Passing score for boards

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climbingdocs said:
what percentile to pass?
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Depends how smart your year group is. Pass % changes year to year, but I think >85% of first time takers are passing the written lately.

Be aware though that if you're in the 16th %ile during your March CA3 ITE, that knowledge level might not be 16th %ile in August, because everyone crams like mad the last few months. So don't blow off your own cramming.

%ile probably isn't the best metric to use though. Unless the ITE scoring has changed in the last few years, a 33 or 34 probably represents a passing level of knowledge, independent of what other people score.
 
pgg said:
Depends how smart your year group is. Pass % changes year to year, but I think >85% of first time takers are passing the written lately.

Be aware though that if you're in the 16th %ile during your March CA3 ITE, that knowledge level might not be 16th %ile in August, because everyone crams like mad the last few months. So don't blow off your own cramming.

%ile probably isn't the best metric to use though. Unless the ITE scoring has changed in the last few years, a 33 or 34 probably represents a passing level of knowledge, independent of what other people score.
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I was routinely getting around the 90th percentile on the ITE, so I basically blew off the real thing and got the 50th, so yes, the real test is "harder" than the ITE.
 
Yeah, that test definitely sucked. I'm curious about when we'll hear back too.
 
Last year, results were out at the end of August, so hopefully around then. I agree with my two previous colleagues, that test utterly blew (coming from someone who did quite well on every ITE).
 
I felt crushed when I walked out of there. I actually ended up doing great. I think you will surprise yourself. I always did well on the ITE but I pushed myself pretty hard for the real thing. No way I had the cojones to blow it off.
 
Yeah I thought it was brutal, lots of random trivia with some pretty far out questions. I too wonder what passing will be this year. I tried to find a correlation between CA 3 ITE scores and pass rate but couldn't find any. Hopefully all is well and we all pass!
 
That test was hard. Upon leaving I felt worse than on the ITEs, on which I did reasonably well for the last 2 years. I studied very hard until I started working July 15, which cut my studying and energy level way down. Still was able to get through Big Blue 6 times (oral and written) by the AM of the exam. It seemed to me that the test question writers went through Big Blue and wrote the questions in a way that those that put most of their eggs in that basket wouldn't be able to answer them consistently.

On a plus note, my first paycheck from my 'real' job, even if only for half a month, was a sweet thing this morning. Life is good.
 
Def agree with all of the other posters. Like most stated I had done extremely well on the ITEs over the past years and felt that the actual test was much harder than the ITEs. The questions required you to know your content solid, back and forth, and the questions were worded much differently than the ITE. Best of luck to all and I hope that everyone did well.
 
I believe 85-90% of 1st time test takers pass. So if you consistently got 16%ile on your ITE exams, you should be in good footing 🙂
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Disagree. If you have consistently gotten 16th percentile on the ITE, you will be a high risk for failure. As has been stated many times on here, the sleepers below you will be studying like crazy to pass and many of them will. If you maintain the same study plan, you will be passed and will fall into the lower percentiles. The main thing is your scaled score on the ITE. If you have gotten greater than or equal to 33, you will likely be okay, but will have little margin for error, since some people actually regress on the exams. The ABA does not compare you against your peers to determine a pass rate. It maintains the bar at a high level, even if a large percentage fail. The pass rate dropped into the mid 50's for first time takers around 2000. It has gradually crept back up to be in the high 80's now.

All of that to say, if you are a CA-III with a 16th percentile ITE score, you are at serious risk and better get to studying because it could end poorly for you. Repeat taker pass rates fall below 50% and taking it a third time, the pass rate dips into the 30% range. Pass it with a comfortable margin the first time you take it and save yourself some heartache. That passing score will not come without focused and intentional outside reading and studying unless you are one of those rare super bright persons who never struggles with exams.
 
Trivia was a good word to describe some questions. I also agree with the poster about Big Blue. It did seem like the testers went through Big Blue and designed questions specifically to prevent people who used it as a sole source more difficult to answer questions. Hopefully will pass and move on to the next one!
 
I will echo that the test was torturous and I'll be a little on edge until the results come out. I got a 41 on the ITE in march and still studied a lot for these written boards but don't feel like much of the studying helped. I also swore I bombed step 1 after i took it and did ok on it, but still, all the questions that I remember having difficulty on I know I answered wrong and that was alot of them.

And I barely used big blue; mostly stuck to Hall, m5, and ACE questions, with M&M for a few good chapters I like in it, and still was thinking "wtf" when I read most of those questions. Rather than test concepts, it tested alot on minute details, of which there are an inifinite number in the anesthesia realm.
 
