong enough not to do away with the exam despite the ABA's money grubbing demeanor
 
vector2 said:
While I sympathize with some of the horrific technical aspects of actually doing the exam, the quoted above is just plain false. I've been academic staff for over 4 years now. I've worked with all the residents who easily passed orals and those who are on their third retake.

And I know which co-faculty of mine took multiple tries to pass and which didn't. Passing the orals absolutely correlates with having a competent consultant anesthesiologist who has a good plan for most situations and can actually communicate that plan. Is the correlation perfect? Of course not. But it's strong enough not to do away with the exam despite the ABA's money grubbing demeanor
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree with this and I’m sure there is strong correlation. But those people that failed multiple times are still practicing anesthesiology everyday right next to their board certified partners.

So what is actually the point? If anything it should be done before graduating residency and a requirement before practicing independently.
 
vector2 said:
While I sympathize with some of the horrific technical aspects of actually doing the exam, the quoted above is just plain false. I've been academic staff for over 4 years now. I've worked with all the residents who easily passed orals and those who are on their third retake.

And I know which co-faculty of mine took multiple tries to pass and which didn't. Passing the orals absolutely correlates with having a competent consultant anesthesiologist who has a good plan for most situations and can actually communicate that plan. Is the correlation perfect? Of course not. But it's strong enough not to do away with the exam despite the ABA's money grubbing demeanor
Click to expand...
Ok, so are the third retake individuals also clearly the worst residents? As in so bad that maybe the residency shouldn't have graduated them? Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?

How often on this forum do we see the phrase "Well, the oral boards answer is ....". You might say that knowing that answer is important. I say that what's the use of the exam if the board certified anesthesiologists don't even practice like they say they would on the exam?
 
DocVapor said:
Ok, so are the third retake individuals also clearly the worst residents? As in so bad that maybe the residency shouldn't have graduated them? Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?

How often on this forum do we see the phrase "Well, the oral boards answer is ....". You might say that knowing that answer is important. I say that what's the use of the exam if the board certified anesthesiologists don't even practice like they say they would on the
Click to expand...
the point of the exam is to establish a level of standard that all anesthesiologist can be measured against nationally, this helps garner a level of trust amongst the public in our profession. it doesn't mean the exam is perfect or that everyone who fails isn't a good anesthesiologist. but there has to be a standard beyond just finishing residency, that establishes your level of competency, because there is variability in residency training across the country
 
IMGASMD said:
We also don’t get to be an anesthesiologist by telling people what we’re about to do.

All of my evaluation is from my history and physical. If the patient doesn’t pass my eye ball test, then I get more information.

There’s guideline for cardiac work up, sure. But if I see you coming with both hands on your chest…. I wouldn’t give any credence to the cardiac clearance that you have even if it was done less than 24 hours ago.
Not only I have to say it out loud, also while being asked what is the difference of cerebral salt wasting, siadh and di.

I also don’t recite causes of hypotension, hypoxemia, delay awakening in my head before I go into the OR.

Nor do chest compression, while drawing up drugs, thinking about monophasic or biphasic defibrillator, making sure my chest compression is prefect for 2 minutes. All at the same time, of course.

Obviously, I am a little bitter about the whole experience.
Click to expand...
your bitterness oozes. what are you proposing, that we become the first specialty in medicine to do away with standardize testing and/or board certification.
 
aimedicine said:
the point of the exam is to establish a level of standard that all anesthesiologist can be measured against nationally, this helps garner a level of trust amongst the public in our profession. it doesn't mean the exam is perfect or that everyone who fails isn't a good anesthesiologist. but there has to be a standard beyond just finishing residency, that establishes your level of competency, because there is variability in residency training across the country
Click to expand...
Public trust? The public right now thinks we're equivalent to nurses, and have no idea about how many or what kinds of exams we take. And they don't care to know . Many medical specialties have gone to simple written exams and do not seem to have lost that nebulous public trust.
 
ERRES2288 said:
I don’t disagree with this and I’m sure there is strong correlation. But those people that failed multiple times are still practicing anesthesiology everyday right next to their board certified partners.

