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View Full Version : Board exams = bleah.



OUstudent4life
9/8/2008, 04:50 PM
8 hours for 368 multiple choice questions. 46 questions/block, 1 hour/block. 1 hour break.

And I get to do it again in a little over a year, assuming I passed this one. :cry:

Oh, and I get to pay a little under a grand for the privilege of traveling to LA to see "simulated patients" in a month and be graded on my ability to speak English and whether I wash my hands before I do a physical exam. TOTAL money scheme by the board examiners. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I'm gonna go drink about half a bottle of wine, eat some good Italian food, and go to bed.

olevetonahill
9/8/2008, 04:55 PM
Good Luck

StoopTroup
9/8/2008, 05:06 PM
8 hours for 368 multiple choice questions. 46 questions/block, 1 hour/block. 1 hour break.

And I get to do it again in a little over a year, assuming I passed this one. :cry:

Oh, and I get to pay a little under a grand for the privilege of traveling to LA to see "simulated patients" in a month and be graded on my ability to speak English and whether I wash my hands before I do a physical exam. TOTAL money scheme by the board examiners. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I'm gonna go drink about half a bottle of wine, eat some good Italian food, and go to bed.

I remember my Dad doing that in Florida, Arizona, Missouri and Michigan...He always came back very wiped out.

Hang in there.

soonerscuba
9/8/2008, 05:24 PM
8 hours for 368 multiple choice questions. 46 questions/block, 1 hour/block. 1 hour break.

And I get to do it again in a little over a year, assuming I passed this one. :cry:

Oh, and I get to pay a little under a grand for the privilege of traveling to LA to see "simulated patients" in a month and be graded on my ability to speak English and whether I wash my hands before I do a physical exam. TOTAL money scheme by the board examiners. :mad: :mad: :mad:

I'm gonna go drink about half a bottle of wine, eat some good Italian food, and go to bed.
Think of it this way, in a short time people will pay you $50 to walk in a door, and it just goes up from there.

OUstudent4life
9/8/2008, 05:53 PM
Short time = 6 years, plus change.

Anyone want to know why docs charge so much? Not to make money. To make up for the 3-6 years we spend after graduation accruing interest on at least ~$125,000 of student loans, deferring those loans for academic hardship since our residency programs and fellowships are considered "post-graduate education" and they can pay us $35,000/yr to do all the paperwork for care in a hospital. My wife's current loan repayment would be greater than 2/3 her salary, last we checked.

And then we have to pay for these damn exams...:mad:

Okla-homey
9/8/2008, 05:56 PM
Short time = 6 years, plus change.

Anyone want to know why docs charge so much? Not to make money. To make up for the 3-6 years we spend after graduation accruing interest on at least ~$125,000 of student loans, deferring those loans for academic hardship since our residency programs and fellowships are considered "post-graduate education" and they can pay us $35,000/yr to do all the paperwork for care in a hospital. My wife's current loan repayment would be greater than 2/3 her salary, last we checked.

And then we have to pay for these damn exams...:mad:

if...we don't get socialized medicine. If that happens, you'll probably be able to swing loan foregiveness, but no big bucks for you!

bluedogok
9/8/2008, 07:48 PM
At least the architecture exam is no longer the two full day exam twice a year like it used to be, it is broken into several modules that you can take pretty much any time. It is much more expensive than it used to be, around $1,200 for all of them the last time that I checked.

OUDoc
9/8/2008, 08:03 PM
Good luck! It only mostly sucks. :)
I need to re-take boards next year, not sure how much I care whether or not I pass those again.

Hamhock
9/8/2008, 08:28 PM
Short time = 6 years, plus change.

Anyone want to know why docs charge so much? Not to make money. To make up for the 3-6 years we spend after graduation accruing interest on at least ~$125,000 of student loans, deferring those loans for academic hardship since our residency programs and fellowships are considered "post-graduate education" and they can pay us $35,000/yr to do all the paperwork for care in a hospital. My wife's current loan repayment would be greater than 2/3 her salary, last we checked.

And then we have to pay for these damn exams...:mad:

radiology

ywia

OUstudent4life
9/8/2008, 08:29 PM
if...we don't get socialized medicine. If that happens, you'll probably be able to swing loan foregiveness, but no big bucks for you!

You're talking to the wrong person ;)...one of my wife's and my best friends is a pediatrician from Scotland. Her dad is a doc over there still. He does more than fine. And they work plenty less ;);) She's very likely headed back, but is getting her training here because it counts for double time (their workweek for residents = 56 hours. Ours = "80.")

I'm not saying it's perfect, but our system is far from it as well. I'm of the opinion that there's a happy medium. Our market will never try to get there, though, because the only people forcing those decisions are A) Insurance Companies, and B) Big Pharma, and they're the only ones making major cash.

Case in point - Medicare Part D. One of the worst ideas to hit medicine in a long long time.