Exam Intelligence

Very exciting news, though hard work…

EI have been asked to contribute to a book on Pain Management.  As ever you can expect us to use the same care and attention to detail that you’ve seen on this website!

Watch this space…

Neither had we, until we went on a communication course.

Our tutor was an Ex-policeman.

Apparently the Police have OSCEs as well, but they call them OSPREs!

Fancy that!

Finally, here is the previously mentioned Obesity Presentation, generously provided by Dr Lucy Smith from St George’s Hospital, London.

Obesity Presentation

(This presentation is Copyright Dr Lucy Smith, 2009)

Arrgh.

We wanted to wish everyone sitting the exam yesterday good luck, but sadly that didn’t work.

So retroactive Good Luck to everyone!

Now you have done the written, take a couple of days to chill out, and then, after the weekend, start straight back in on the work.

The worst thing you can do at this point is think to yourself “Well that was crap, I can’t possibly have passed!”

What you need to do is keep on top of work, and read through the Viva books, and let yourself be viva voce’ed at every opportunity.

Practice is the key here!

Might be more useful than trying to predict!

FRCA Examiners say they deliver “topical” questions… (see the SAQ report on the RCOA website)
So if it’s had guidelines and an article or two in one or more journals, it’s probably higher up the list of probable topics coming up in the exam than something else.

Anything that’s had an editorial and an article, or a CEACCP or review article, is also fair game.

If it’s headlining in the BMJ it has also occasionally shown up (apparently….), however, I’m not sure about that one.

Questions done badly the year before have a tendency to crop up again, occasionally with a twist.

Specific predictions tend to be more difficult to make.  When I did the final I guessed 8 of 12, I think.  Didn’t guess that anatomy of paravertebral space would come up, asthma, anxiety or pancreatitis (April/June 2008).  The others I guessed might come up based on the criteria outlined above.  I thought other topics might also come up, as did others, so you can’t fully narrow down what to revise, and to be honest, you’ll be better off not doing so in the long run anyway!