seeking study partner for ABA applied oral board SOE OSCE retake

[mawnster]

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as the title suggests, failed on first sitting this year. after dissecting what went wrong with some former attendings, boils down to the fact that I did not practice out loud enough.

to that end, plan this time around -- in addition to doing more mock exams with colleagues who've passed/the few actual board examiners I know/paid online, and developing quasi-scripts for commonly encountered clinical scenarios -- is to go through all the old ABA mock oral exams with a study partner. retake is spring 2026.

if anyone else may be in the same unpleasant boat as me, dm me and hopefully we can get through this together. thanks.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Good luck to you. Ideally, find an actual examiner from the ABA who can give you a mock exam and a critique.
The most common reason for failure is insufficient knowledge. The rest of the reasons listed by the ABA all hinge on that component. Knowledge helps you know how to be better at communicating because you know the material issues of the topic and it helps you know when to be adaptable and when to stand your ground. Knowledge is the key. Don’t be lulled into thinking it was anything else. It was knowledge of the topic that was the issue.

Watch someone smarter than you who has successfully taken the exam actually do a mock exam and you should be able to notice the difference. That’s the problem with the courses that people offer. You are taking the course with a bunch of people who might have a few things in common:
-they failed the exam (sometimes multiple times)
-they lack confidence
-often, English is not their first language

So, instead of hearing good oral exams at these courses, you watch 80% (or more) of people perform public exams that are terrible. People who struggle need to watch proficient people take exams so they know what a great exam looks like. Then they can emulate them. In my experience, that is not what you watch at these courses. You’re typically watching the bottom 10% take exams over and over. So, maybe you learn a few things NOT to do but you rarely see someone at these courses knock it out of the park. Find a way to see what a great exam looks like. Practicing with someone else who failed can be useful because you both have skin in the game. But it is unlikely that you will be getting great feedback or quality examples from someone who also failed. You will likely be getting examples of substandard exams and you might pick up bad habits or advice from them.

It’s like playing tennis. If you play with people who are also bad at tennis, you are less likely to improve your game and it will be a lot of futility. If you play with people better than you, your game will improve much more reliably.
So practice with others in the same boat for only a portion of your test prep. Aim for help from those who crushed the exam or actually know the exam (real or former examiners) as a prominent component of the exam preparation.

The most important aspect is the acknowledgement that you failed because of lack of knowledge. So your prep needs to include improvement in the depth of knowledge across all topics of anesthesiology. Superficial knowledge is rarely sufficient. When you are truly prepared, you will be able to predict the questions you will be asked before they are asked. That means you know the topic well.

 

[medicine2wallstreet]

I think you should say the word knowledge just one more time...

 

[Gern Blansten]

I think you should say the word knowledge just one more time...

Knowledge

* I emphasize it because most people I have met are in denial. They just think they got a bad question or an unfair examiner. I try to bring the more likely reality to the surface so there can be no more denial. I mentioned it seven times. Is that too heavy handed?
Do you disagree that it is the key to passing that exam?

 

[mawnster]

thanks for your comments, GB -- much appreciated. while i've luckily never failed any written board exam, the more I have been practicing aloud for oral boards, the more I realize there are certainly knowledge superficialties and i'm working to correct those. however I do feel like it's one thing to read, for example, the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of malignant hyperthermic crisis, think you know it, but another thing to verbalize that out loud in the context of a newly presented clinical scenario.

on the issue of confidence, any tips? i've never been a naturally confident person.

on the question of practicing with an actual board examiner or someone who's "knocked it out of the park"... will keep looking & tapping into my network of colleagues and former coresidents. unfortunately my program has/had only 1 or 2 examiners to my knowlege. if any kind soul reading this falls into either category above and is feeling especially charitable, please message me. (Bueller?)

 

[Gern Blansten]

Good luck to you!