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Hi all,
Here’s some info I sent out to my fellowship for echo board studying which may be helpful for others. It's geared for initial certification not re-certificaiton
This isn't meant to be comprehensive and is just my own personal advice.
Also it’s not updated with the changing dates for the exam so just an FYI for that as well.
Studying timeline:
-Start studying by the latest in December, the months leading up to the exam can be very unpredictable, and people in prior years have had to withdraw from the test because they didn't have adequate available prep time the 2-3 months prior. This is especially true for anyone who might be a chief or might apply to EP or another subspecialty in June, the applications and the work required as a chief takes a lot of time and coincide with when you're supposed to be prepping for the exam.
-On that note, see if your chiefs can block the weekends prior to the exam so no third years have significant call and you have time to study
Study materials I used:
-Mayo echo videos, I'd recommend watching at least twice and taking notes. This was my foundation for exam review/prep.
-Clinical Echocardiography Review: A self assessment tool. By Klein and Asher (second edition was the newest in 2019, not sure if a new edition came out in the last few months). I would recommend buying the book and not using a pirated PDF because once you buy the book it gives you online access to the questions in a "question bank" format so you don't have to constantly be flipping from question to answer. Also you need the online access to see the videos in the questions. Unfortunately, this book has errors which can be frustrating. I had an email chain with the people in my class so we could just FYI each other of errors we found in the book so it wouldn't trip the other people up also.
-Of note, there's a handy appendix at the end of the Klein question book called "Equations and Formulas". I felt that many of the equations could be derived based on your understanding of the physics and if you memorized some key values.
-Physics handout (Edelman Basic Ultrasound Physics), good review of ideas and terminology. I'd rec reviewing it before doing the Klein questions.
-Congenital handout (Pettersen Congenital Heart Disease Study Guide) is an excellent review. Again, I'd rec'd reading and studying this before the Klein questions.
-ASE Online Practice Exam Simulation: ASCeXAM and ReASCE Exam Review Materials
-Echo guidelines, (helpful flowcharts are handily accessible via the ACC Guideline app)
Registration info:
The echo exam you'll be registering for is the: ASCeXAM (Home)
It looks like registration for the exam is now open, here are the relevant dates I found:
(this info has not been updated with all/any changes that have happened, I sent the email in sept 2019 so info below is old)
Early Registration Deadline: 12:00 PM (Noon) EST on January 15, 2020 Price: $995.00
Late Registration Deadline: 12:01 PM (Noon) EST on January 15, 2020 - April 1, 2020 Price: $1,195.00
Final Deadline: 12:00 PM (Noon) EST on April 1, 2020 NO EXCEPTIONS will be made beyond this deadline.
Exam Administration Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020
-After registering, they'll send you an email with further instructions and then eventually send you an email saying you can reserve your spot at the testing center. I'd recommend registering early and reserving your testing center spot early so you have your choice of testing locations and time (morning vs afternoon).
Other helpful material:
-Good review on strain/strain rate imaging (good for reading echo in general):
Strain and Strain Rate Imaging by Echocardiography – Basic Concepts and Clinical Applicability
Strain and Strain Rate Imaging by Echocardiography – Basic Concepts and Clinical Applicability
Examples of errors in Klein I had found to give you an idea:
-Chapter 8 question 39 figure 8-25A has the mitral inflow E velocity increasing with inspiration and decreasing with expiration, noting that this is typical in constriction. Pretty sure it's the opposite relationship.
referance: Respiratory maneuvers in echocardiography: a review of clinical applications (Respiratory maneuvers in echocardiography: a review of clinical applications)
On chapter 15, Q1, they talk about assessing LV dyssynchrony by M mode: the "septal to posterior wall motion delay" (viewed in the parasternal short axis view). They define it as the time delay between the systolic inward motion of the septum and LV posterior wall. The way they write it, it sounds like it's the time delay between the onset of systolic inward motion of the septum and posterior wall. But the figure shows the time delay between the peak contraction of the interventricular septum and posterior wall.
-Looking it up, it's supposed to be the peak contraction of the septum and LV posterior wall.
Reference:
Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac dyssynchrony
Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac dyssynchrony
Test results:
It seems like they tend to come out in mid to late September, results came back 9/16/19 this year, they send you an email with a link to check your results and your login info. They break down your performance by category and tell you what percentile you were in etc.
