Upcoming Intern and the Inservice Exam

[pushthatepi]

How important are the results of the inservice exams for interns? I recently matched into EM and will be starting in July. On both my sub-I's I took the SAEM tests and made around the national average both times. I know that the exam is taken every year, and how well I do will impact future employment, fellowship opportunities, and permission to moonlight. Suppose I don't do well come February. How much of a hindrance will that be, even if I do well my PGY2 and 3 years?
Thanks.

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[Angry Birds]

How important are the results of the inservice exams for interns? I recently matched into EM and will be starting in July. On both my sub-I's I took the SAEM tests and made around the national average both times. I know that the exam is taken every year, and how well I do will impact future employment, fellowship opportunities, and permission to moonlight. Suppose I don't do well come February. How much of a hindrance will that be, even if I do well my PGY2 and 3 years?
Thanks.

For the first fifteen years after residency, your employers will require you to send them all three years of your inservice exam results, along with a scatterplot with the scores of all your residency colleagues.

Therefore, my advice is to start studying now for the test.

 

[Cinematographer]

It's a good thing sarcasm translates so well over the internet.

 

[Dane07MD]

in training exam is for your preparation only to dictate how much effort to eventually put into the ABEM written exam. take step 3 one month before the ITE (which is in late Feb) and you won't need to study much at all.

I took PGY1 inservice with minimal studying to see where I fell on the intern curve based upon clinical experience.
I studied and actually tried for PGY2 to see how I could do.
I drank moderate alcohol the night before and took the PGY3 one as fast as I possibly could without checking answers or spending time thinking them to see if I could still get around a passing score.

Interesting, my adjusted percentile was nearly the same all three years. Go figure.

Passed written boards with ease.

Please enjoy your summer before residency and stop fretting about this. Focus on clinical experience and procedures as an intern, and enjoy your free time. Take care of yourself first and foremost.

 

[da8s0859q]

in training exam is for your preparation only to dictate how much effort to eventually put into the ABEM written exam. take step 3 one month before the ITE (which is in late Feb) and you won't need to study much at all.

I took PGY1 inservice with minimal studying to see where I fell on the intern curve based upon clinical experience.
I studied and actually tried for PGY2 to see how I could do.
I drank moderate alcohol the night before and took the PGY3 one as fast as I possibly could without checking answers or spending time thinking them to see if I could still get around a passing score.

Interesting, my adjusted percentile was nearly the same all three years. Go figure.

Passed written boards with ease.

Please enjoy your summer before residency and stop fretting about this. Focus on clinical experience and procedures as an intern, and enjoy your free time. Take care of yourself first and foremost.

Tangentially related: how similar did you think those exams were compared to the real thing? I've taken all three I'll ever take but have had people ahead of me say the written board is not like the ITE (in a good way).

 

[Dane07MD]

Eh. I'd argue the ITE questions are the most similar to the actual board exam, for obvious reasons (same question authors).

Ways in which ITE is different from ABEM Written:
-ITE is paper, real thing is computer
-ITE is ~225 questions, real thing is 310

Ways in which they are similar:
ABEM creates both
Question authors are often same

At the most nit-picky level, the ITE questions might be slightly more vague (and thus more difficult). ABEM exam questions for the most part were "you know it or you don't". Meaning you can't reason through the question with knowledge of physiology and such. You just need to know what drug to give, or what pathologic sign is associated with a certain disease, etc.

 

[Tenk]

Qbanks, qbanks and qbanks. I probably did somewhere around 5,000 questions during residency. The more you do, the better you'll do!

 

[hoot504]

Qbanks, qbanks and qbanks. I probably did somewhere around 5,000 questions during residency. The more you do, the better you'll do!

From where? That's mucho questions

 

[littlejuan]

Eh. I'd argue the ITE questions are the most similar to the actual board exam, for obvious reasons (same question authors).

Ways in which ITE is different from ABEM Written:
-ITE is paper, real thing is computer
-ITE is ~225 questions, real thing is 310

Ways in which they are similar:
ABEM creates both
Question authors are often same

At the most nit-picky level, the ITE questions might be slightly more vague (and thus more difficult). ABEM exam questions for the most part were "you know it or you don't". Meaning you can't reason through the question with knowledge of physiology and such. You just need to know what drug to give, or what pathologic sign is associated with a certain disease, etc.

