Qualifying Cram

[EM_Rebuilder]

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So who else is studying/cramming for this little test coming up next week?

I have no more shifts between now and when I take it on Monday.

In some ways, I think a trip to Vegas for the weekend would be better than another day at Starbucks drooling onto Peer VIII or one of the other books in my stack.

One of my co-residents had to analyze the statistics and point out that 90-93% pass which means in our class of 10, one person theoretically fails!

 

[xaelia]

One of my co-residents had to analyze the statistics and point out that 90-93% pass which means in our class of 10, one person theoretically fails!

Pretty good - where I trained, our five-year pass rate was 82%!

 

[EM_Rebuilder]

That test sucked...

I thought the Inservice tests were much better and more straight forward.

This thing has some obscure random facts I would love to mention but know that I cannot.

I walked out feeling this is no way I could have passed. We shall see; that seemed to be much of the same thoughts on years passed and people did ok.


Heres hoping for the best....

 

[xaelia]

Pretty sure I saw this thread last year...filled with panic...and eventual passes.

Hey, if you knew 50% of the answers, and narrowed it down to two choices on the remaining 50% - that's passing right there.

Drink up!

 

[Hamhock]

Drink up!

I am working on that right now!😀

Yeah - I missed a lot of Qs - but I believe in the predictive value of history (the inservice). I hope I pulled it off.

HH

 

[EMRAGE]

I too felt there was a plethora of random facts and obscure answers. I felt I could usually narrow the results to 2 answers, but at times, those answers were a coin toss. Very annoyed. 90 days, HUH!

 

[Pinner Doc]

Pretty sure I saw this thread last year...filled with panic...and eventual passes.

Hey, if you knew 50% of the answers, and narrowed it down to two choices on the remaining 50% - that's passing right there.

Drink up!

Really?? How do you figure? Because I (and many others) walked out of there feeling like we all must have failed. So much harder than anticipated!

You're giving me a glimmer of hope.

 

[Groove]

That test sucked...

I thought the Inservice tests were much better and more straight forward.

This thing has some obscure random facts I would love to mention but know that I cannot.

I walked out feeling this is no way I could have passed. We shall see; that seemed to be much of the same thoughts on years passed and people did ok.


Heres hoping for the best....

I'm sure you did great man, don't sweat it...

 

[Apollyon]

I too felt there was a plethora of random facts and obscure answers. I felt I could usually narrow the results to 2 answers, but at times, those answers were a coin toss. Very annoyed. 90 days, HUH!

Hey - your first post without a "RAGE" at the end! Right on!

 

[Emergen-C]

I agree. I also think i failed. Lots of questions on zebras with 2 very correct answers. Argh.

 

[EMRAGE]

Hey - your first post without a "RAGE" at the end! Right on!

What can I say, life is better as an attending!

 

[xaelia]

Well, statistically speaking, someone out there failed.

But most of us passed. So, you might as well assume you passed - and even if you fail in the end, spending the next 90 days relaxed and presuming you passed will be far more pleasant and won't change the outcome.

 

[la gringa]

if you think that felt bad... wait til oral boards!

i did very well on the inservice every year, but felt not at all good after the qualifying exam. passed w/o difficulty. try to put it out of your mind... those tests always mess w/ you!!

 

[deleted109597]

I thought it was pretty high on the minutiae. But most of it seemed straightforward.

Some of the pictures were about worthless, but the questions weren't the usual "tell you everything in the question and the picture is just there for extra." They were like "what do you see in this picture?"
Handwritten EKG, poorly exposed L spine. Random useless rash picture.

 

[beanbean]

I agree completely about the stimulus pictures. Some images were really poor. I know we don't always have perfect X-rays and EKGs without artifact and baseline wander in the real world. But honestly can't we have nice, clears images for the exam.
Well at least its over!

Good luck to those taking it later in the week!

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I felt the same way last year. I did reasonably well on the in-training exam, found the qualifying exam filled with obtuse questions emphasizing marginalized material, had lots of anxiety-ridden conversations with my residency friends about how we were almost certain we failed...and passed comfortably.

You did fine. Enjoy the holidays.

 

[gutonc]

I agree. I also think i failed. Lots of questions on zebras with 2 very correct answers. Argh.

