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They're on the ABA website. No scores, just pass/fail.
I am interested in hearing the views of others who took the exam.
Cambie
They're on the ABA website. No scores, just pass/fail.
Those of you who took the computer exam for credit this year - did you feel the questions, whether in content, format, scope, area of emphasis, whatever were significantly different than the #2 pencil ITEs you've taken?
I thought Big Blue was extremely high yield for the ITE both last year and this year, but as someone else pointed out in another thread, its strength comes largely from remembered and released questions.
Mostly I'm curious whether or not you guys think Big Blue will remain as relevant as it has been, or if it needs a big overhaul and update (which Jensen is apparently not inclined to do).
I guess Im the only one here. A FAILURE!
I was absolutely devastated at the news. I mean anything can happen but not to me! I passed the ITE last year, was always in the upper 1/3 of my class on all exams!
I studied diligently....mostly Big Blue, lots of questions but somehow I failed to measure up.....in fact I am still shell shocked at the results.
I was one of the guys who was suppose to pass the exam easily. Post exam I felt pretty good, no different than the last ITE and BAM last night I got ran over by a MAC truck....I am in total disbelief and emabarassed, I feel like a failure.
Im not sure what is next but at this moment I cannot make heads or tails of the situation
Just out of curiosity for those that took the exam on monday 8/4 on the results page does it report your exam date as 8/5? As I took the exam on 8/4 and the screen says 8/5 with a dreaded fail right next to it
Sorry for the hot air but I am feeling like crap and needed to vent
I also got the f bomb... I could not believe it, I passed it two years in a row and to see this..
I guess Im the only one here. A FAILURE!
I was absolutely devastated at the news. I mean anything can happen but not to me! I passed the ITE last year, was always in the upper 1/3 of my class on all exams!
I studied diligently....mostly Big Blue, lots of questions but somehow I failed to measure up.....in fact I am still shell shocked at the results.
I was one of the guys who was suppose to pass the exam easily. Post exam I felt pretty good, no different than the last ITE and BAM last night I got ran over by a MAC truck....I am in total disbelief and emabarassed, I feel like a failure.
Im not sure what is next but at this moment I cannot make heads or tails of the situation
Just out of curiosity for those that took the exam on monday 8/4 on the results page does it report your exam date as 8/5? As I took the exam on 8/4 and the screen says 8/5 with a dreaded fail right next to it
Sorry for the hot air but I am feeling like crap and needed to vent
Since someone publically admitted their result, I will post mine. Mine said I failed as well last night online. I was predicted by my residency department to pass on first attempt with 95% certainty, based on my performance on the ITE. I came through smashing my way through big blue, and chantigan/hall, etc etc. Covered all the big topics, felt rested, even went through the exam on the computer twice since I felt I had plenty of time, and felt good leaving the test.
#1-My private practice partner tells me not to worry until the written report is in my hand. He tells me that there was a time during his residency that a bunch of seniors were told by email that they had failed, and this was later changed.
#2-Personal experience here. Nine months ago I took the Texas Jurisprudence Exam at PearsonVue for TX licensure. This was also the first time they had administered the exam for the State of Texas. They told me I failed twice, causing a lot of stress and anxiety for me. The State of Texas later informed me I had scored a 97% both times, and obviously did pass.
#3 So this is a first time administration. There is a real possibility for error on someone's part. Maybe I did fail, and it couldn't be by much. At least my contract to work doesn't hinge on the test. Hopefully this will all come out in the wash.
Fingers crossed....![]()
since others posted the truth - I will as well - failed
and to the above poster, I took the exam on 8/4/08 and it also said 8/5/08 next to my name - i didn't really notice it until you pointed it out - not sure if means anything or not.
as for studying - i think the above poster (different poster) is a little naive stating his reasons for people not passing. I speak English fluently, studied my ass off (Big Blue at least 5 times, Audio Blue daily for a year and half driving to and from work, review courses, old ABA exams, remembered questions - the works) I steadidly improved in each of my ITE exams.
I still left that exam thinking that the exam did not test my fund of knowledge and was more a game of trivia pursuit. Some questions were fair, some were easy as pie, others were from left field. I'm not someone who does well on "standardized exams" - but i've managed to pass everything to get to this point in my life - so this obviously is a big kick in the stomach.
