Toughest question today?

[doctoranesthes]

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Just finished today's boards, stupid stats! I had some tough ICU questions, anyone else?

 

[siednarb]

i also thought that there was again a lot of STATS - which makes sense since i use statistics every day at work 😕

my favorite answer choice was: Nipple Necrosis 😀
anyone else see that as a choice?

not as many images or matching as I had anticipated

i already discocvered a few answers that I want to smack my self over 🙁

i'm just going to hope for the best and prepare for the worse

 

[HuskerAnes]

😡 Once again we are tested on obscure topics; more and more icu as opposed to passing gas.
I pray for a pass............

 

[nedflanders]

😡 Once agian we are tested on obscure topics; more and more icu as opposed to passing gas. All those memorized formulas were worthless.

I pray for a pass............

My understanding is people are taking it tomorrow as well. It may be best to hold of on discussing it until tomorrow evening.

 

[HuskerAnes]

I changed my post. Ned Flanders may want to edit his quote from my post.

I am used to the good old days of one test Sat in July.😳

 

[foxtrot]

That test was horrible today. From the people whom I spoke with who took the test on Monday, this test was very different and much harder with much more esoteric topics today. What is wrong with the ABA? I studied my ass off for this exam, went to board reviews and I still think I failed. It makes me not even want to do anesthesia anymore. I am depressed 🙁

 

[seinfeld]

I had a feeling that since it was less questions overall that the test may be more esoteric than normal. I found it frustrating that they removed the K types but then seem to add more "most", "least" "except" questions. There has, in my opinion, always been a disconnect b/w the everyday knowledge required to provide a good safe anesthetic and what you should know as an anesthesiologist.

 

[Lonestar]

Trust me dude, I took the test on Monday and it was very esoteric. I hope that gettting in the 60s percentage wise is passing, otherwise i will be taking it over again. Damn statistics questions and TPN questions did me in. I had no clue. I also had a bunch of questions on blocks that I felt good about. But all in all, it was pretty crappy day. I will be amazed if I passed.

 

[OldManDave]

ABA Board Exam = Anesthesia/Critical Care Trivia Pursuit...in a very high-stakes fashion!

 

[2ndyear]

I thought the stems were much shorter than I expected, and the long matching questions were very few in number. What I thought was the level of detail was pretty high. It wasn't enough to know the 'big picture' on a lot of subjects, you had to really dig to get the answer. Jensen's only does so well with this. There were a few questions that Jensen's covered well, but not well enough to answer correctly. As stated before, lots of what is the NEXT step, or LEAST likely. These can be tricky. But time was no issue at all. I'd be willing to guess the percentage correct needed to pass goes up to high 70's this year.

As far as the exam conditions, I really thought that PeasonVUE or whatever did a pretty good job. It felt much more secure than when I did the USMLE. No BS. Good dividers so I really could sit far back and still not see who was next to me. Also we had I think all ABA candidates in the center. Much better than when I took step III on 'GED Day' at the test center.

 

[CambieMD]

I took a review course prior to taking the exam. I don't really see how these courses give you a real edge. Maybe they help by motivating you to study.
Some of the questions were very easy and other questions were very difficult. 25 questions were experimental. I hope that the ones that I missed were experimental and did not count. The stems were short.

Cambie

 

[mille125]

A couple years ago, a high number of people aced the exam (i believe it was2005). Since then, I have heard that the ABA was trying to make the exam harder or ask some newer questions. The review courses may be a year or so behind. Rest assured that many of these "mind boggling" questions will be dismissed. Dont worry, those who prepared optimally for the exam will pass. Your odds of passing are much higher than your odds of failing.