So what is actually the point? If anything it should be done before graduating residency and a requirement before practicing independently.
Click to expand...
the point is most hospital won't re-credential you after 3-5 years if you are not board certified...so no, those that are not board certified won't be practicing along their counterparts very much longer if they keep failing their oral boards. most private groups won't make you partner if you are not board certified. for example, I had financial incentives in my contract for becoming board certified.
 
DocVapor said:
Ok, so are the third retake individuals also clearly the worst residents? As in so bad that maybe the residency shouldn't have graduated them? Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?

How often on this forum do we see the phrase "Well, the oral boards answer is ....". You might say that knowing that answer is important. I say that what's the use of the exam if the board certified anesthesiologists don't even practice like they say they would on the exam?
Click to expand...
I literally said "Is the correlation perfect? No." and yet you persist in some fantasy that the oral boards are going to be 100% perfect in separating great residents from bad residents.

Again, it is not going to be 100% perfect, but *the majority of the time* really shtty anesthesiologists keep failing it and good ones pass it with some effort, and that has utility in a specialty where seconds really do count. That is all.
 
DocVapor said:
Public trust? The public right now thinks we're equivalent to nurses, and have no idea about how many or what kinds of exams we take. And they don't care to know . Many medical specialties have gone to simple written exams and do not seem to have lost that nebulous public trust.
Click to expand...
largely speaking the public cares about having a qualified doctor involved in their care. i can't tell you how many times a patient ask me if i'm going to be in the room during their whole surgery or if the nurse will be the one delivering their care. so this whole idea that the public doesn't know or care about physician vs nurse is overblown. secondly, why do you sound so angry about this, the ABA gives you 7 years post residency to complete your initial certification exam...that's more than fair. if you can't pass your oral boards in that time period then there is a bigger issue. Like you mentioned yourself, you knew what you were signing up for when you chose the specialty. By the way every specialty with oral boards b*tch about it so don't make it sound like it's unique to our specialty.
 
aimedicine said:
largely speaking the public cares about having a qualified doctor involved in their care. i can't tell you how many times a patient ask me if i'm going to be in the room during their whole surgery or if the nurse will be the one delivering their care. so this whole idea that the public doesn't know or care about physician vs nurse is overblown. secondly, why do you sound so angry about this, the ABA gives you 7 years post residency to complete your initial certification exam...that's more than fair. if you can't pass your oral boards in that time period then there is a bigger issue. Like you mentioned yourself, you knew what you were signing up for when you chose the specialty. By the way every specialty with oral boards b*tch about it so don't make it sound like it's unique to our specialty.
Click to expand...
To that point though, people who graduated residency in 2020 had to wait almost a full year before being able to successfully take their exams. We're these graduates unqualified to work?Like I said, there's value in the oral board but to make it some holy pilgrimage that needs to be done in person is laughable.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
gagyekum said:
To that point though, people who graduated residency in 2020 had to wait almost a full year before being able to successfully take their exams. We're these graduates unqualified to work?Like I said, there's value in the oral board but to make it some holy pilgrimage that needs to be done in person is laughable.
Click to expand...
what?! no where did i say if you didn't get to take your oral exam in 2020 that you were not qualified to work, as long as you eventually pass the oral exam within the time frame that aba gives you (which in this case is a lot of time, 7 YEARS!) ...and i'm also not advocating for the exam to necessarily be in person....i don't care if it's in person or not. i only care that there needs to be a standardize oral exam.
 
vector2 said:
I literally said "Is the correlation perfect? No." and yet you persist in some fantasy that the oral boards are going to be 100% perfect in separating great residents from bad residents.

Again, it is not going to be 100% perfect, but *the majority of the time* really shtty anesthesiologists keep failing it and good ones pass it with some effort, and that has utility in a specialty where seconds really do count. That is all.
Click to expand...
Never have I ever stated I think the oral boards need to be 100% perfect, way to miss the point and argue against the wrong thing. My first point you either missed or ignored was that these residents should have been weeded out long before they made it to sitting for the oral boards. My bigger point though, which again, you missed or ignored, was that anywhere from a large portion to the vast majority of board-certified Anesthesiologists do not practice like they say they would for exams. And yet anesthesia becomes safer and safer every year. And yet the oral boards continue to not reflect how anesthesiologists actually practice. So at that point the oral board exam becomes useless because it's not actually testing what they say it's testing. Update the expected answers to reflect current practice and then we can start talking about the validity.