G0S2 said:
Nope. Can log in now and no update.
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ABA just updated ABA MOCA exam results that were taken July 13-27 2013

That's the reason website was down. They just released the MOCA cognitive exam.

I know cause I just checked my MOCA exam results.
 
Hopefully they'll be up in a week or two then. I haven't been so nervous about a test since I was in college haha
 
All the attendings and former residents I asked said 4 to 6 weeks minimum. The wait is pure torture.
 
Ugh, perhaps more stressful than waiting for board scores to come out is waiting for my permanent license to get approved. I swear, Anesthesia has to be the ONLY specialty that would actually erase your written board scores if you dont have a license by nov 30. Case in point, instead of worrying about studying in July, I was worrying about making sure my papers all got in on time. FML.
 
I keep having a recurring nightmare that I failed 🙁 I don't ever remember feeling this much anxiety over a test!
 
The passing rate these days are like 87-91%. So odds are in ur favor.

Not like old days where passing rates were 75-82%.

Same or similar rates for ABA orals. So not sure if residents are smarter or they know how to study for the exam better these days.
 
aneftp said:
Same or similar rates for ABA orals. So not sure if residents are smarter or they know how to study for the exam better these days.
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I bet it's a better quality of resident, on average. The nadir in pass rates came ~4-6 years after the mid-90s slump when programs couldn't fill and took any warm body. Surely not a coincidence.

It's actually a little reassuring to me to see that the ABA was willing to fail 50% of test takers back then, because that implies that the passing standard is somewhat objective and they don't pick X% as a target fail rate.
 
Nuriko said:
Ugh, perhaps more stressful than waiting for board scores to come out is waiting for my permanent license to get approved. I swear, Anesthesia has to be the ONLY specialty that would actually erase your written board scores if you dont have a license by nov 30. Case in point, instead of worrying about studying in July, I was worrying about making sure my papers all got in on time. FML.
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How come you don't have an unrestricted license?
 
pgg said:
I bet it's a better quality of resident, on average. The nadir in pass rates came ~4-6 years after the mid-90s slump when programs couldn't fill and took any warm body. Surely not a coincidence.

It's actually a little reassuring to me to see that the ABA was willing to fail 50% of test takers back then, because that implies that the passing standard is somewhat objective and they don't pick X% as a target fail rate.
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Yeah, I think I recall that the pass rate dipped down to around 56% one year. It was really low for several years due to what you referenced.
 
Arch Guillotti said:
How come you don't have an unrestricted license?
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Perhaps he had a training license in residency. Some states and residency programs don't require that resident physicians obtain their medical licenses while in training. As a result many residents apply for their medical license at the end of CA3 year when they know where they are going to practice
 
Yeah that's probably true. Because California required you to have a full unrestricted license before you started your PGY 3 year it wasn't a problem for me but I know others whose states don't require anything but a trainee license.
 
excalibur said:
Perhaps he had a training license in residency. Some states and residency programs don't require that resident physicians obtain their medical licenses while in training. As a result many residents apply for their medical license at the end of CA3 year when they know where they are going to practice
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This is exactly it. I was never required to obtain a permanent license during residency, and renewing my existing temp. license was faster, cheaper, and easier. Additionally, I have started a fellowship, which also only requires me to have a temporary license to train. I am literally only going through this headache for the sake of my boards.
 
So the ABA protal is down.....wonder if the results are coming. Im so scared.
 
Last year written boards were July 30-31 and scores were released on the website August 28.
 
Maybe we will see something by the 26th or 27th then. The portal is down for me this morning though....
 
The written board exam results have always been a 4 week wait period for results online (since if became available)

Nothing has changed.

U guys are currently in week 3. Look for results at the end of next week. Usually released in the afternoon eastern time
 
aneftp said:
The written board exam results have always been a 4 week wait period for results online (since if became available)

Nothing has changed.

U guys are currently in week 3. Look for results at the end of next week. Usually released in the afternoon eastern time
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oral board results came in early this spring... not to make anyone even more neurotic, but they may be getting more efficient
 
dizzy21 said:
From former residents I heard last year it was delivered on Aug 29th via email in a PDF attachment.
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Thursday afternoon are (were) usually the times for release of pass/fail over Internet.
 
Is anybody else worried? I felt that test was really difficult and think it could go either way :-/
 
ABA portal is undergoing 'maintenance'
 
Yeah I can't get in either.....hmmm.........heart rate starting to rise....need to go find beta blocker.
 
They won't release my score because my program hasn't submitted a final training summary. I made up some maternity leave in july and early august. This blows....I just wanna know....I guess calling the board won't do any good.....
 
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