MKSAP oncology and difficulty and real ABIM boards

[asdfTT123]

Hey guys, can anyone comment on if one should bother with the MKSAP oncology questions? I've found the majority of practice questions to be quite good but the oncology questions seek extremely esoteric and out there and way out of scope of what I would expect to be tested on ABIM and I've been getting demolished on the specific cancer treatment questions. Can anyone comment here?

Also is there a general correlation between difficulty and scoring of MKSAP compared to the real ABIM in terms of what's needed to pass comfortably? Depending on subject I've been getting anything between 50-80% correct on the MKSAP 18 and was told from my PD I did well on the ITE to not have to worry. Thanks all.

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[aafisahar]

Oncology, didn't know, didn't care. If it wasn't R CHOP for lymphoma I had no clue. Still passed 1.5 SDs above the mean. Oncology wasn't heavily tested other. I don't care what second line therapy is in efgr positive stage 2 resected colon cancer that underwent neoadjuvent therapy 3 years ago. Leave that to the nerds in oncology.

And Fwiw, the ABIM is a garbage exam. I had more questions on random pulm/rheum disorders than on heart failure and ACS. **** that exam.

 

[DrMetal]

Oncology, didn't know, didn't care. If it wasn't R CHOP for lymphoma I had no clue. Still passed 1.5 SDs above the mean. Oncology wasn't heavily tested other. I don't care what second line therapy is in efgr positive stage 2 resected colon cancer that underwent neoadjuvent therapy 3 years ago. Leave that to the nerds in oncology.

And Fwiw, the ABIM is a garbage exam. I had more questions on random pulm/rheum disorders than on heart failure and ACS. **** that exam.

And to add to that, the ABIM is a bllsht organization, whose sole purpose is to police a useless certification that has no bearing on high-quality patient care (may even disrupt patient care, by pulling good doctors out of their practice, because they have to study for and take a 300-multiple guess trivia exam).

 

[DrMetal]

Hey guys, can anyone comment on if one should bother with the MKSAP oncology questions?

I would not completely forgo the Oncology section. You never know what these douchebags might pull on the exam, you never know what 'version' of the test you'll get. Having the monopoly that they have, they can pull whatever crap they want. So I would study it some (at least know what the first diagnostic step is, know the first tx modality, ie surgery vs rad onc vs chemo, etc).

 

[shouldigomd]

I heard that the oncology isn't as tough on the ABIM as the MSKAP review books. I am definitely not worrying about nuances and minutia of cancer management.

 

[MD46]

Real ABIM exam had mostly screening related Oncology stuff : know your colon cancer screening, pre-malignant lesions and what intervals to scan at based on the type of polyp. Cervical cancer and breast cancer: screening, age groups, vaccines (cervical) modality of screening and intervals.
Pre-malignant conditions.

Other things what I hear from residents who took it recently are:

Paraneoplastic syndromes associated with different types of lung cancers.
Also tumors/cancers associated with bacteria, parasites viruses etc.
AIDS related cancers
Rarely they will ask lymphoma, wont go beyond ABVD and RCHOP I think.
Mostly was basic stuff, dont sweat it. You will do fine.
Good Luck

 

[Doctor Strange]

The vast majority of feedback I've heard is that MKSAP is overly detailed when it comes to heme/onc questions. You are not really expected to know the detailed chemotherapy and treatment regimens that MKSAP would have you believe...

 

[DocArmy]

Scores just came out and I am feeling this comment in my soul.
I’ve taken the damn ABIM exam 4 times. I’ve wasted thousands of dollars and thousands of hours studying. I’ve looked into test anxiety, add, I’ve done every q bank, some more than once.

I provide good care. My patients love me. I am successful in every other aspect of medicine. But this friggin test gets me by a few questions every time. And it doesn’t have anything to do with day to day practice. It’s wholly disconnected. It’s a bunch of esoteric bs that seldom comes up. If I wanted to be a cardiologist/oncologist/rheumatologist, etc I would go do that. But asking me to commit malpractice by choosing chemo is useless. I’d lose my license if I did the things that ABIM seems to think are important.
I’m so irritated with it. I get that I’m a minority and that I’ll never have any input to the racketeers at ABIM, but it’s just ridiculous.

And to add to that, the ABIM is a bllsht organization, whose sole purpose is to police a useless certification that has no bearing on high-quality patient care (may even disrupt patient care, by pulling good doctors out of their practice, because they have to study for and take a 300-multiple guess trivia exam).