Oral Boards: Self Study vs. Review Course

[wilner2]

For those of you who have recently taken and passed or failed the oral board exam, would you recommend attending an oral board review course or doing a self study program? I understand that this exam is different than any other exam I may have taken in the past, so it makes sense that I may have to study differently. However, the time and cost to attend a review course is very significant. So if you attended a review course, which one did you attend and was it worth your time and money? And if you did NOT attend a review course, what book did you use as your primary source for preparation? Also, any other tidbits of advice are welcome (such as hotel to stay at, dress attire, etc.). Thanks.

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[michigangirl]

This topic has been covered a multitude of times in many threads, so a comprehensive search on this board will yield a lot of opinions. Here's the thread I started last year and has some insights about the course, was cleaned up by the mod for propaganda from review course salesfolks.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=10669517

 

[Lee123]

For those of you who have recently taken and passed or failed the oral board exam, would you recommend attending an oral board review course or doing a self study program? I understand that this exam is different than any other exam I may have taken in the past, so it makes sense that I may have to study differently. However, the time and cost to attend a review course is very significant. So if you attended a review course, which one did you attend and was it worth your time and money? And if you did NOT attend a review course, what book did you use as your primary source for preparation? Also, any other tidbits of advice are welcome (such as hotel to stay at, dress attire, etc.). Thanks.

I will repeat what I tell my residents, which seems to yield a very high pass rate:

1. you need to know your basics. If not, review them.
2. read a text on uncommon diseases. You might get asked about thyroid storm, etc
3. go over a text on clinical scenarios, like Yao
4. find attendings that you respect and have them go over oral questions. It is preferable to have an examiner ask you the questions, but if you don't have access to one, use what you have. If you have a cardiac attending, get that person to ask you some cardiac questions: how to manage coming off pump or profound hypotension in the face of cardiac dysfunction. Ask a peds attending to ask you some pediatric questions like how to manage intubating a TEF or what to do for managing a peanut aspiration.

 

[MTGas2B]

Self study.

 

[Pooh & Annie]

Everyone is different. If you have issues with articulating your thoughts or you get nervous you probably need lots of practice exams to build up your confidence for the real situation. If you think you lack the fund of knowledge to recall important info immediately, you need to do more reading. Maybe you need both.

 

[fabfive5]

Because I am a nice person who does not mind re-stating things for new people on this forum.....

I just passed my Orals (first try).

I used the following books:
1. Gallaghers Oral Boards book ed. 3
2. Yao and Art scenarios
3. Evidence based Anesthesia
4. Ho's Oral Board course book (beware of mistakes and old info...latest ed. is 2003)
5. my brain/experience

I took Ho's 2 day crash course and a Must Know Cases....I think it helped ONLY in that it made me practice. I had a few friends who were willing to give me mock oral exams....that helps immensly. I also had, as mentioned above, a few current/former oral board examiners who gave me mock orals....that helped even more.

If you have any questions let me know.