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jkrasuski
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Post subject: Details on New Oral Board Scoring System
 Posted: Jul 13, 2005 - 01:59 PM
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Joined: Jul 13, 2005
Posts: 1
Status: Offline
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Hi, This is Jack Krasuski, the executive director of the Blue Tower Institute and the developer of the Beat The Boards! Courses. I just posted a new message a few minutes ago, but because I pasted text from a Word File from my eNewsletter, all the formatting tags showed up, making reading my post next to impossible. So I am writing a synopsis of the last post that will not be cluttered with tags.
Important Changes in the ABPN PArt II exam scoring system.
The ABPN has moved to a numerical scoring system that they started at the Washington DC course this spring. The scoring system is from a low score of 1 to a high score of 8. The scores of 1-4 are given for unacceptable performances and scores of 5-8 are given for what are considered acceptable performances.
The live patient exam continues to have 2 examiners, each of whom score the candidate independently. Afterward, their scores are totaled. The videotape portion of the exam now has a single examiner. This examiner also scores the candidate on a 1-8 scale. This examiner's score is doubled so that the videotaped portion of the exam has the same weight as the live patient exam.
The total of the 2 examiners' live patient score and the double of the single videotape examiner's scores are then added. It takes 20 to pass the oral boards. That equals an average score of 5 from each examiner.
The good news is that a weaker performance on one portion of the exam can be compensated for by a strong performance on the other portion.
The bad news is that a candidate's videotaped exam performance is judged by only one person, making neutralizing an unjustly harsh examiner impossible. Given all the facts, at the Blue Tower we consider the changes to be, on the whole, positive.
It remains unclear, however, if these changes will make any difference in the pass rate of this very difficult exam.
Thank you and take care. Jack Krasuski
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patsfan
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 13, 2005 - 05:21 PM
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Joined: Feb 03, 2005
Posts: 11
Status: Offline
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This is great information if it's true.
I'm wondering if it's really true?
I haven't seen it posted on the ABPN website or anywhere else.
How did you get this new scoring information and are you absolutely sure that it's correct?
Thanks! |
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Admin
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 16, 2005 - 04:21 PM
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Joined: May 27, 2002
Posts: 47
Location: Beautiful Scottsdale Arizona
Status: Offline
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First of all, welcome to the forum, Jack. I appreciate your info. There has been some discussion about this topic on another post http://psychboards.appsych.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=78
Apparently the first format change took place in April during the Washington exam - best I can tell, ABPN could not find enough examiners for the video portion of the exam, and had many of the video exams conducted by a single examiner with a float. I suspect they were piloting this during the Washington exam, or may have changed format out of necessity, either way, I do not think it was a clean role out. In part, I believe ABPN is using this as a cost-saving measure. I have not been able to confirm that the scoring system was in place for the Washington exam. I can not find anything on their website where they explain the new scoring system (which I think is a bit unfair to the examinees as this is a fundamental change in the exam). If they are explaining it in their mail-out, I would love to have confirmation from an examinee. All in all, I think the change is better in that you can pass based on your total score, not like the old system of "you fail half, you fail it all." I think the new method is (potentially) worse on the video part. Placing you fate in the hands of one examiner is more risky. The two examiner method allows for more interrater reliability. Either way, I hope that the changes allow more people to pass. |
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Admin
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Post subject:
Posted: Jul 20, 2005 - 12:29 AM
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Joined: May 27, 2002
Posts: 47
Location: Beautiful Scottsdale Arizona
Status: Offline
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I confirmed with a source "close to the ABPN" that the part II video format change was planned for some time, and discussed with the examiners at the Los Angeles exam. The scoring system had not been discussed.
Another minor change to the video exam that has been in place for the past few exams...The ABPN now gives the examiners 5 points or topics that they want the candidates to discuss during their presentation and discussion. In the past, the examiners watched the tape, then as a group, decide upon 5 points that are important. This is being done to better standardize the exam (if the tapes are ever used more than once).
***EXCLUSIVE***
The ABPN is considering another more radical change to the part II video. Instead of a half hour interview, there would be a series of 5 minute video vignets. The candidates would walk to each station, watch the vignet, then answer 2-3 questions with an examiner, and move to the next station. I have no idea whether ABPN will actually do this, but it has been discussed. Again, they are trying to find a way to better standardize the experience. They have pretty much given up on the idea of using actors instead of patients. |
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