Internal of Medicine Maintenance of Certification Exam 2015

I took my Internal Medicine MOC Exam today. What a relief to have it over. Although I must say that I still feel anxious and on edge just because of the intensity of these last few months. I do not think it will hit me for a few more days that I do not need to use every free minute to study for the looming exam.

The exam is taken every 10 years and I pray to my Lord that I passed this thing today.

I wanted to write down my thoughts about it all while it was still fresh so I could remind myself how I studied when I have to do it again in 10 years.

I became a member of ACP halfway in the year so I could get the MKSAP study materials at a discounted rate. They were still pricey but thankfully Seton paid for the materials in full. There were 11 books in all. I decided to read the material and then answer the questions. I know Anna just did the questions, but I felt like I needed a bit more background in order to retain the material. 

My collection of MKSAP books - 11 in all

Each book has from about 80-130 pages in it. I could read about 10-12 pages an hour. Each book took about this long:

Neurology 14 hours

Nephrology 16 hours

Rheumatology 14 hours

Cardiology 18 hours

Dermatology 11 hours

Endocrinology 12 hours

Gastroenterology 14 hours

General Internal Medicine 24 hours

Hematology/Oncology 20 hours

Infectious Disease 16 hours

Pulmonology/Critical Care 16 hours

TOTAL HOURS = 175 hours

There was also a cumulative review book that was pretty good, but sometimes was confusing in that it conflicted with the main MKSAP books and was almost too brief. But I probably spent about 15 hours reading that book.

I read the books on paper but used the computer questions which were great. It was helpful to get immediate feedback about my responses and to see how I did compared to others - although sometimes it was so painful to see how many I missed. If I scored more than 50% on the questions I could then apply for CME and MOC credit. Thankfully I did achieve at least 50% on each section. Here is how I fared on each section - although the scores are a little higher because I went back and re-answered questions so that raised my score a bit.

Neurology 80%

Nephrology 76%

Rheumatology 80%

Cardiology 66%

Dermatology 85%

Endocrinology 64%

Gastroenterology 69%

General Internal Medicine 90%

Hematology/Oncology 63%

Infectious Disease 72%

Pulmonary/Critical Care 76%

Example of a question - this means that I answered WRONG - along with 4% others.

This means I answered correctly! Along with only 5% others. You can imagine the roller coaster I was on with studying. . . 

Like I said, these scores are at least 5% higher in some areas because I was able to go back and review and correct wrong answers on about 50 questions. Overall, there were about 1200 questions total, and I missed about 335 questions or so. Overall, I was running about 70% correct which I hope is good enough to pass this thing.

I started studying on November 7th when I travelled with Matt to Houston for a conference. Something that really helped me get my hours in was going with Matt to various conferences and studying in the room while we spoke and presented. It was GREAT. I went to Houston, Las Vegas, Rhode Island and Seattle. 

View from my study perch from the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas - not bad!

View from my room in Providence, Rhode Island. It snowed (in March!) while we were there

I actually really loved the studying. I love learning. And I think I am good at it. I am disciplined to study for hours and hours. The hardest part for me was being away from Matt and the kids. Matt worked overtime these last 6 months taking over Mommy/Daddy duty while I slogged away at my studies. When I was in Austin, I would go to Matt's office on Saturdays to study. I would try to get there around 9:30 and stay until 4 pm or so. On Fridays, I hired Melinda to come from 1:30-5:30 pm and went to our nearby library. This was probably the hardest place for me to study because I was so distracted there.

I had hoped to read the cumulative Board Review book and go over all of the 335 questions that I got wrong but I simply ran out of time. 

Next time I take it I want to take a day off work and complete the exam. It was silly of me to pay a sitter all day and wait until Friday to take it. It was offered Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week and I should have just taken it on Wednesday and gotten it over with.

My dear friends Melissa and Dusty gave me a care package the night before which was so sweet. Dusty wrote me a sweet card and Melissa prayed over me in person the night before. It meant a lot.

I am so glad it is over. Let's pray that I passed and do not have to do it again for another 10 years!