The Initiation Roadblock is below. It's designed to introduce you to 2 of the most devastating elements in the actual exam - time pressure and perspicacity. The key is that you have to do it to time - 1 hour only. Do not take 90 minutes and answer the questions meticulously. The real point of this exam is to give you first hand experience of where you need to be to pass the written paper. Do an hour of answering, and then stop. You can always look at the final questions afterwards.
There are two files for you: the question paper, and the the supplementary information booklet with clinical images, ECGs, pathology etc. To give the exam verisimilitude we have structured it this way to mirror ACEMs statements about the real examination.
A couple of notes about how we intend this item to be used:
There are 10 questions, over 1 hour. This is one third of the real exam, but it is long enough to give you a real taste of what you're in for.
Download the files, print them out and answer on the paper provided. The roadblock is intended to simulate the real examination as much as possible.
Treat the exam as real. We will be marking it that way.
Seriously, treat the exam as real. Stick to time, give yourself the full hour and use the pen you plan to use in the real thing. This is a good chance to find out how you are tracking towards the timing, knowledge and answering standard you will need to achieve to have a good chance of passing the examination in February.
Remember, if we cannot read your answer you will score 0.
When you have finished, scan your question paper and email it to both Luke and Peter ([email protected] & [email protected]). We will mark the paper and provide you with individual and confidential feedback on your performance. (This may take us a small amount of time as we will have 20+ papers to mark!).
WHEN SCANNING YOUR PAPER WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO PRINT IT OUT. PLEASE SCAN YOUR FILE AS A CONTINUOUS PDF. SENDING US 20 JPEGS OF YOUR PAPER PAGES MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO PRINT AND MARK YOUR PAPER. IF YOU DON'T HAVE A SCANNER AT HOME:
Every ED Administration area will have a receptionist and scanner that can help you with this
You can download for free either CamScanner of TinyScanner for your mobile phone that will allow you to create a continuous pdf.
Arguing with us about scoring x instead of x+1 marks will be as futile as if this were the real exam. The point of this exercise is to simulate the examination and provide you with an honest estimate of how you are tracking in terms of your answer structure, timing, writing and content. Whether you score 4/6 or 5/6 for SAQ 3 (ii) is irrelevant compared to this. Make sure you focus on the true point of the exercise.
Finally, we would remind you that each of the candidates in the fellowshipexam.com course has invested a significant amount of personal time and money to participate. We would ask you please to keep the roadblock files confidential. We don't think it's fair on our candidates that people who have not been prepared to commit the same resources as you all have are given free access to the course's intellectual property.
The files are below. The button below links to the answer scheme.