ITE is moving to computer as well. There were programs across the country this year that were test pilots for the computer ITE.

 

[Tenk]

From where? That's mucho questions

Rosh review. Hippo EM. Three question books (I forgot the names). Peer 7/8.

 

[Birdstrike]

How important are the results of the inservice exams for interns? I recently matched into EM and will be starting in July. On both my sub-I's I took the SAEM tests and made around the national average both times. I know that the exam is taken every year, and how well I do will impact future employment, fellowship opportunities, and permission to moonlight. Suppose I don't do well come February. How much of a hindrance will that be, even if I do well my PGY2 and 3 years?
Thanks.

Don't treat this any different than any other test you've taken in the past decade. Study hard, do the best you can, and move on. It's just one more test. I'm great test taker. I did mediocre on my year 1 EM inservice, good year 2, and crushed it 3rd year. Rocked the ABEM boards the first time, and rocked the 10 year concert. Trust me. No one gives a sh|t about that PGY 1 inservice that I did "just okay" on. This is the stuff that creates tremendous anxiety in the moment, and later you look back and laugh, "Why did I worry so much about that?"

Study hard, do your best. Move on. Never look back. Just another hoop.

 

[Angry Birds]

Don't treat this any different than any other test you've taken in the past decade. Study hard, do the best you can, and move on. It's just one more test. I'm great test taker. I did mediocre on my year 1 EM inservice, good year 2, and crushed it 3rd year. Rocked the ABEM boards the first time, and rocked the 10 year concert. Trust me. No one gives a sh|t about that PGY 1 inservice that I did "just okay" on. This is the stuff that creates tremendous anxiety in the moment, and later you look back and laugh, "Why did I worry so much about that?"

Study hard, do your best. Move on. Never look back. Just another hoop.

Great advice. I didn't know you've been an attending for ten years though.

I would just add that a below average for your year / intern class could cause problems if you as an intern get in trouble for other things. In other words if you're a crappy intern and in the hot seat because of that, a low inservice will add to your grief and the program's case against you.

On the other hand, if you're a fantastic intern, then doubt anyone cares too much about your inservice.

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Great advice. I didn't know you've been an attending for ten years though.

I would just add that a below average for your year / intern class could cause problems if you as an intern get in trouble for other things. In other words if you're a crappy intern and in the hot seat because of that, a low inservice will add to your grief and the program's case against you.

On the other hand, if you're a fantastic intern, then doubt anyone cares too much about your inservice.

This is probably a very broad question, but in your eyes what makes you a crappy intern vs a fantastic one lol?? Is it ones ability to play with others, or scope of medical knowledge or work ethic (being on time, showing intiative, etc etc etc)?

 

[dav86]

This is probably a very broad question, but in your eyes what makes you a crappy intern vs a fantastic one lol?? Is it ones ability to play with others, or scope of medical knowledge or work ethic (being on time, showing intiative, etc etc etc)?

Be humble, work hard, be open to criticism, crush off-service rotations, don't worry about being competent with procedures, become proficient with bread and butter complaints (abd pain, pelvic pain, chest pain, MSK injuries, back pain, etc.), don't worry about the "odd/weird" presentations, be respectful to nurses, techs, secretaries, start building a good reputation.

 

[HoosierdaddyO]

Be humble, work hard, be open to criticism, crush off-service rotations, don't worry about being competent with procedures, become proficient with bread and butter complaints (abd pain, pelvic pain, chest pain, MSK injuries, back pain, etc.), don't worry about the "odd/weird" presentations, be respectful to nurses, techs, secretaries, start building a good reputation.

Solid advice 🙂

 

[Birdstrike]

Great advice. I didn't know you've been an attending for ten years though.

Since 2003.

 

[gutonc]

This is probably a very broad question, but in your eyes what makes you a crappy intern vs a fantastic one lol?? Is it ones ability to play with others, or scope of medical knowledge or work ethic (being on time, showing intiative, etc etc etc)?

Yes.