aimedicine said:
largely speaking the public cares about having a qualified doctor involved in their care. i can't tell you how many times a patient ask me if i'm going to be in the room during their whole surgery or if the nurse will be the one delivering their care. so this whole idea that the public doesn't know or care about physician vs nurse is overblown. secondly, why do you sound so angry about this, the ABA gives you 7 years post residency to complete your initial certification exam...that's more than fair. if you can't pass your oral boards in that time period then there is a bigger issue. Like you mentioned yourself, you knew what you were signing up for when you chose the specialty. By the way every specialty with oral boards b*tch about it so don't make it sound like it's unique to our specialty.
Click to expand...
I'm glad that you have that many patients asking you those questions. I also get that question, but far less frequently. I am also explicit with my role vs the CRNA's role during my explanation of their anesthetic in an effort to educate the patients. I also think it's part of giving a true informed consent.

As far as the second portion, no, I'm not angry. I enjoy challenging dogma, and that's what this need for an oral board exam is - dogma. It just so happens that my brain decided I was going to do it by arguing with strangers (whom I do respect, by the way, Mman, vector, and aimedicine) on the internet over the weekend between baby prep. I don't want you all to feel like I'm trying to disrespect your thoughts - that's not my goal. But your arguments so far have been pretty weak in my eyes.
 
DocVapor said:
Just saying something is better doesn't make it so.

Absolutely twitchy internet could impact oral exam performance and evaluation. Like I said earlier technical issues are a reasonable discussion point but they by themselves don't make in-person oral exams de facto better.

You're ignoring the negatives of in-person exams. I don't practice anesthesiology the way in-person exams are administered (likewise zoom exams). I practice anesthesiology after sleeping in my own bed, drinking my own coffee, eating my own breakfast if I want, and after kissing my family goodbye for the day. Plus I don't spend hundreds of dollars to drive or fly to work and hope my travel arrangements don't wreck the entire situation.

As to your repeat of the question that I avoided earlier, if I failed because of technical issues, then yes I would want a chance to do it in person. But if I failed an in-person exam because of delayed flights, a sleepless night, etc, then I would want a chance to do it over zoom.

Neither style of exam approximates the actual practice of anesthesiology in any way and I argue that the exam is nothing more than a wallet biopsy. We all implicitly agree to it when we decide on medical school, and then enter an Anesthesiology residency. It's not going away any time soon because it lines too many pockets and pays too many debts. Let's not continue trying to justify the means.
Click to expand...

I think you are just wrong. It's your opinion and you are entitled to it, but in person exams are superior to zoom by any and every measure except the small inconvenience to the interviewee. In the course of your decades long career in medicine, asking you to fly across country and pass an in person oral exam once is not overly onerous.

Everybody is nervous before the exam and almost everyone pass it because they are competent anesthesiologists. The few that fail it get another chance to redeem themselves. I think it is superior to letting ****ty docs pass a zoom pretend exam and give the rest of us a bad name out in practice.

Our board strives to maintain excellence in our specialty of medicine. An in person oral exam for someone that has already passed the written knowledge portion is the single best way to assure that. Anything else is substandard.
 
DocVapor said:
Never have I ever stated I think the oral boards need to be 100% perfect, way to miss the point and argue against the wrong thing.
Click to expand...
Pal, in so many words that is EXACTLY what you said. When you stated "Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?" the implication is that the oral boards are a kind of perfect exam that automatically weeds out anesthesiologists who would ever make a mistake or a boards kill error. Which is a ridiculous statement. Don't use the word "never" unless you want to give the impression you're asking for perfect.

In regard to the rest of your post, no, graduating residency does not guarantee competency, especially when HCA and non-academic non-tertiary residencies are popping up left and right. Also, oral boards by and large do reflect anesthetic techniques that would get you and the patient safely through a case. Just because you have a different way to skin a cat doesn't make the board answer wrong- it just means there is more than one correct answer. And there are quite a few residents who don't even know the board answer let alone the "slick" way to do the case, hence the oral's utility.
 
ERRES2288 said:
I don’t disagree with this and I’m sure there is strong correlation. But those people that failed multiple times are still practicing anesthesiology everyday right next to their board certified partners.

