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Wouldn't be surprising to me
Cardiology boards 2022
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Doctor20212022
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Pass!
Not tougher just ****ty questions written by dinosaurs who haven't touched a patient since 9/11.
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Agreed!
I got a notification that I passed in my email. But when I log in to check my score report a pop-up appears that says I have to pay a $220 fee to ABIM in order to view my score report. Did any of you have to pay a fee to see your score report? I hate ABIM. They're thieves.
Never heard
I think it's because I have to pay my MOC fee before I can view the report. I still think they're thieves.
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Congrats to those who passed!
What would you recommend studying to prepare for the boards? Seems they were not easy.
What would you recommend studying to prepare for the boards? Seems they were not easy.
I did ACCSAP question bank and the online Mayo board review. I also used O'Keefe for EKG coding.
I started studying in August, 2022, as I was also working and had just moved to the US from Canada in September. I only watched ACCSAP and Mayo videos and did the qbank for ACCSAP (although i did not complete the CAD question section....still had about 50 questions untouched)...I did not do any other qbanks although I tried about 10-20 questions from some other qbanks, but looking back I should have probably done the board vitals qbank because the ABIM questions were esoteric and horribly written like the board vitals qbank questions. I also did one of the 2 practice assessments offered by Mayo with their course to see where I was at about a week before the actual exam....couldn't really interpret the results too well as it seemed to suggest that my knowledge gaps appeared to be equally spread in all the different areas....I did not touch okeefe although it was the first ecg book I bought. For the imaging section on Day 2, I studied only on the night before day 2, by completing ECG Drill & Practice from ACC, and I watched the echo and cath videos offered by Mayo. I listened to some of the heart songs lectures but did not find them to be worth it for the limited time I had to study, while working and also coming home to father a 5 year old and 7 month old...I had not studied for imaging at all before then. I wouldn't recommend this as a strategy to others. Thankfully it didn't seem to matter in the end as I was able to deliver when it mattered and pass the exam.
I'm sorry it didn't work out for you...I agree the test was brutally written, and there were ridiculous congenital questions, but I don't remember them being too many....I had a challenging time reading the long stem questions and I regularly went through them over and over again, wasting precious time...In terms of test taking strategy, my advice would be to make sure to pick a response and complete all questions in the alotted time...it sounds simple and generic, but it is really important on Day 1
With respect to studying, Mayo videos and ACCSAP material are a must. Mayo actually does a great job with the congenital section. Maybe go through them regularly and at least twice if you have the time. I also recommend ECG Drill & Practice. Although I bought ECG source, I never used it and just wasted the subscription. I did not use OKeefe as I strongly believe the philosophy they preach of coding everything on the ecg portion is a great way to lose points and possibly fail that section, since you get dinged if you happen to pick an incorrect code... I stuck to 2-3 codes at most per ecg, echo and cath image, and a 4th code only if it was blatant and obvious...i felt that strategy was fruitful for me...Hope this helps you for next time...Keep your head up
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I passed. Here are my thoughts on how to ace the exam. Some advice may be for future readers more so than those who have to re-take. Sorry in advance for waxing poetic.
1. EKGs = O'keefe online (not the book) + ECG Source. There will be some frustrating variation in coding between the two but the overall diagnoses will remain the same. O'keefe also has a few pre-board webinars on youtube where he reviews random EKGs from the website. Additionally, practice practice practice. The more EKGs you read and code, whether it be on real patients or ECGSource/O'keefe, the better off you'll be. I also made an Excel spreadsheet where I listed the "diagnosis," "what to code for" and "notes" on what to NOT overcode for. It helps to stay as organized as possible for this section.
2. Multiple choice
- Mayo videos twice through. Take notes. Review the notes. Watch the videos again.
- READ THE GUIDELINES - All the questions/answers will test your knowledge of the Class I and Class III indications/contraindications. The ACC guideline center also has powerpoint slide including all of the algorithms and recommendations. Read all of them the day or two before the exam.
- ACCSAP - i did about half the questions. They're very good, I just got lazy towards the end. I was also a chief fellow and ran board review so I assumed I'd done them all at some point.
- Mayo pre/post test - same questions x2 but helpful just to hit home important points
3. Echo - Mayo K2P has a great section review echo. It was a bit overkill for me since i'm boarded in echo. I would absolutely focus on congenital, valvular disease, and ischemic disease (including stress test).
4. Angiography - barely studied this. I'm an interventional fellow. Make sure you know graft anatomy/pathology, can recognize stents (patent/occluded), anomalous coronaries, and collateralized CTOs.