Here’s some info I sent out to my fellowship for echo board studying which may be helpful for others. It's geared for initial certification not re-certificaiton
This isn't meant to be comprehensive and is just my own personal advice.
Also it’s not updated with the changing dates for the exam so just an FYI for that as well.
Studying timeline:
-Start studying by the latest in December, the months leading up to the exam can be very unpredictable, and people in prior years have had to withdraw from the test because they didn't have adequate available prep time the 2-3 months prior. This is especially true for anyone who might be a chief or might apply to EP or another subspecialty in June, the applications and the work required as a chief takes a lot of time and coincide with when you're supposed to be prepping for the exam.
-On that note, see if your chiefs can block the weekends prior to the exam so no third years have significant call and you have time to study
Study materials I used:
-Mayo echo videos, I'd recommend watching at least twice and taking notes. This was my foundation for exam review/prep.
-Clinical Echocardiography Review: A self assessment tool. By Klein and Asher (second edition was the newest in 2019, not sure if a new edition came out in the last few months). I would recommend buying the book and not using a pirated PDF because once you buy the book it gives you online access to the questions in a "question bank" format so you don't have to constantly be flipping from question to answer. Also you need the online access to see the videos in the questions. Unfortunately, this book has errors which can be frustrating. I had an email chain with the people in my class so we could just FYI each other of errors we found in the book so it wouldn't trip the other people up also.
-Of note, there's a handy appendix at the end of the Klein question book called "Equations and Formulas". I felt that many of the equations could be derived based on your understanding of the physics and if you memorized some key values.
-Physics handout (Edelman Basic Ultrasound Physics), good review of ideas and terminology. I'd rec reviewing it before doing the Klein questions.
-Congenital handout (Pettersen Congenital Heart Disease Study Guide) is an excellent review. Again, I'd rec'd reading and studying this before the Klein questions.
-ASE Online Practice Exam Simulation: ASCeXAM and ReASCE Exam Review Materials
-Echo guidelines, (helpful flowcharts are handily accessible via the ACC Guideline app)
Registration info:
The echo exam you'll be registering for is the: ASCeXAM (Home)
It looks like registration for the exam is now open, here are the relevant dates I found:
(this info has not been updated with all/any changes that have happened, I sent the email in sept 2019 so info below is old)
Early Registration Deadline: 12:00 PM (Noon) EST on January 15, 2020 Price: $995.00
Late Registration Deadline: 12:01 PM (Noon) EST on January 15, 2020 - April 1, 2020 Price: $1,195.00
Final Deadline: 12:00 PM (Noon) EST on April 1, 2020 NO EXCEPTIONS will be made beyond this deadline.
Exam Administration Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020
-After registering, they'll send you an email with further instructions and then eventually send you an email saying you can reserve your spot at the testing center. I'd recommend registering early and reserving your testing center spot early so you have your choice of testing locations and time (morning vs afternoon).
Other helpful material:
-Good review on strain/strain rate imaging (good for reading echo in general):
Strain and Strain Rate Imaging by Echocardiography – Basic Concepts and Clinical Applicability
Strain and Strain Rate Imaging by Echocardiography – Basic Concepts and Clinical Applicability
Examples of errors in Klein I had found to give you an idea:
-Chapter 8 question 39 figure 8-25A has the mitral inflow E velocity increasing with inspiration and decreasing with expiration, noting that this is typical in constriction. Pretty sure it's the opposite relationship.
referance: Respiratory maneuvers in echocardiography: a review of clinical applications (Respiratory maneuvers in echocardiography: a review of clinical applications)
On chapter 15, Q1, they talk about assessing LV dyssynchrony by M mode: the "septal to posterior wall motion delay" (viewed in the parasternal short axis view). They define it as the time delay between the systolic inward motion of the septum and LV posterior wall. The way they write it, it sounds like it's the time delay between the onset of systolic inward motion of the septum and posterior wall. But the figure shows the time delay between the peak contraction of the interventricular septum and posterior wall.
-Looking it up, it's supposed to be the peak contraction of the septum and LV posterior wall.
Reference:
Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac dyssynchrony
Echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac dyssynchrony
Test results:
It seems like they tend to come out in mid to late September, results came back 9/16/19 this year, they send you an email with a link to check your results and your login info. They break down your performance by category and tell you what percentile you were in etc.
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