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ACT rant

Emeraldwpn

By Emeraldwpn
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Joshjrn Grand Master

Joshjrn

Posted
Posted (edited)

only took the sat once. never took the act. wanna talk about shitty exams ill tell you about the 10 hour shit-fest that is the FE.

You can all cry me a river until you've taken the Louisiana Bar. Three day exam, Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Nine total sub-exams, three per day. You start at 8am and don't leave until 5pm. Almost entirely essay. Sub-exam time limits vary between two and three hours. Total exam length is 21.5 hours of test time. You aren't allowed any reference materials. The entire exam must be answered from memory.

This is a copy of the exam (you obviously normally get one sub-exam at a time) with the small number of multiple choice questions removed.

http://www.lascba.org/exams/QuestionsJuly2012.pdf

Oh, and it's only offered twice a year, so if you fail, you have to wait six months to try again. And you have to take the entire thing over.

Edited by Joshjrn
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Emeraldwpn Community Regular

Emeraldwpn

Posted
  • Author
Posted

only took the sat once. never took the act. wanna talk about shitty exams ill tell you about the 10 hour shit-fest that is the FE.

You can all cry me a river until you've taken the Louisiana Bar. Three day exam, Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Nine total sub-exams, three per day. You start at 8am and don't leave until 5pm. Almost entirely essay. Sub-exam time limits vary between two and three hours. Total exam length is 21.5 hours of test time. You aren't allowed any reference materials. The entire exam must be answered from memory.

This is a copy of the exam (you obviously normally get one sub-exam at a time) with the small number of multiple choice questions removed.

http://www.lascba.org/exams/QuestionsJuly2012.pdf

Oh, and it's only offered twice a year, so if you fail, you have to wait six months to try again. And you have to take the entire thing over.

damn! yeah eff that, but sooner or later, once or if I get accepted I will be taking some sort of medical exam.

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Sheckky Community Regular

Sheckky

Posted
Posted

Doc, what are you trying to do in the military? I am in the process of joining the airforce currently.

intelligence analysis

I actually have that as a job I'm semi interested in.

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Doc

Doc

Posted
Posted

Doc, what are you trying to do in the military? I am in the process of joining the airforce currently.

intelligence analysis

I actually have that as a job I'm semi interested in.

I'm in a college intelligence analysis class now

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Cordeiro Contributor

Cordeiro

Posted
Posted

Scored a 32 on my composite score, got 35 in reading, lowest score was science because I had skipped the intro science class in high school, and most of the stuff was from that class, I think I got a 29 or 30 in that portion.

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Joe Jenninz Mentor

Joe Jenninz

Posted
Posted

lol at the lawyer complaining about the bar.

If you'd like to experience awful testing, try to practice medicine.

MCAT (which I didnt think was bad but we'll include it)

USMLE Step 1 (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 2 CS (10 hour clinical skill exam held in only 5 cities nationwide)

USMLE Step 2 CK (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 3 (9 hour 400 question exam + 10 hour clinical skill test)

Yearly In-Service Exam for your specialty

Then the Boards for whatever specialty you're in (General Surgery for me) - written and oral

Then the Boards for whatever fellowship you complete (Thoracic Surgery for me) - written and oral

Also you have to retake the boards every 10 years.

Also you have to accumulate approximately upwards of 100 credit hours/year depending on where you live of continuing medical education.

/won.

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Emeraldwpn Community Regular

Emeraldwpn

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

lol at the lawyer complaining about the bar.

If you'd like to experience awful testing, try to practice medicine.

MCAT (which I didnt think was bad but we'll include it)

USMLE Step 1 (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 2 CS (10 hour clinical skill exam held in only 5 cities nationwide)

USMLE Step 2 CK (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 3 (9 hour 400 question exam + 10 hour clinical skill test)

Yearly In-Service Exam for your specialty

Then the Boards for whatever specialty you're in (General Surgery for me) - written and oral

Then the Boards for whatever fellowship you complete (Thoracic Surgery for me) - written and oral

Also you have to retake the boards every 10 years.

Also you have to accumulate approximately upwards of 100 credit hours/year depending on where you live of continuing medical education.