It's good to know that board certification exams are bizarre and random across specialties. The IM board results just came out last week and there's a great thread over there discussing this very issue.

A typical IM board style question (not an actual exam question or even based on one) would go like this:

"A 62yo man with a history of 3 prior MIs, on ASA, Plavix and coumadin, uncontrolled HTN - baseline SBP 180-200 on 3 medications - and HLD - last LDL >300 - presents with the sudden onset of tearing chest pain, not relieved with nitrates or rest. 12-lead EKG shows 2cm of ST elevation in all leads. Portable CXR shows a 25cm wide mediastinum and bedside ultrasound shows an aortic root diameter of 10cm. On exam, he is diaophoretic, tachycardic @ 180 and BP is 65/palp. Joint exam is significant for a painful, swollen, erythematous left knee.

While the nurse is dripping in the NS bolus you ordered at 50ml/h because she remembers reading in her part-time online community college nursing course that too much fluid can cause heart failure or something, and while you're waiting for your malpractice attorney to call you back and, oh what the heck, why not page the CT surgeon on call too, you aspirate fluid from the knee which shows positively birefringent crystals on polarized light microscopy.

On the way to the CT scanner, the patient suffers a cardiac arrest and, in spite of the arrival of competent physicians who try to help bail your dumb ass out, he expires.

What is the appropriate second-line prophylactic therapy for chronic pseudogout?"

A. Allopurinol
B. Colchicine
C. Ibuprofen
D. Are you f***ing kidding me...homeboy just blew a thoracic aortic aneurysm and you expect me to give a s**t about pseudogout. Screw this, I'm going to law school.

 

[xaelia]

I also think i failed. Lots of questions on zebras with 2 very correct answers. Argh.

I would also note that these are precisely the sorts of questions that get thrown out in the end if they are found to be statistically invalid. The exam pass rate stays relatively stable from 88-93% from year-to-year - in part because the question bank is manipulated post-test to keep it in that range. If you know your core Emergency Medicine, I would not get hung up on obtuse questions that fall to the periphery of your training or on ambiguous questions with imprecise answers.

 

[UnderwaterDoc]

It's good to know that board certification exams are bizarre and random across specialties. The IM board results just came out last week and there's a great thread over there discussing this very issue.

A typical IM board style question (not an actual exam question or even based on one) would go like this:

"A 62yo man with a history of 3 prior MIs, on ASA, Plavix and coumadin, uncontrolled HTN - baseline SBP 180-200 on 3 medications - and HLD - last LDL >300 - presents with the sudden onset of tearing chest pain, not relieved with nitrates or rest. 12-lead EKG shows 2cm of ST elevation in all leads. Portable CXR shows a 25cm wide mediastinum and bedside ultrasound shows an aortic root diameter of 10cm. On exam, he is diaophoretic, tachycardic @ 180 and BP is 65/palp. Joint exam is significant for a painful, swollen, erythematous left knee.

While the nurse is dripping in the NS bolus you ordered at 50ml/h because she remembers reading in her part-time online community college nursing course that too much fluid can cause heart failure or something, and while you're waiting for your malpractice attorney to call you back and, oh what the heck, why not page the CT surgeon on call too, you aspirate fluid from the knee which shows positively birefringent crystals on polarized light microscopy.

On the way to the CT scanner, the patient suffers a cardiac arrest and, in spite of the arrival of competent physicians who try to help bail your dumb ass out, he expires.

What is the appropriate second-line prophylactic therapy for chronic pseudogout?"

A. Allopurinol
B. Colchicine
C. Ibuprofen
D. Are you f***ing kidding me...homeboy just blew a thoracic aortic aneurysm and you expect me to give a s**t about pseudogout. Screw this, I'm going to law school.

But wait, whats the right answer???

I'm going with D, if nothing else, it qualifies as the most awesome answer in the history of test taking.

 

[gutonc]

But wait, whats the right answer???

I'm going with D, if nothing else, it qualifies as the most awesome answer in the history of test taking.

Exam right or real life right?

Real life right it's D. And you get extra credit for standing up, yanking the computer off the table and smashing it through the window into the exam monitor's observation room as you storm out of the room screaming "F*** This S***!".