The hardest part is the embarassing factor to your friends, coworkers, fellow residents who call you saying "did you get your results..." what do you say to them? Unfortunately there are those of you who did pass (and I congratulate you whole-heartedly) who will pass judgement on those of us who didn't pass. Like the above poster you might come up with a list of reasons why people fail this exam. Please don't - I studied just as hard as you, worked just as hard as you, and am as good as an anesthesiologist as you. Just because you were able to correctly answer more of the random 250 questions than I was - doesn't equate with "being better".
Even worse than that is dragging your family through more months of studying, trying to explain to your kids why daddy or mommy can't do this or that with them today because he or she has to study...again.
I do think the exam has a purpose - but at the same time I don't think it should entail failing nearly 20-30% of the people who take the exam. From my understanding its one of the highest fail percentages of all the medical boards. Maybe I'm just digging for rationalizations and looking for a place to direct my frustrations when I should just look in the mirror -but honestly - I can look in the mirror and say that I gave it 110% - somehow I'm going to have to double down my efforts as the 5-year time clock my hospital gives me to become board certified is ticking.![]()
I have been thinking about this thread all day and just how lucky I feel to have passed this exam, but also about how I feel terrible for those who did not pass it. Simply because I could have EASILY been in their shoes. I studied a moderate amount, but certainly could have spent more time hitting the books unfortunately I was feeling somewhat burned out during my prime studying time. That exam was a TOTAL roll of the dice. I am 100% certain that the folks above who did not pass studied just as hard or harder than I did. They simply got caught on an off day or didn't know enough answers to the ABA TRIVIA that this exam seemed to be largely composed of. All of the stuff that was asked was fair game but DAMN some of it was OBSCURE. I honestly can't remember the content of the intraining very well so I can't comment on the training exam versus the real thing. I do know that on the real thing the stems were very short. There were a number of slam-dunks, a number of questions I wasn't that sure about and quite a few that I was clueless. I did not specifically study keywords for the exam. I did run through my list of keywords towards the end and felt like I covered most of them. The thing is that even if you knew a keyword COLD you still might miss the question because the depth of knowledge/minutiae/irrelevancy to anesthesia practice was potentially profound.
I would not suggest to anyone that they blow this beast off. Maybe if you are a superstar but if you are a regualar old schmucko like me I would suggest studying pretty hard.
It sounds cheesy but to everyone who didn't pass try not to let it get you down, you will still be a great gas-passer despite the results of one stupidass test.
UHHHHHHHHHHH,
I kinda agree with ya, Arch, and kinda don't.
The boards are a benchmark.
Yeah, I agree, kinda stupid to assess an individual's total professional future on a test.
Here's an example on the stupidity of standardized tests assessing one's competence:
Dude in my med school class.....Ken T.... (he's a cardiologist now, prolly about 42 years old, very, very cool dude, prolly in Fla somewhere....anybody know him? was one of the smartest, most intellectually gifted dudes in my class at DA U circa 1988-1992.
Well, uhhh, Kenny blew off studying for Part One of the boards since his intellectual capability, and his brain were bigger than Bill Clinton's Johnson when he was with Monica.
KENNY FAILED PART ONE OF THE BOARDS.
Which put his third year clerkships in jeapordy (uhhhh....how do you spell jeapordy?)
Long story short, he studied the second time, and killed the mo-fo.
POINT BEING like Arch said, alotta great dudes can fail a test.
But then again, theres gotta be a line in the sand somewhere.
The gifted/motivated/non-lazy will find a way to breach the line.
The others will not.
Kinda reminds me of the trend nowadays in child competetive sports where everyone gets a medal for showing up. There is no winner.
Sorry, kids, that educational vehicle just isnt reality.
There are winners in every arena.
And there are losers.
In a healthy way, strive to be a winner.
A line does need to be drawn in the sand and that line was drawn way back in college.
Disagree. Why have boards at all if everyone fell into the good enough, smart enough, and doggone-it-people-like-me category 10 years ago?
