What do OBGYN Oral Exam Candidates Fear Most About The Exam?

Candidates of the oral OB/GYN exam are terrified at the thought of spending 3 hours with 6 examiners in a room, the result of which will have a major impact on their professional, social and financial security. An informal poll was taken from candidates attending a board prep course in Baltimore in September 2008. The exam registrants were asked the following question: “What is the single most important concern you have as you prepare for the exam?”

Of 134 polled at the course, 127 completed responses were received (representing almost 10% of all candidates taking the oral exam).

The single most common response was: ‘What is the most common issue that causes a candidate to fail?’ Other responses (some examples are given) could be grouped as:

1) Positively motivated responses (29%)
-What are you most looking for in a candidate?
-What is the most important piece of advice that you have for any candidate
preparing to take the oral board exam?
-If you could give one suggestion on what we can do in the exam room to give a
positive impression to the examiner, what would it be?
-What are the basic things you expect to pass a candidate?

2) Negatively motivated responses (51%)
-What is the single most common reason that people fail the exam?
-Are there any situations/answers that a candidate gives, that result in automatic
failure?
-What characterizes a passing vs. a failing candidate?

3) Responses relating to the case list (8%)
-Does a well organized case list have any impact on your impression of the candidate and the potential exam outcome?
-Is there any risk of having a high number of cases on your list, especially surgical
cases?
-If the case list showed that the candidate was a subspecialist taking the general board exam, would you conduct the exam any differently?

4) Miscellaneous responses (12%)
-Explain the scoring system for the exam.
-How are examiners selected? Are they assessed for
examining-ability prior to examining?
-If a candidate gets upset and is in tears, will they give you a minute to collect
yourself? Or will you fail?
-Are the examiners practicing general OBGYN, or are they primarily educators or
program directors?
Virtually all questions (over 95%) were constructive appeals for (in the opinion of the author) reasonable information.

Conclusion: It is the opinion of the author that candidates merely wanted feedback so as to improve their presentation in the exam.

The governing authority which does a superb job in administering the exam, currently does make available to candidates information regarding the exam. It would probably be well received if this information were to be better promoted and be more informative to provide a realistic expectation of the oral exam itself. This can assist candidates in better preparing themselves and reducing their anxiety (which cannot be underestimated!)