Written board concerns...

[Yo GabbaPentin]

... I just don't have them right now as a CA3. Is this common? I thought the last ITE was alarmingly fair/easy. This is a dangerous place for me to be mentally. Are any other CA3's feeling the same? Someone please tell me some stories about failures after doing well on ITE's. I need a little more fear. Right now I'm much more scared about the orals in over a year.

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[PMPMD]

I'm feeling the same way these days = senioritis. Having done well on ITEs so far I'm kinda complacent about the writtens. I am more worried about the orals.

 

[imfrankie]

I'm feeling the same way these days = senioritis. Having done well on ITEs so far I'm kinda complacent about the writtens. I am more worried about the orals.

I think that is justified. Know baby Miller like the back of your hand and you'll easily pass the written boards. Don't sweat it. Prepare for the orals, however.
Practice talking over and over is my suggestion. I took a course with a lot of practice oral exams right before the exam to finalize my prep.

 

[Bertelman]

I must say, in my years on SDN, this is one thread that I don't think I've ever seen.

 

[B-Bone]

I had this problem in residency. I killed the ITE my CA-2 year, then purposely did no prep at all for the ITE CA-3 year to see if I could "pass" without studying. I still did, but not by much. That motivated me to study a ton for the real thing, then it was totally easy. The real deal is not that different from the ITE. you'll probably kill it. The failure rate is super low.

 

[Gaseous Clay]

I had this problem in residency. I killed the ITE my CA-2 year, then purposely did no prep at all for the ITE CA-3 year to see if I could "pass" without studying. I still did, but not by much. That motivated me to study a ton for the real thing, then it was totally easy. The real deal is not that different from the ITE. you'll probably kill it. The failure rate is super low.

To my understanding, the failure rate is still 20%+. With that said, if you did well on prior ITEs, you'll probably do fine for the real exam. If I were you, I'd take a break from studying for a little bit and then really try to get back into the mode of studying around May or early June at the latest, focusing on high yield material and old exam questions.

 

[bostonblaz]

I passed all of the ite's starting from my CA2 year. I did not really study much for it when I took it for real and still did one + sd over the mean. If you have always done well and finished at the top of your class on the ite's then you will do more then fine for real. What you really need to do if you were smart is start reading for the oral exams. No matter how great of a written test taker you are that test can humble you. A very close buddy of mine failed last year and he is one of the smartest people I know.

 

[PMPMD]

To my understanding, the failure rate is still 20%+. With that said, if you did well on prior ITEs, you'll probably do fine for the real exam. If I were you, I'd take a break from studying for a little bit and then really try to get back into the mode of studying around May or early June at the latest, focusing on high yield material and old exam questions.

This sounds like a reasonable plan.

 

[24858]

Also don't forget the people who haven't done as well on the ite are going to be studying their arses off so they will be gunning to take your pass from you.

 

[periopdoc]

Pretty much how I felt at this point in my CA-3 year. I didn't really get too serious about studying until late June/ early July. I wouldn't sweat not being concerned. Just try to keep reviewing and finding areas that need a touch up without burning yourself out.

- pod

 

[Yo GabbaPentin]

Crap. This post is doing nothing to motivate me. Where are all the posters who passed 3 times in residency and FAILED the boards? Oh well, I tried!

 

[24858]

Crap. This post is doing nothing to motivate me. Where are all the posters who passed 3 times in residency and FAILED the boards? Oh well, I tried!

I was in your shoes. Scoring over 90% on my ite exams. I was having difficulty being motivated ended up passing but it wasn't the usual 90% range.

 

[imfrankie]

Crap. This post is doing nothing to motivate me. Where are all the posters who passed 3 times in residency and FAILED the boards? Oh well, I tried!

worry about the orals, don't sweat the writtens, just review the basics and know ACLS.

 

[Bertelman]

Crap. This post is doing nothing to motivate me. Where are all the posters who passed 3 times in residency and FAILED the boards? Oh well, I tried!

They're not exactly jumping up and down to share their story with the world, I guess

 

[pgg]

I must say, in my years on SDN, this is one thread that I don't think I've ever seen.

worry about the orals, don't sweat the writtens, just review the basics and know ACLS.

I'm just going to quote one of my own angst-ridden posts from the Spring 2010 oral boards thread ...

As far as level of anxiety in a thread, it's a pretty close race.

Yeah, I don't normally have a physiologic response to test score waiting, but this is the first one in forever that I haven't been confident of the outcome.

Waiting for the written results, it was
- 95% "Ooh can't wait to see how thoroughly I owned that bitch!"
- 4% "What if the test center put someone else's name on my test?"
- 1% "Maybe I failed it ..."

This time around, it's
- 70% "I think my first session was strong enough to make up for the ******ed **** I said during the second one ..."
- 30% "Wonder if I'll get spring or fall next time?"

For **** sake I did compressions on a newborn today and my pulse didn't get as high as it does when I dwell on the chipshot TPN question I blew.

I'll bet tomorrow is the day

If it's not, I'm going to need to seriously think about starting myself on a beta blocker.

I wasn't stressed about the written exam and put up a score that I'll be proud to put on a fellowship application if the Navy ever lets me apply to one.

The oral exam, I remain simply relieved and glad it's over.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

I always scored very well on the ITE, although I never considered it "easy". I studied a moderate amount for the writtens and did extremely well. I wouldn't blow it off. I know a guy who did this and he flunked. n=1 but you don't want to be "that guy".

 

[periopdoc]

Originally Posted by pgg

For **** sake I did compressions on a newborn today and my pulse didn't get as high as it does when I dwell on the chipshot TPN question I blew.

One of the funniest, truest lines ever.


- pod

 

[panetrain]

I never worried about the written exam either. It's passable. The orals are a different beast. I just took them. They require taking that knowledge to a new level, the level of being able to spit out lecture quality explanations of anything and everything anesthesia on the fly. After reading each chapter, make sure you can explain each topic out loud as if it was grand rounds. Also know the differentials of the 20 most basic periop events (hypoxia, hypotension, brady etc...) be able to spit out 5-10 diffs with ease.

I'm feeling the same way these days = senioritis. Having done well on ITEs so far I'm kinda complacent about the writtens. I am more worried about the orals.