Oral Boards 2022

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abolt18 said:
Yes, masks on.

Emailed the ABA to verify how long one should wait for results and they said "up to 3 weeks", while they said 2 weeks as we were leaving the testing center. Who knows.
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My cofellow in week 1 got his results at the 19 day mark. I took mine week 2 Thursday, so should be next Tuesday…
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Took mine week 1, got my result 3rd Wednesday after my test, also the results email did not come until a week after the results were available on the aba portal, so definitely check that
 
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Just got the electronic letter, if you passed, doesnt say much other than that you passed. Nothing about how you did.
 
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Sites "offline for maintenance" i.e. scores going up today for those who took it with me 3 weeks ago.
 
Passed! Was very much figuratively sweating bullets there. SOO relieved to have that behind me.

My level of stoke now is sky high. Can't believe it's done. Feels good to finally be able to say "I'm a board certified anesthesiologist."
 
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Omg yay!! Passed! Was horrendously stressed after the test because I saw no way I could have passed! But I did it! :)))
 
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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?
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Just wanted to post how this journey turned out for me and to motivate others to wait for the results. I’m shocked and in disbelief especially reflecting on what I had wrote a few weeks ago.

But I passed! Just keep the faith! You truly don’t know how they are grading.
 
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I passed.

Have checked multiple times looking for it to change.

What garbage of any experience, I’m still annoyed with the whole day.
 
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What a horrible experience. Cannot stop thinking about all the things I could’ve said better, all the wrong answers and all the times I said “I’m Sorry I don’t know”
 
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Took the exam earlier this week and continue to have nightmares regarding the experience - more specifically, the SOE. With deep self reflection the day prior, I thought I had prepped and practiced adequately enough to overcome even the most aggressive examiners, but alas, they were more aggressive than I anticipated. My first senior examiner already questioned the validity of my explanation after the first question, but it didn’t bother me. I did appreciate the courtesy of warning me from the getgo that they’d interrupt multiple times throughout the exam. I for sure said “I’m unsure” or “I don’t know” about 4-5 times total to get the exam moving along. I started off the long stem strong with confident and what I thought were safe and reasonable plans, but I could feel that I was losing stamina and confidence the more they were probing me, to the point where I was saying dumb things like “I would give acetaminophen and Tylenol.”

I do believe I did fine on the OSCE portion aside from being unable to get a good window for one of the US tasks. It was certainly difficult not to let the negative thoughts from the SOE float through my mind as I went through each station.

Walking out, I initially felt somewhat okay and had fleeting thoughts of “Yeah, I think that was a passable performance.” Then I realized it was really only the joy of the exam being over more so than feeling confident in my answers that I felt okay.

Now that a few days have passed, I’m trying so hard not to reflect on the answers I could have improved on and whether or not I passed. These next 2 weeks are going to be brutal, but I guess I should be happy I don’t have to wait 6-8 weeks like those who took the virtual exam last year.
 
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emdee122 said:
Took the exam earlier this week and continue to have nightmares regarding the experience - more specifically, the SOE. With deep self reflection the day prior, I thought I had prepped and practiced adequately enough to overcome even the most aggressive examiners, but alas, they were more aggressive than I anticipated. My first senior examiner already questioned the validity of my explanation after the first question, but it didn’t bother me. I did appreciate the courtesy of warning me from the getgo that they’d interrupt multiple times throughout the exam. I for sure said “I’m unsure” or “I don’t know” about 4-5 times total to get the exam moving along. I started off the long stem strong with confident and what I thought were safe and reasonable plans, but I could feel that I was losing stamina and confidence the more they were probing me, to the point where I was saying dumb things like “I would give acetaminophen and Tylenol.”

I do believe I did fine on the OSCE portion aside from being unable to get a good window for one of the US tasks. It was certainly difficult not to let the negative thoughts from the SOE float through my mind as I went through each station.

Walking out, I initially felt somewhat okay and had fleeting thoughts of “Yeah, I think that was a passable performance.” Then I realized it was really only the joy of the exam being over more so than feeling confident in my answers that I felt okay.

