Sunday, May 29, 2005
Ebay Test Prep.....
And the American Board of Surgery doesn't take too kindly to it:Surgery board changing rules after doctor sells test answers
Used to be if you failed you could go and review your test with the correct answers. Seems as if this individual's entrepreneurial spirit took over:
There was no prohibition about discussing "scenarios" that are presented during oral exams when I took them. I used collections of scenarios that had been passed down from resident to resident in my program. They consisted of "Dr. X was in the first room and the first patient was a....." the scenario was discussed and the examinee gave their thoughts about how they thought they did. I used them, wrote about my experience, and included them for posterity.
So far, no subpoena for me.
H/T to Kevin |
And the American Board of Surgery doesn't take too kindly to it:Surgery board changing rules after doctor sells test answers
The American Board of Surgery has revised its testing policies after a doctor who failed a certification exam went back to review his test, wrote down the answers to dozens of questions and then put them up for sale on an Internet auction site.
The Philadelphia-based board, which has certified tens of thousands of surgeons nationwide, found out last summer that 86 questions used on its 290-question multiple-choice exam were listed on eBay. Questions used on the exam are rotated from a large pool each year.
Used to be if you failed you could go and review your test with the correct answers. Seems as if this individual's entrepreneurial spirit took over:
These are the actual certifying general surgery board questions with correct answers, guaranteed to improve your test score," the auctioneer wrote in August 2004. "A friend of mine failed this written exam, paid the $100 sitting fee and flew to Philadelphia to review his test. ... Why take the chance at failing, getting a year behind your peers...? Get an advantage now!"The exams all have "do not copy questions" written all over them.
Craig Edward Amshel, a rectal specialist out of St. Augustine, Fla., failed the 2002 exam. But, as was the practice at the time, he was later allowed to review his test, alone, at the board's offices in downtown Philadelphia for several hours.Amateur. Hadn't this guy heard of camera phones? Imagine what he could have done! Anyhow the Board slapped him down pretty hard:
"I was able to take notes very quickly and wrote down about 100 questions with the correct answer," Amshel wrote in an e-mail to a person posing, on the board's behalf, as someone preparing to take the 2004 exam. "Believe me, I was quite thrilled when I took the test last year as some questions were verbatim."
Amshel, who passed the 2003 test, has had his board certification revoked. Last fall, the board sued Amshel in federal court in Philadelphia, alleging copyright infringement and civil theft.
As part of a settlement last month, Amshel agreed to pay $36,000, the estimated cost of assembling teams of surgeons to go through the process of creating and testing new questions.
There was no prohibition about discussing "scenarios" that are presented during oral exams when I took them. I used collections of scenarios that had been passed down from resident to resident in my program. They consisted of "Dr. X was in the first room and the first patient was a....." the scenario was discussed and the examinee gave their thoughts about how they thought they did. I used them, wrote about my experience, and included them for posterity.
So far, no subpoena for me.
H/T to Kevin |
