Training exam??

[badgas]

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I just received an email informing me that I will be taking the 2007 ABA-ASA In Training Examination. I will be about 2 wks into internship and know next to nothing about anesthesiology! Is this a normal thing? Thanks!

 

[UTSouthwestern]

I just received an email informing me that I will be taking the 2007 ABA-ASA In Training Examination. I will be about 2 wks into internship and know next to nothing about anesthesiology! Is this a normal thing? Thanks!

Yes it is, but it wouldn't hurt you to start reading Baby Miller or Clinical Anesthesiology.

 

[bubalus]

Check out a Morgan and Mikhail from the library (don't buy it as your program may give you one). Read the key points that are listed on the first page of each chapter. Do this a couple times. Easy to do. High yield.

 

[Trisomy13]

I took it on July 8th as an intern. It was like showing a hog a wristwatch.

I did manage to read a little bit of Baby Miller in the weeks preceding internship and saw some questions I was able to answer. Otherwise it was a total crap shoot. Think of it as the pre-exam for residency. You'll take it every year and see that you are learning, whether you like it or not.

 

[titan78]

Yes it is normal. How important your ITE is to you and your program depends on your PD and how 'serious' you about your boards.

You: Early on it is hard to do well on-unless you have been crazily studying as a medical student, already have inside knowledge on the best study aids, or some other advantage-one of those people that are so annoying who just take tests well.

To me the main advantage was it that is a stark dose of reality early on and now you know what the end goal is for your residency. You will have to pass the test to do well.

At my program there is a heavy emphasis on board scores right from the 'get-go' and there are big incentives to do well, even early on.

We are not allowed to moonlight if our scores are not over the 50th percentile. If that isn't enough it is also introduced into our overall performance, as one of two major factors, the other being overall clinical evalation which is very subjective.

Doing well on the previous exam sometimes can be our only safety net if we haved pissed of some miserable attending on an eval.

So, bottom line, talk to your upper levels, and see how heavily your PD is concerned with your ITE scores, otherwise chill and enjoy residency.

 

[badgas]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully I will get the chance to read a bit before internship. However, I was hoping to use that time to read up on some medicine so starting on the wards in July will be a little less terrifying.

 

[Robert Loblaw]

Thanks for the replies. Hopefully I will get the chance to read a bit before internship. However, I was hoping to use that time to read up on some medicine so starting on the wards in July will be a little less terrifying.

to clarify, the email was from your specific program?

 

[Mman]

As a new intern taking the ITE, I'm guessing you will be expected to bubble in your name and social security number correctly and fill out a guess for each question. At least that's what I did and I seemed to do just fine. When I took it the first time, i thought the ITE was the hardest test I had ever taken in my life. 2nd time? Still very, very difficult. The thing is, it's not like you need to get all the questions correct to pass it. What is it, something like 65-75% correct is a passing score??


If a program expects you to know anesthesia your first week out of medical school, well they just aren't very smart themselves.

My scaled score at the start of my intern year was around a 21 or so (I think). My scaled score at the start of CA1 year was around a 27 or 28. And that's with only 1 month of anesthesia as an intern and almost zero studying of anything related directly to anesthesia. It's just about getting experience taking care of sick patients. I'll start worrying much more about my scores this summer now that I am actually in anesthesia.