Anesthesia Boards

allnurses Guide · Apr 13, 2010

Any graduates take Boards recently? I am just starting the big time study haul... Took Valley and am using Core Concepts exams/Prodigy. I am also reading M&M... any thoughts? Thanks for all your help!

Took mine in Dec, if you are doing the Core Concepts tests and getting a 95+% probability of passing then I would say your chances are excellent that you will pass. It sounds like you are doing basically the same thing I did. I spent a lot of time going through the sweat book and Memory Master. I made question/answer notecards on difficult subject matter or things that I consistently missed.

Cyclic AMP · Apr 14, 2010

Thanks for that advice! I haven't started the Core Concepts yet... I am waiting to get the big haul of studying under my belt so that it's more of a "fair" test... I tend to have a really good memory, so I'm afraid I'll remember answers early on without actually understanding them. Did you feel well prepared from Valley's Sweatbook/Memory Master?

allnurses Guide · Apr 15, 2010

Thanks for that advice! I haven't started the Core Concepts yet... I am waiting to get the big haul of studying under my belt so that it's more of a "fair" test... I tend to have a really good memory, so I'm afraid I'll remember answers early on without actually understanding them. Did you feel well prepared from Valley's Sweatbook/Memory Master?

I think the sweat book is a good overview, but I thought the memory master is out of date and really needs a major overhaul. The core concepts practice exams were the closest to the actual test questions that I have seen. Prodigy has several wrong answers that I found and a lot of their questions are out of date also. There will be no Halothane or Enflurane questions on the test, so you can skip all those questions.

CRNA2007 · Apr 18, 2010

valley is all you need to study. Some of the questions are directly from the sweat book. Are they the ones they throw out? I don't know. I thought the examination was very easy. A lot easier than the 2 exams you take from the aana during the program. The biggest thing is find out what the question is asking. Example.

Q: You give 20cc of 0.25% bupivacaine with 1:200k of epi to a patient. Which injection site would have the greatest effect on cardiac function?

A. Brachial Plexus

B. Femoral Nerve

C. Epidural

D. Axillary Nerve

What are they actually asking you? What they want ot know is which of these injection sites is the Most Vascular. Don't read things into the question like if I punctured the Femoral artery and injected it wold certainly have a great effect.

allnurses Guide · Apr 19, 2010

valley is all you need to study. Some of the questions are directly from the sweat book. Are they the ones they throw out? I don't know. I thought the examination was very easy. A lot easier than the 2 exams you take from the aana during the program. The biggest thing is find out what the question is asking. Example.
Q: You give 20cc of 0.25% bupivacaine with 1:200k of epi to a patient. Which injection site would have the greatest effect on cardiac function?
A. Brachial Plexus
B. Femoral Nerve
C. Epidural
D. Axillary Nerve
What are they actually asking you? What they want ot know is which of these injection sites is the Most Vascular. Don't read things into the question like if I punctured the Femoral artery and injected it wold certainly have a great effect.

I would disagree that valley is the only thing that you need to study. I think that used to be true, and most people can still get by with that but with the new type of questions on the test (which valley doesn't even address) I don't think valley is going to cut it anymore at least until valley updates its materials. By the way percent pass rates went down by 7% last year since the start of the new format, and that was before all the new type of questions were added.

Cyclic AMP · Apr 19, 2010

Wow, that is great advice. Thank you both! When did you all graduate and take boards?

As always, if anyone else out there has anything to add please contribute! I'm all ears :)

Class2011 · Apr 19, 2010

By the way percent pass rates went down by 7% last year since the start of the new format, and that was before all the new type of questions were added.

7% is a Big drop! I hope Valley is in the process of updating they're material.

Cyclic AMP · Apr 22, 2010

I would say Epidural, related to the tissue rankings of blood flow... [Highest --> lowest: IV, Tracheal, IC, Caudal, Paracerv, Epid, BP, SAB/Sciatic/Fem, SQ]

I'm using Valley as a study aid... I'm not expecting that questions on the exam are going to be straight from Valley/Memory Master/NARC 4 U/whatever review course you have taken. I am more so using it to understand broad concepts. If I don't, obviously I go to another source.

Class2011, I will let you know what I felt best prepared me after the fact! Keeping in mind that everyone studies different and different tools help different people!

Somei · May 17, 2010

I took the Board Exam in October 2009 and passed taking the minimum of 100 questions. I can tell you with all honesty the questions DO NOT resemble what you get in Memory Master. Valley is an excellent review, however, you should not rely upon it solely! The Core Concepts test questions give a better representation of difficulty and style of questions you will see on the exam. You are doing the right thing by using more than one source to prepare. Based on the username "CRNA2007", I am assuming you took the exam in 2007; at that time you would have been correct-- you could "memorize" the Memory Master and do very well; that is not the case with the present exam. Be prepared for "multiple response" questions... I had more than one question that gave me a list of 8-10 answers from which I had to select 4 correct responses--- and note, it doesn't matter if you know 3 correctly... if you select one incorrect response you do not get credit for the question.

Cyclic AMP, I wish you well... I notice this was posted in April... hopefully you have taken the exam already and have passed!!

shandsburnRN-CRNA · May 23, 2010

I dont know about other programs, but mine changed their testing format when they learned of the new NBE format, so we got tests with "multiple correct" answers, not spots, labeling, etc. for about the last year of the program....hopefully being used to that format will help me out......I plan on taking boards the middle of June.

Good Luck Cyclic AMP!!!

shandsburnRN-CRNA · Jun 14, 2010

Just as an update. I studied only Valley for board preparation. I took my board exam this past Friday........and PASSED!!! Woohoo, the next time I deliver anesthesia, I'll be getting paid.

Good Luck to everyone preparing for the big test!!!!