So what is actually the point? If anything it should be done before graduating residency and a requirement before practicing independently.
Click to expand...
There's always going to be surgicenters or backwater locums jobs that allow non-boarded docs to practice, but by and large most practices are heading toward 'must be boarded in 3-5ish years from the time of hire' policies.
 
vector2 said:
Pal, in so many words that is EXACTLY what you said. When you stated "Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?" the implication is that the oral boards are a kind of perfect exam that automatically weeds out anesthesiologists who would ever make a mistake or a boards kill error. Which is a ridiculous statement. Don't use the word "never" unless you want to give the impression you're asking for perfect.

In regard to the rest of your post, no, graduating residency does not guarantee competency, especially when HCA and non-academic non-tertiary residencies are popping up left and right. Also, oral boards by and large do reflect anesthetic techniques that would get you and the patient safely through a case. Just because you have a different way to skin a cat doesn't make the board answer wrong- it just means there is more than one correct answer. And there are quite a few residents who don't even know the board answer let alone the "slick" way to do the case, hence the oral's utility.
Click to expand...

oral boards allow you to state the way that YOU would safely practice, not just what some random board answer to a question is. It allows you to articulate your thought process and prove that you can safely think your way through challenging cases.
 
vector2 said:
Pal, in so many words that is EXACTLY what you said. When you stated "Do all of the first time passers consistently practice at the level of the oral boards, never doing something that would get them failed on the exam?" the implication is that the oral boards are a kind of perfect exam that automatically weeds out anesthesiologists who would ever make a mistake or a boards kill error. Which is a ridiculous statement. Don't use the word "never" unless you want to give the impression you're asking for perfect.

In regard to the rest of your post, no, graduating residency does not guarantee competency, especially when HCA and non-academic non-tertiary residencies are popping up left and right. Also, oral boards by and large do reflect anesthetic techniques that would get you and the patient safely through a case. Just because you have a different way to skin a cat doesn't make the board answer wrong- it just means there is more than one correct answer. And there are quite a few residents who don't even know the board answer let alone the "slick" way to do the case, hence the oral's utility.
Click to expand...

Mman said:
oral boards allow you to state the way that YOU would safely practice, not just what some random board answer to a question is. It allows you to articulate your thought process and prove that you can safely think your way through challenging cases.
Click to expand...
These are better arguments. I'll have to leave this discussion here. I appreciate the time you've put in.
 
vector2 said:
There's always going to be surgicenters or backwater locums jobs that allow non-boarded docs to practice, but by and large most practices are heading toward 'must be boarded in 3-5ish years from the time of hire' policies.
Click to expand...
No I understand that. But you can have people that fail that continue to practice for 5 years! 5 years is a long time to practice independently if you don’t think someone is safe. I’m not against oral boards but maybe it’s something that should be included in the residency curriculum.
 
ERRES2288 said:
I’m not against oral boards but maybe it’s something that should be included in the residency curriculum.
Click to expand...

I have never heard of a residency that did not include significant oral board practice in their curriculum.
 
Mman said:
I think you are just wrong. It's your opinion and you are entitled to it, but in person exams are superior to zoom by any and every measure except the small inconvenience to the interviewee. In the course of your decades long career in medicine, asking you to fly across country and pass an in person oral exam once is not overly onerous.

Everybody is nervous before the exam and almost everyone pass it because they are competent anesthesiologists. The few that fail it get another chance to redeem themselves. I think it is superior to letting ****ty docs pass a zoom pretend exam and give the rest of us a bad name out in practice.

Our board strives to maintain excellence in our specialty of medicine. An in person oral exam for someone that has already passed the written knowledge portion is the single best way to assure that. Anything else is substandard.
Click to expand...
Wow I don't think I've seen more of a bigger ABA shill. "in person oral exam...is the single best way to assure that. Anything else is substandard". You're kidding right? So you're basically saying that anyone that passed the virtual exam an substandard Anesthesiologist. Way to gatekeep. As other people have said, sure if someone failed because of technical difficulty from a virtual exam, they should have the option to retake it in person. But at the same token, I'd bet if anyone failed it in person, they could use the reason on flight/delays, Covid precautions, hotel issues as their reason and would be within their right to ask for a virtual test. It's honestly embarrassing how elitist to think that the "zoom pretend exam" gives a bad name for the practices. What magical difference does doing the exam in person really give? And you still haven't answered the obsurdity of adding the OSCE portion to an already bloated exam regimen (basic, written, oral, and now OSCE)
 
Mman said:
I have never heard of a residency that did not include significant oral board practice in their curriculum.
Click to expand...
And yet there are 15% of people that still fail every year. If the aba truly feels these people are unsafe to practice independently shouldn’t we be certifying people before they graduate? Again I am FOR board certification I just think it’s strange you have 5 years to practice before getting certified
 
@Mman are you an examiner?