Now that a few days have passed, I’m trying so hard not to reflect on the answers I could have improved on and whether or not I passed. These next 2 weeks are going to be brutal, but I guess I should be happy I don’t have to wait 6-8 weeks like those who took the virtual exam last year.
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I would rather wait a few weeks than pay for a flight, hotel, taxi and lose out on billable days
 
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GassYous said:
I would rather wait a few weeks than pay for a flight, hotel, taxi and lose out on billable days
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Touché. Not to mention I also just got an email today from the ABA stating that there were 3 cases of COVID during this week’s exam. Wonderful.
 
emdee122 said:
Took the exam earlier this week and continue to have nightmares regarding the experience - more specifically, the SOE. With deep self reflection the day prior, I thought I had prepped and practiced adequately enough to overcome even the most aggressive examiners, but alas, they were more aggressive than I anticipated. My first senior examiner already questioned the validity of my explanation after the first question, but it didn’t bother me. I did appreciate the courtesy of warning me from the getgo that they’d interrupt multiple times throughout the exam. I for sure said “I’m unsure” or “I don’t know” about 4-5 times total to get the exam moving along. I started off the long stem strong with confident and what I thought were safe and reasonable plans, but I could feel that I was losing stamina and confidence the more they were probing me, to the point where I was saying dumb things like “I would give acetaminophen and Tylenol.”

I do believe I did fine on the OSCE portion aside from being unable to get a good window for one of the US tasks. It was certainly difficult not to let the negative thoughts from the SOE float through my mind as I went through each station.

Walking out, I initially felt somewhat okay and had fleeting thoughts of “Yeah, I think that was a passable performance.” Then I realized it was really only the joy of the exam being over more so than feeling confident in my answers that I felt okay.

Now that a few days have passed, I’m trying so hard not to reflect on the answers I could have improved on and whether or not I passed. These next 2 weeks are going to be brutal, but I guess I should be happy I don’t have to wait 6-8 weeks like those who took the virtual exam last year.
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Sounds like the usual post exam feels.
 
emdee122 said:
Took the exam earlier this week and continue to have nightmares regarding the experience - more specifically, the SOE. With deep self reflection the day prior, I thought I had prepped and practiced adequately enough to overcome even the most aggressive examiners, but alas, they were more aggressive than I anticipated. My first senior examiner already questioned the validity of my explanation after the first question, but it didn’t bother me. I did appreciate the courtesy of warning me from the getgo that they’d interrupt multiple times throughout the exam. I for sure said “I’m unsure” or “I don’t know” about 4-5 times total to get the exam moving along. I started off the long stem strong with confident and what I thought were safe and reasonable plans, but I could feel that I was losing stamina and confidence the more they were probing me, to the point where I was saying dumb things like “I would give acetaminophen and Tylenol.”

I do believe I did fine on the OSCE portion aside from being unable to get a good window for one of the US tasks. It was certainly difficult not to let the negative thoughts from the SOE float through my mind as I went through each station.

Walking out, I initially felt somewhat okay and had fleeting thoughts of “Yeah, I think that was a passable performance.” Then I realized it was really only the joy of the exam being over more so than feeling confident in my answers that I felt okay.

Now that a few days have passed, I’m trying so hard not to reflect on the answers I could have improved on and whether or not I passed. These next 2 weeks are going to be brutal, but I guess I should be happy I don’t have to wait 6-8 weeks like those who took the virtual exam last year.
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I had a very similar experience. It seems like many of us did. If I have to take the SOE again, so be it. I'm hoping I'm good 🙏. I definitely did everything I could to prepare, so it is what it is.

The results have been releasing on Tuesday this year, so I'm thinking 5/3 is our day.

Best of luck to you all. 🤞
 
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VerynCE said:
I had a very similar experience. It seems like many of us did. If I have to take the SOE again, so be it. I'm hoping I'm good 🙏. I definitely did everything I could to prepare, so it is what it is.

The results have been releasing on Tuesday this year, so I'm thinking 3/3 is our day.

Best of luck to you all. 🤞
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Good to know that results will come out next week.
For some reason I thought it was this week and have been frantically checking the ABA website.
 
