Oral boards study partner April 2023 - anyone took the orals in October?

[Ophthalmic Senator]

I just took the oral boards. Awful. I am going to start studying for the oral boards in April 2023. Ugh. I am open to a study partner and open to various levels of studying together ranging from just keeping on a mutual schedule to closer cooperation.

I believe I got the gist of a significant majority of the questions. However, my delivery was awful. It didn't compare with TV newscasters or even other participants in the Osler course. Furthermore, getting the gist of the question doesn't mean I got the question scored as correct. For example, what if your differential is correct and the two most likely diagnoses are correct, but the final diagnosis is wrong? I believe that is a failing grade for that question.

What if you know the question so well that you can poke a hole in the case, telling them the most likely diagnosis but offer a second rare diagnosis that is fully supported by the data? Are you given extra credit? Or failed because you did not give a correct diagnosis, i.e. one single diagnosis? (I believe that would be a pass because the examiner did not press me to name a single diagnosis as I already said one is most likely and the other very rare and would need a specific test done, which they did not provide me with the results of such test).

What if the photo cannot be recognized but others can recognize it? That is a failing grade for that question. Is it such that many people get about the same number of cases correct (other than a few who do extremely well) so if you bungle a case, you are dead meat and will likely fail the exam? My wild guess is that of the 42 cases, you must pass at least 36. They say that even the examiners don't know how many cases you have to get right to pass because the cutoff is decided after the exam but I think the cutoff doesn't change too much. They said you can pass a case. That suggests you can get at least one case wrong by passing the case and still pass. Since there are 3 rooms (historically there were 6 rooms), my guess is that you can fail up to 6 cases.

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[IAmPsammoma]

Your comments completely echo my own. I left out several important details from case to case despite being sure of the diagnosis - some of this was nerves and some of this I attribute to interrupting questions from the examiners. I also anticipate retaking the exam because the scoring criteria is rather vague. If one leaves out a significant test or key treatment modality despite proficient data gathering, differential, and a correct diagnosis, does this constitute a failing case? To pass a case, does one need to pass each of the 3 scoring areas for each case, or is 2/3 enough?

As an aside, my hope is that the ABO sets a goal to have more consistent examiners. Some ask many questions and some wait and listen, only offering questions or information when prompted. Some wait several seconds for an answer, some move on if there is any hesitation. At least two times I was asked what my differential would be, after already providing that a minute earlier.

 

[Ophthalmic Senator]

At least two times I was asked what my differential would be, after already providing that a minute earlier.

I believe the examiner sometimes doesn't hear something. That is not their fault but harms the candidate. I sometimes didn't completely hear what they said, hearing most except a word or two.

I wouldn't object if the oral exam were a hybrid oral/written. You get the oral question, then you get a few minutes to enter a written answer. Or you get to write a partial answer that is submitted then you give an oral answer. The oral answer would be far smoother and organized. This is similar to a patient. When you see a patient, you are not forced to give a diagnosis after one glance. Rather, you look and can think for 3-4 minutes while you do the eye exam. But getting the board to change is impossible.

What I need to do is prepare to re-take the exam. The only way that I will pass this time is if they don't grade harshly. I don't hold up much hope because they don't hear things (like the above post) and the sample video shows an example of a failure. That failure isn't so bad. True, the woman misread the FA but most of her presentation was correct.

As far as leaving things out, I think if the examiner wants to help you, he or she will ask you if you left out something. If they want to fry you, they will ask "what is the diagnosis" even before you are finished working up the patient. That happened at least once when I was a little slow. I felt it was a trap. There was insufficient workup to make a diagnosis but say that and it's a fail. It might be better to guess the most likely diagnosis that you're considering. I think the number of examiners who want to fry you is less than historically because they have 2 examiners in the same room unlike in years past when there was only one examiner. There are horror stories of harassment when that was the case. On the other hand, having 2 examiners mean that there will not be a nice examiner that is very lenient.

 

[Eyeball Tickler]

Hey man! Let me know if you need a study partner for April 2023. I'd be down.

 

[TTChopper]

I would just wait to see whether you pass or not in a month or so. I took the exam earlier this year. There were multiple questions per session that I wasn't sure of the diagnosis or management. I either made the best educated guess or I straight out told the examiners that I don't know. I was sure that I needed to retake the test. But was pleasantly surprised that I passed. The grading was probably pretty forgiving.

 

[Bluesclera]

Hey man! Let me know if you need a study partner for April 2023. I'd be down.

looking for a study partner!

 

[Eyeball Tickler]

looking for a study partner!

Perfect. Me too. Feel free to PM me.

 

[Ophthalmic Senator]

The results are back. Normal anguish. 18% are in anguish. In recent years, the highest was 30%. The lowest year had a 12.5% anguish rate. I am happy to say that I was not in that 18%.

 

[Doc320]

Looking at the title, oh wow! The oral exam is coming up. Looks like the Osler course is starting soon, ending on Monday, and the oral exam later this month. Good luck colleagues!

 

[Doc320]

Results are back. Slightly worse statistics this time.
20.5% failure rate but a very low 56.1% pass rate for those who are repeating the oral exam.
The worse in recent years was in 2020 when there was a 30.0% failure rate.
For the 68 candidates who not pass, keep working at it! Maybe take the Osler course or one of the 3 other courses that I am aware of. Good luck!