Are the anesthesia boards are designed the best way they could be? When you've got ~10% of CA-1s passing after one year, and ~20% of CA-3s failing after three years, it's at least somewhat suggestive that there's some element of chance or unpredictability to the exam.
I don't want a participation trophy. I want the test to be difficult so that board certification means something, but consistent and fair so we don't hear so many of these stories of consecutive ITE passes followed by failure.
I think that your "why have boards at all" quote is spot on. What does board certification actually mean? The vast majority of those that fail go on to pass in the next attempt. Contrary to popular belief, hardly anyone loses their job for failure. Partnership may be delayed briefly but they will not lose their job. People who fail the boards lose absolutely nothing other than another year of their life for preparation.
I agree with many of the above posters.
I do think the exams serve a purpose as I wrote earlier - but failing the percentage that the ABA fails is what is so frustrating.
Here is a link to the stats from ABEM (ER Docs) where over 90% of first time takers pass compared to a range of 60-75% over the last 8 years in anesthesia. Is there a reason for this?
http://www.abem.org/PUBLIC/portal/alias__Rainbow/lang__en-US/tabID__3373/DesktopDefault.aspx
Radiology - also in the low 90% for their boards
http://theabr.org/DR_Pri_Score.htm
and others (though I can not find the links) but from hearing from friends in other fields have pass rates in the low 90's so why is anesthesia different - I don't think is unreasonable to think that at least 90% of people in anesthesia residencies pass their written board examinations on the first try. Like previous posters have pointed out, there was a whole lot of hoops to jump through to get this point in our lives and many did not survive those jumps and are now doing other things.
Its been 3 days and I still don't feel any better - but I guess my life could be worse - I could have been an investment banker at Lehman Bros.![]()
Do anyone know the percentage or have a link to the webpage that shows the percentage passing the Anesthesia written test among first-time test takers?I agree with many of the above posters.
I do think the exams serve a purpose as I wrote earlier - but failing the percentage that the ABA fails is what is so frustrating.
Here is a link to the stats from ABEM (ER Docs) where over 90% of first time takers pass compared to a range of 60-75% over the last 8 years in anesthesia. Is there a reason for this?
http://www.abem.org/PUBLIC/portal/alias__Rainbow/lang__en-US/tabID__3373/DesktopDefault.aspx
Radiology - also in the low 90% for their boards
http://theabr.org/DR_Pri_Score.htm
and others (though I can not find the links) but from hearing from friends in other fields have pass rates in the low 90's so why is anesthesia different - I don't think is unreasonable to think that at least 90% of people in anesthesia residencies pass their written board examinations on the first try. Like previous posters have pointed out, there was a whole lot of hoops to jump through to get this point in our lives and many did not survive those jumps and are now doing other things.
Its been 3 days and I still don't feel any better - but I guess my life could be worse - I could have been an investment banker at Lehman Bros.![]()
I just had to share this relevant article that I found:I also got the f bomb... I could not believe it, I passed it two years in a row and to see this.. I did the speal big blue x5 , hall... m a m , and starr... Totally in depression and am in a fellowship... I agree with the texas juris prudence... I got a fail which then resulted in a pass on email.... (great system)... I just dont know how to come over such a confidence killer...I agree with telling family and coworkers, it is tough to know that i have done three years of anesthesia, pull off a reputable fellowship and to see an email that just says u fail without being able to contact the center. I took the test on day two and two of my fellow friends who also passed last year, failed this year. Nothing like being a guinue pig at 1 grand. excuse my frustration
Do anyone know the percentage or have a link to the webpage that shows the percentage passing the Anesthesia written test among first-time test takers?
I can't believe someone said it is 60-75% - it can't be that low! (can it?)
ASA said:From 1994 to 1998, the overall pass rate on the ABA written examination varied from 61 percent-71 percent. In 2000, however, along with the lowest number of candidates, the written examination pass rate sunk to a nadir of 46 percent, climbing back to 55 percent in 2001 and then to 62 percent in 2002. Those who passed the written examination experienced similar overall oral examination pass rates to prior years 70 percent-74 percent for the period between 1997 and 2002 with a consistent pass rate between 79 percent-83 percent for the subset of new American medical graduates.
I have at least 10 memorized questions in my head as examples, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to share them (am I?).