Passed! For those who neurotically check scores like me, the ABA site went "down for maintenance" around 7 am EST. The scores posted around 9:30 am EST.
 
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Did you all have to present vaccine cards to take the exam?
 
nimbus said:
Does ABA give religious exemptions?
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C0B9D294-53BD-4CD6-BE14-B937A38E5A61.jpeg
 
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Not NPO said:
What a horrible experience. Cannot stop thinking about all the things I could’ve said better, all the wrong answers and all the times I said “I’m Sorry I don’t know”
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Exactly how I felt after the exam. There were so many things I could have explained better. So relieved to have passed!
 
ucladoc2b said:
Any thoughts on UBP vs the Michael Ho course?
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I did UBP. Found a buddy through the UBP course and went through everything by quizzing each other back and forth. I didn't use the videos but might be worth it if you learn well that way (way cheaper if you don't need the videos).

Answers are long form and you will definitely not have time to answer like that during the real test. Great for filling in knowledge gaps, not great for learning the flow of the exam. I'd say UBP + practice exams with people who are real board examiners is enough for most people.

I never took Ho's course but I heard it's intense. Definitely more expensive.
 
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I took it this last Monday. Like everyone else, I am currently going though my answers in my head and now feel like I definitely failed. I followed Ho's advice that unless the pt needs a cath for everyday life, they don't need it for surgery. I don't know, hopefully, my rationale was good enough for them to understand that I wouldn't just take a pt back willy nilly.
 
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If during the exam, you are going too slow… do they cut the case short and move on to the grab bag questions, or would one not make it to the grab bag questions?
 
Sushirrit0 said:
If during the exam, you are going too slow… do they cut the case short and move on to the grab bag questions, or would one not make it to the grab bag questions?
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They will cut off your answers once you say something that addressed the question. Make sure you don’t give a big rambling introduction to every answer though, otherwise they’ll be waiting for you to actually answer the question before moving on.
 
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dipriMAN said:
They will cut off your answers once you say something that addressed the question. Make sure you don’t give a big rambling introduction to every answer though, otherwise they’ll be waiting for you to actually answer the question before moving on.
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Right. I guess my question is — if I made it thru all the grab bags, does this mean I made it thru the stem in its entirety? Or was my stem possibly cut short and they moved onto the grab bags.
 
Sushirrit0 said:
Right. I guess my question is — if I made it thru all the grab bags, does this mean I made it thru the stem in its entirety? Or was my stem possibly cut short and they moved onto the grab bags.
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I don’t think they ever cut it short. They need to ask every examinee similar questions about the stem.
 
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I see. Thanks for the clarification.

I feel okay about my first stem, don’t feel great about the second one. Does anyone have insights on how this is graded? I.E. is it possible to pass if one did okay on one of the stems but not too well on the second? It’s hard to tell what is enough to “pass”.
 
Sushirrit0 said:
I see. Thanks for the clarification.

I feel okay about my first stem, don’t feel great about the second one. Does anyone have insights on how this is graded? I.E. is it possible to pass if one did okay on one of the stems but not too well on the second? It’s hard to tell what is enough to “pass”.
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The ABA published a paper in how they grade the oral portion, it’s some very complicated mathematical model, basically each examiner grades you on a four point scale or something for all the questions, and then it is normalized per examiner depending on how harsh they grade….. impossible to know, but if your examiner was harder than probably the scoring is more forgiving.
 
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dipriMAN said:
The ABA published a paper in how they grade the oral portion, it’s some very complicated mathematical model, basically each examiner grades you on a four point scale or something for all the questions, and then it is normalized per examiner depending on how harsh they grade….. impossible to know, but if your examiner was harder than probably the scoring is more forgiving.
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That's mind boggling to me, but math is math I guess, even when it's math based on human assumption.
 
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IMGASMD said:
One of the partner was ex-examiner, says that they hire these education PhDs to “standardize” the exam and scores, to be as subjective as possible. I just can’t see it.
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You mean, as objective as possible?
 