/won.

wooh, that's dedication. After 10 years, do you have to refresh your knowledge through books or the knowledge gained from working the field for 10 years sufficient?

Edited by Emeraldwpn
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Joe Jenninz Mentor

Joe Jenninz

Posted
Posted

lol at the lawyer complaining about the bar.

If you'd like to experience awful testing, try to practice medicine.

MCAT (which I didnt think was bad but we'll include it)

USMLE Step 1 (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 2 CS (10 hour clinical skill exam held in only 5 cities nationwide)

USMLE Step 2 CK (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 3 (9 hour 400 question exam + 10 hour clinical skill test)

Yearly In-Service Exam for your specialty

Then the Boards for whatever specialty you're in (General Surgery for me) - written and oral

Then the Boards for whatever fellowship you complete (Thoracic Surgery for me) - written and oral

Also you have to retake the boards every 10 years.

Also you have to accumulate approximately upwards of 100 credit hours/year depending on where you live of continuing medical education.

/won.

wooh, that's dedication. After 10 years, do you have to refresh your knowledge through books or the knowledge gained from working the field for 10 years sufficient?

ideally but guidelines are written and rewritten so often you usually need to brush up on technical things because the 'textbook' answer and real life practice aren't always identical.

IE: I'm sure most of you get prescribed antibiotics for things you would never actually answer "give antibiotics" for on a board question

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Joshjrn Grand Master

Joshjrn

Posted
Posted (edited)

lol at the lawyer complaining about the bar.

If you'd like to experience awful testing, try to practice medicine.

MCAT (which I didnt think was bad but we'll include it)

USMLE Step 1 (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 2 CS (10 hour clinical skill exam held in only 5 cities nationwide)

USMLE Step 2 CK (9 hour 400 question exam)

USMLE Step 3 (9 hour 400 question exam + 10 hour clinical skill test)

Yearly In-Service Exam for your specialty

Then the Boards for whatever specialty you're in (General Surgery for me) - written and oral

Then the Boards for whatever fellowship you complete (Thoracic Surgery for me) - written and oral

Also you have to retake the boards every 10 years.

Also you have to accumulate approximately upwards of 100 credit hours/year depending on where you live of continuing medical education.

/won.

Now, over how much time did you take those exams? I took 21.5 hours worth of written exams in roughly 100 hours of total time (8am Monday to about 5pm Friday). From what I've gathered from the Steps, they are taken with weeks, if not months, in the interim. Correct me if I'm wrong? I wasn't complaining about the the length of the examination procedure, per se. I was complaining about the absolutely monumental amount of information you have to know going into Monday because you don't have time to learn much of anything between Monday and Friday. Plus, the fact that you have to undergo a marathon of 21.5 hours of written examination with very little time to recuperate between days of testing.

P.S. No, we're not including the MCAT. If we are, I can obviously include the LSAT, ass :P

Edited by Joshjrn
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Joe Jenninz Mentor

Joe Jenninz

Posted
Posted

Each step is individual; Step 3 (the two parter) is 2 back to back days :-P

And needless joking doctor-lawyer hatred aside, the LSAT is a joke for real. And when compared to the MCAT, its roflcopter

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Joshjrn Grand Master

Joshjrn

Posted
Posted (edited)

Each step is individual; Step 3 (the two parter) is 2 back to back days :-P

And needless joking doctor-lawyer hatred aside, the LSAT is a joke for real. And when compared to the MCAT, its roflcopter

Oh I wasn't complaining about the LSAT. It was fine. Just figured I'd throw it in there if we were listing every exam we had ever taken :reporter:

But yeah, anyway, they could give me a 10 hour exam every three months for the rest of my life if they wanted to. Wouldn't bother me. The problem was doing 21.5 hours in such a short period of time, particularly considering the nature of an essay exam. On an exam with a large number of objective questions, if you know 90% of the material, you'll likely get around a 90% on the exam. On an exam with four essay questions, you can know 90% of the material, and if you don't know one of the questions, you're knocked down to a 75% right off the bat. Plus, 21.5 hours of feverish typing :jade:

Edited by Joshjrn
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