Agree largely on the utility of /an/ oral exam to help ensure that graduates can think for themselves and have some degree of good judgment, but as one of the peons who had to take the "lesser" virtual exam there was nothing about my demonstration of my knowledge base, my confidence, my thought process, and my interpersonal skills that you couldn't pick up from me rocking it on Zoom and it's kind of insulting to imply otherwise.
 
Last edited:
ERRES2288 said:
And yet there are 15% of people that still fail every year. If the aba truly feels these people are unsafe to practice independently shouldn’t we be certifying people before they graduate? Again I am FOR board certification I just think it’s strange you have 5 years to practice before getting certified
Click to expand...


Yeah it’s really up to your residency director and chairman of the residency department to decide if you’re fit to practice independently. They’re the ones who unleash you onto the public. It’s extremely rare to see any kind of remediation or to see anybody who doesn’t graduate from residency. Even Dr. Death graduated.

An even more extreme example is that most state medical boards will give you an unrestricted license to practice medicine after you complete 1 year of internship and pass USMLE step 3.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
On a serious note I actually do have a couple questions for those who have taken it.

1. Does the shuttle take you back to the hotel after?
2. Are you allowed to bring a snack or water into exam area to drink in- between your osce and oral? And if not do they provide anything like they did for step 2 cs?
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
CHARLESTONMMM said:
Sitting on that hotel couch after taking the exam is one of the best feelings in the world. Everyone should get to experience it.
Click to expand...
I'm sure that was great and all but there's no way in hell it even held a candle to me tearing my suit off and sitting naked on a beanbag eating Cheetos after my zoom orals.
 
DocVapor said:
I'm sure that was great and all but there's no way in hell it even held a candle to me tearing my suit off and sitting naked on a beanbag eating Cheetos after my zoom orals.
Click to expand...


That could be dangerous if they are flamin hot Cheetos.
 
ERRES2288 said:
Not sure anyone knows how exactly it is scored for both the osce and soe
Click to expand...
Ok thanks for the info. I can't remember when or where in my last few months I heard that but probably not reputable.

Any schedule on when scores come out? I remember there was a dependable formula for the advanced--like the second Wednesday after you took it, unless you took it on a Thurs/Friday in which case it was 3 Wednesdays or something.
 
babycarrots said:
I thought that was just last year d/t it being virtual—in the past when it was in person it was 2 weeks. With it being in person this year won’t it be more like 2 weeks?
Click to expand...
I thought they said 2 weeks when at the testing center, but nothing on their website says 2 weeks.

I’m two weeks out from my exam and haven’t heard anything.
 
Hi guys I just took my oral boards and it was horrible. I had a horrible flight in and the weather was not on my side. I wasn't feeling well as a result. I ended up not being able to sleep as a result and frankly a nervous wreck. It was a train wreck. I was shaking the whole time for both stems. I for some reason could not get my composure together. I got led into some traps and it was just awful even though I know the material well. I know I definitely failed. And the nerves continued into the OSCE component.

I haven't failed any standardized test so feeling really really bummed. I am of course going to wait for the official result. I feel so beat up in this field - studying over and over and over. After caring for patients relentlessly through even the worse of times like COVID ICUs and at this point in training, still trying to have to prove ourselves. And then this in light of the recent world affairs, I just am so exhausted and tired of it!

Does anybody have any tips to re-study and/or how to reschedule for sooner?
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
carpediemcanem said:
Hi guys I just took my oral boards and it was horrible. I had a horrible flight in and the weather was not on my side. I wasn't feeling well as a result. I ended up not being able to sleep as a result and frankly a nervous wreck. It was a train wreck. I was shaking the whole time for both stems. I for some reason could not get my composure together. I got led into some traps and it was just awful even though I know the material well. I know I definitely failed. And the nerves continued into the OSCE component.