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Passed here as well. Honestly, it wasn't that bad of an exam in retrospect. Over the course of 5 weeks, I did one pass of UBP and the red rapid review book, and did some practice stems with friends and coworkers. That was about it.
 
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I wasn't so sure about the utility of oral boards before I took it, but after having taken it, I thought it was a very reasonable test. The whole test was asking how I would approach cases and troubleshoot when things go wrong. Vignettes were reasonable, and many (including grab bags) were cases that I actually encountered in my practice this year. My examiners were not threatening either. Maybe I just got lucky and was in the minority, but overall, I thought it was a fair exam.

OSCE on the other hand... oh boy... what a dumb test. Glad it is over though.
 
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JiPo said:
I wasn't so sure about the utility of oral boards before I took it, but after having taken it, I thought it was a very reasonable test. The whole test was asking how I would approach cases and troubleshoot when things go wrong. Vignettes were reasonable, and many (including grab bags) were cases that I actually encountered in my practice this year. My examiners were not threatening either. Maybe I just got lucky and was in the minority, but overall, I thought it was a fair exam.

OSCE on the other hand... oh boy... what a dumb test. Glad it is over though.
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Agreed. Stems and grab bags definitely seemed reasonable and a bit less difficult than UBP. One of my stems was literally a case I had done on call a few weeks prior.
 
Passed too… still feel like it sucked. Lolol. Glad that phase of hell is over
 
ucladoc2b said:
Any thoughts on UBP vs the Michael Ho course?
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I did both - Ho for sure. I just watched the 4 day crash course and passed. It wasn't even all the answers/details (I said "I don't know") many times. It was the approach and having an idea of what they were going to ask. I would absolutely not have passed if I had not watched this course. I did no practice tests, but I would pause his videos and try to answer the questions in my head before moving on.
 
wazzoo said:
I did both - Ho for sure. I just watched the 4 day crash course and passed. It wasn't even all the answers/details (I said "I don't know") many times. It was the approach and having an idea of what they were going to ask. I would absolutely not have passed if I had not watched this course. I did no practice tests, but I would pause his videos and try to answer the questions in my head before moving on.
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I think practicing out loud is key. I did it with my spouse and had them just quickly interrupt with follow up questions. Practice with a colleague would be great. Video taping yourself and rewatching would also probably be good.
 
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How would everyone suggest studying for oral boards? My program has a low pass rate so I don't think they have much to tell me on how to do it. I've heard UBP or Ho or rapid review or some combo of them and then lots of practice.
Anyone have a same schedule they used? Thank you in advance.
 
itzamemario said:
How would everyone suggest studying for oral boards? My program has a low pass rate so I don't think they have much to tell me on how to do it. I've heard UBP or Ho or rapid review or some combo of them and then lots of practice.
Anyone have a same schedule they used? Thank you in advance.
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Practice cases out loud. I had my wife read the stems and questions, I would answer, and then at the end of the stem go through my own responses. Obviously better to do with another anesthesiologist, but still works, I think it’s more about getting in the habit of speaking everything out loud. Did this 5 days a week for 2-3 months before the exam. Read a few chapters from Yao case based anesthesia that I felt weak in.

I personally feel the cost of buying a course is too expensive, odds are if you fail the first time you’ll probably pass the second with more prwctice, so I don’t see a point in wasting money on the course.
 
itzamemario said:
How would everyone suggest studying for oral boards? My program has a low pass rate so I don't think they have much to tell me on how to do it. I've heard UBP or Ho or rapid review or some combo of them and then lots of practice.
Anyone have a same schedule they used? Thank you in advance.
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im typically against these courses as you can see from my previous posts, but your situation seems a bit different. If your program has historically low rate of passing the exam, there is something your program is doing wrong.

I would just bite the bullet and spend the money on the course to make sure you are not missing anything.
 
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JiPo said:
im typically against these courses as you can see from my previous posts, but your situation seems a bit different. If your program has historically low rate of passing the exam, there is something your program is doing wrong.

I would just bite the bullet and spend the money on the course to make sure you are not missing anything.
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I was thinking the exact same thing.
 
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