Surgery CCE exam

[darkmansaad]

Hey i am going to register for the Surgery CCE exam as my rotation ends in about 2 weeks....i can either take it this friday or set it up and take it in 2.5 weeks. I was wondering if anyone here has taken this exam and has any tips for it...not asking for test questions more like which books u use, which concepts are important, is the test even valid/worth studying for? I only say this because I have taken the IM and psych CCE exams and they were complete garbage as far as what was on the test and at that time they did not count...which is good when Pediatric Hem-Onc is being tested during a basic IM rotation. But now that the exam counts itd be a big help if any of y'all could throw me some input that could possibly help on the test. Laters

[swhealon]

You say that the tests you took were "complete garbage"? I have been trying to get info on these tests - how do we know what material is on them, how do we study for them, etc. Can you give some info on your experience taking the tests you have taken already. I am starting clinicals early next year - currently in 5th. I asked Sandy about these tests, but did not get any answers to my questions.

[darkmansaad]

well they were in the "testing phase" when i took them meaning they probably had some bad questions still in the pool to evaluate....but as a whole i did not think the IM exam evaluated what I knew from what I learned at the rotation. A simpler method would be to have us take clinical shelves which is what US students take after their cores and from what i've been told directly correlate to your Step 2 score....but that is not what we do. Just hoping the bad questions were taken out of the surgery exam as surgery is a very broad topic and is hard enough before you throw in ridiculous concepts that shouldnt even be tested.

[swhealon]

How do you know what to study?

[darkmansaad]

just took the exam today. if anyone is taking the exam soon or is starting their surg rotation and want to know how to prepare feel free to PM me. your not going to get any questions out of me but you'll get my opinion of the exam and how to prepare during your rotation, which can be hard as surgery is extremely taxing. I have also taken Internal Med and Psych CCE exams and can offer advice on those if you want it but I took them when they didnt count (they were in the testing phase but in my opinion the surgery test looked like it was in the testing phase as well so w/e). I have also heard there is a 20 point curve on the surgery exam so add that to your grade. Best of luck to all