I haven't failed any standardized test so feeling really really bummed. I am of course going to wait for the official result. I feel so beat up in this field - studying over and over and over. After caring for patients relentlessly through even the worse of times like COVID ICUs and at this point in training, still trying to have to prove ourselves. And then this in light of the recent world affairs, I just am so exhausted and tired of it!

Does anybody have any tips to re-study and/or how to reschedule for sooner?
Click to expand...
Sorry that you are going through this. But it didn’t sound like you need to do much “restudying” ..,sound like your nerve got the best of u. You need to figure out a strategy to keep that in check. Maybe flying out a few days a head of time on your next exam to eliminate potential stressors like weather. Then I will suggest practicing with oral board examiners repeatedly to desensitize yourself
So that you don’t get as nervous.
 
carpediemcanem said:
Hi guys I just took my oral boards and it was horrible. I had a horrible flight in and the weather was not on my side. I wasn't feeling well as a result. I ended up not being able to sleep as a result and frankly a nervous wreck. It was a train wreck. I was shaking the whole time for both stems. I for some reason could not get my composure together. I got led into some traps and it was just awful even though I know the material well. I know I definitely failed. And the nerves continued into the OSCE component.

I haven't failed any standardized test so feeling really really bummed. I am of course going to wait for the official result. I feel so beat up in this field - studying over and over and over. After caring for patients relentlessly through even the worse of times like COVID ICUs and at this point in training, still trying to have to prove ourselves. And then this in light of the recent world affairs, I just am so exhausted and tired of it!

Does anybody have any tips to re-study and/or how to reschedule for sooner?
Click to expand...
Wait for the result. I thought I auto failed on one stem due to the corner they led me into. Sometimes they will corner you, all roads lead to a bad scenario which sometimes may not have a good answer. If you gave a thoughtful answer with the reasoning why then you may have done better than you think.
 
carpediemcanem said:
Hi guys I just took my oral boards and it was horrible. I had a horrible flight in and the weather was not on my side. I wasn't feeling well as a result. I ended up not being able to sleep as a result and frankly a nervous wreck. It was a train wreck. I was shaking the whole time for both stems. I for some reason could not get my composure together. I got led into some traps and it was just awful even though I know the material well. I know I definitely failed. And the nerves continued into the OSCE component.

I haven't failed any standardized test so feeling really really bummed. I am of course going to wait for the official result. I feel so beat up in this field - studying over and over and over. After caring for patients relentlessly through even the worse of times like COVID ICUs and at this point in training, still trying to have to prove ourselves. And then this in light of the recent world affairs, I just am so exhausted and tired of it!

Does anybody have any tips to re-study and/or how to reschedule for sooner?
Click to expand...
I also feel like I failed. I got flustered after the oral session, messed up the monitors section on the OSCE I think. Fingers crossed.
 
carpediemcanem said:
Hi guys I just took my oral boards and it was horrible. I had a horrible flight in and the weather was not on my side. I wasn't feeling well as a result. I ended up not being able to sleep as a result and frankly a nervous wreck. It was a train wreck. I was shaking the whole time for both stems. I for some reason could not get my composure together. I got led into some traps and it was just awful even though I know the material well. I know I definitely failed. And the nerves continued into the OSCE component.

I haven't failed any standardized test so feeling really really bummed. I am of course going to wait for the official result. I feel so beat up in this field - studying over and over and over. After caring for patients relentlessly through even the worse of times like COVID ICUs and at this point in training, still trying to have to prove ourselves. And then this in light of the recent world affairs, I just am so exhausted and tired of it!

Does anybody have any tips to re-study and/or how to reschedule for sooner?
Click to expand...

Beta blocker does wonders.
 
Agree with beta blocker recommendation. Worried about the osce- definitely screwed up the monitors section cause it went so fast.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Oral Boards 2025
Replies
1
Views
4K
addoncase
A
Oral Boards 2025
Oral Boards October 2025 - SOE/OSCE Practice Partner -
Replies
0
Views
989
Oral Boards 2025
Oral Boards 2025
cittykat
Oral board stem
Replies
0
Views
329
cittykat
cittykat
2
Oral boards 2024
2
Replies
96
Views
31K
Sillyresident
S
W
oral board partner
Replies
0
Views
808
watermelon87
W