exams

[houseelf]

Do all of the specialties have their in service exam this weekend? Surgery does...good luck to everyone!

I know that this stress level here has been ratched up a notch. I, for one, will be happier when Saturday is over.

Kelly

[PrincessFiona]

exams

Ugh...I remember those days...Good Luck everyone!

Kris

My husband just received his results from his inservice -- so I'm guessing all of medicine has already had theirs. How much of a gauge is the inservice for the boards? His boards are in August and he gets two weeks to study. Are the boards much harder than the inservice?

Good luck to your husband, Kelly!

Jill

[DCJenn]

Peds is done. My husband's boss always sends out notices that tell how they 've done this year cmopared to last and then what they need to do to pass the boards. Nice.

Jenn

[SueC]

Yikes, what are you guys talking about??? I don't remember any exams and my husband is only in his first year of fellowship! Was there something he should have been studying for each year?

[houseelf]

Yeah, this program let us know exactly where my hubby ranked in relation to the other residents here in the program, in his year, and other surgery residents across the nation....really fosters that warm, touchy, team work spirit. I know, maybe we could create a statistical regression chart to visualize each resident's score to make everyone feel great about themselves.

New resolution: less cynicism

Kelly

You know, I do recall DH mentioning an exam last week. He said, "Honey, I'm taking a test today from noon to 3, can you fix me a sandwich?" And that was about it. I never see him study. What a freak!

Sue -- the inservice is a test all the residents take each year, supposedly to prepare them for the boards. My DH is medicine, and he's always had to take the test on a Saturday, even if it was his day off. I'm guessing it was specialty specific but I'm not sure, it may be given on different dates depending on where you are in the country. My DH never studies since technically it doesn't count -- it's just for the resident to know where they stand. Last week my husband brought home his results along with mean and standard deviations figures for all of medicine.

What's your husband's specialty?

Family Practice did theirs in November, and Mike did a LOT better this time around. He was really pleased.

[Amiens]

Matt has his third department exam in February. As sick as this may sound- he is excited to take it. He has done really well the last two times- the first time he took it he ranked second, and the second time he ranked second. He is determined to be ranked first this time, or at least that is his goal.

Edited to say- he brought home the scores from all of the residents from the last 4 years to brag that out of every one who had ever taken the exam during the CA-1 year at UW- he placed second overall. My Mr. Smartie Pants.

Crystal

[Phoebe]

My husband took his last week. It was terrible. The computer froze on him, then he started over, the proctor came up behind him and shut off his computer without saying anything to him. They made him sign out and sit outside the room for 30 minutes while they rebooted his computer to start the test for the 3rd time. I can only guess how bad his score will be.

Jennifer

I hear you, Kelly. The stress levels around here have miraculously dropped over the last 24 hours! Imagine that! And same here. . .they place a huge emphasis on this exam and on your scores. . .they really want to make you feel good, you know. I love those letters that they send out to everyone. I always wonder why they fail to mention something like "we realize that you were on call the night before the exam and that you have been working every evening until 9pm for two weeks prior. . .but we still expect you to earn within the 90% percentile."

[mommax3]

I remember these -- for OB/GYN residents they were called the CREOGs (I have no idea what this stood for) and they took them on a Saturday around this time each year. My husband always got the highest score in his year, and it made some of his classmates mad because he would freely admit that he didn't study and hardly read what they were supposed to for their weekly conference. He chalked it all up to being very disciplined when he studied in medical school -- he thinks he retained a lot of stuff from back then. The program director would call each resident in and tell them their score and how they ranked, but wouldn't tell who was first, unless THEY were first. But it inevitably got out anyway. I always thought it was lame because it was all about how well the program trained residents, so the program director got very hyper about the scores each year because it made the program (and him, by extension) look good if the residents did well.

My husband is going to take his specialty boards in less than a year, and the stress level is already ratcheting up. They have to keep track of each patient they see over a year's time, classify the cases into different categories, turn in their case list, and then sit before a board of high-up OB/GYNs and get quizzed on what they did and why. Stress city. He is afraid that he won't have enough cases to fill certain categories because of the population (young) at the base where we are stationed. But his partner just found out that he passed, so I think he'll be fine.

Sally