Libre Pathology talk:Study Group

Michael's thoughts on the exam

• I wrote it and passed it in 2012. I also did the American exam the same year and passed that.
• The pass rate for the FRCPC exam is pretty high.
  • 2009-2011 it was 96+/-3.9% for Canadian medical school grads on their first attempt.

Written

• I though it was picking at details. Some things are very relevant to practise... other less so.
  • The pocketbook version of Robbins covers most of it.

Practical (slide) exam

• You should know the answer almost immediately.
  • If you don't know, write something down and move on.
• It is set to broadly cover everything.
• If it isn't a spot diagnosis... it should not be on.
• Somethings are PGY2/PGY3 stuff. One should not overthink things.
• Anecdotally, the first impression is usually the right one.
  • I think one should stick with the first impression.

Gross exam

• Go with the most probable if you're uncertain.
• I worked through the Atlas of Gross Pathology with Histologic Correlation (see Pathology books for the reference).
  • I am not sure this is necessary... but I thought it was useful.
• Flickr.com/Google images has a lot to offer in this respect.
• Gross spot diagnosis.

Forensic exam

• I thought this was tricky... and I liked forensics.
• Residents that took the exam prior to me said the same.

Cytology exam

• Some of the cases have several images.
• I remember being confused... the first three images were from one case. I remember thinking... I have the same diagnosis three times.
• Like the forensics and gross sections - this section isn't too long. From an exam strategy point-of-view, this makes it less likely that a diagnosis is repeated.

Oral exam

• I think this is to test if you are safe and useful.
  • By "safe" I mean: knowing your limits and consulting with a colleague when appropriate.
  • By "useful" I mean: you don't need to consult on everything.
• The examiners ask a pre-determined list of questions.
  • Questions may depend on one another and, in fairness, they are told to redirect you.
    • Example: You see a lung biopsy with hyaline material... and you go down the fibrosis route-- but it is really amyloidosis.
      • The examiners will say something like "how would one work-up suspected amyloid?" or "lets assume this is amyloid..."
• If you're a Canadian resident, you cannot be examined by someone within your residency program.
• As far as I know, examiners are told to be stone-faced, i.e. show no emotion.
• Some of the cases were very straight forward.
• I didn't think anything was really exotic.

Michael (talk) 23:43, 25 October 2014 (EDT)