5. Other thoughts - the more you read/study during your training, the easier this test will be. Studying for this test should not be a cram session. Studying should be a review of topics you already know well (we're about to graduate and be cardiologists!) I took my echo and nuclear boards 6-12 months prior which helped tremendously, and in fact, there were some questions I only knew because I had studied for those exams.
1. EKGs = O'keefe online (not the book) + ECG Source. There will be some frustrating variation in coding between the two but the overall diagnoses will remain the same. O'keefe also has a few pre-board webinars on youtube where he reviews random EKGs from the website. Additionally, practice practice practice. The more EKGs you read and code, whether it be on real patients or ECGSource/O'keefe, the better off you'll be. I also made an Excel spreadsheet where I listed the "diagnosis," "what to code for" and "notes" on what to NOT overcode for. It helps to stay as organized as possible for this section.
2. Multiple choice
- Mayo videos twice through. Take notes. Review the notes. Watch the videos again.
- READ THE GUIDELINES - All the questions/answers will test your knowledge of the Class I and Class III indications/contraindications. The ACC guideline center also has powerpoint slide including all of the algorithms and recommendations. Read all of them the day or two before the exam.
- ACCSAP - i did about half the questions. They're very good, I just got lazy towards the end. I was also a chief fellow and ran board review so I assumed I'd done them all at some point.
- Mayo pre/post test - same questions x2 but helpful just to hit home important points
3. Echo - Mayo K2P has a great section review echo. It was a bit overkill for me since i'm boarded in echo. I would absolutely focus on congenital, valvular disease, and ischemic disease (including stress test).
4. Angiography - barely studied this. I'm an interventional fellow. Make sure you know graft anatomy/pathology, can recognize stents (patent/occluded), anomalous coronaries, and collateralized CTOs.
5. Other thoughts - the more you read/study during your training, the easier this test will be. Studying for this test should not be a cram session. Studying should be a review of topics you already know well (we're about to graduate and be cardiologists!) I took my echo and nuclear boards 6-12 months prior which helped tremendously, and in fact, there were some questions I only knew because I had studied for those exams.
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Oh snap, didn't realize that they already had Powerpoint slides for the guidelines! This is clutch. Thanks!
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For #2 Mayo Videos, do you mean the K2P videos? It’s the same, correct?
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Yeah, correct.
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Also, what’s a good source for the angiography portion? For us non IC people.
This statement right here by aafishar is very accurate and basically sums up the whole test, but especially day 2, which is what will get you.
day 1 is overall is not so bad. a lot of clinical questions yes, but many questions that are just esoteric factoid, one-line, you-know-it-or-you-don't type and even basic science questions. it's not a fair test, and not well represented by accsap. i still think studying mayo and accsap thoroughly will let you pass day 1, but you need to be thorough.
day 2 is what really gets you. i complained about it in a prior post. ecg is not bad, but the way they are scoring is very nit picky and unclear. the echo and cath images are poor, unrealistic, and purposefully tricky. if you're from a fellowship where you have a cushy 2nd and 3rd year and you have all the time to read/study and are not obligated to do scut work/to take call/be abused, then you'll be fine. i just don't find the images portion to be reflective of what i had/saw at a busy, tertiary care program. if you do ecg source, o'keefe (book and/or online), and mayo/accsap for cath/echo, that is barely enough to pass. you really need to study the depths of echo and nuances of cath films to get whatever they are showing. the biggest problem, of course, is that no one knows how these a$$holes are scoring. i did pass day 2 also, but that doesn't mean i feel warm and fuzzy about this unfair, impractical, idiotic, scam of a test.
just sharing the above to pay it forward. feel free to private message, happy to help. god speed.
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Thank you for a super helpful write up. Interesting that taking the other boards beforehand was so useful. It must have been super helpful to actually lead board review as a chief fellow instead of just attending.
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You're very welcome. Good luck next year!!
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I failed day 2 of this damn exam. I used O'Keefe but crammed it all on the last 30 days prior to the exam so that was a mistake.
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Yes.
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Everything is clear now, thank you so much
the real answer is no one knows and all the resources have different methods.
i followed mostly ecgsource and said **** it to anything but the main diagnoses. it's not worth playing their game because the risk/reward is so heavily skewed against upcoding. code the major diagnosis and forget all the ancillary stuff
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Boards today 😰😰
ya that was a beast of a test...round 2 tomorrow
