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Ch 25 · Perioperative Care

ABA Exams & Study Resources

ITE, BASIC, ADVANCED, Applied — and what to study.

4 min read

Key Points

  • ITE: February each year. Percentile scoring; matters for fellowships.
  • BASIC exam: June of CA-1 year. Pass/fail.
  • ADVANCED Written: post-training. Pass required before taking Applied.
  • Applied exams (Oral Boards + OSCE): 9 sessions per year post-training.

01ABA Exam Pathway

ExamWhenFormat / Notes
In-Training Exam (ITE)February each yearPercentile scoring; important for fellowships. Stanford department awards half the cost of the next exam attempt if you score > 70th percentile.
BASICJune of CA-1 yearPass/fail. No percentile reported.
ADVANCED WrittenPost-training (July & January)Must pass to be eligible to take Applied.
Applied (Oral Boards + OSCE)Post-training, 9 sessions/yearMock orals November & May; Mock OSCEs in April of CA-3 year.

02First 1–2 Months of CA-1 Year — Start Light

  • CA-1 Tutorial Textbook (you're using a version of it now!)
  • Stanford Anesthesia EMERGENCY MANUAL — emergencymanual.stanford.edu — also a pocket version
  • Jaffe's Anesthesiologist's Manual of Surgical Procedures — read the section relevant to tomorrow's case
  • Stanford Anesthesiology iGuide

03Once You're Settled — Build Knowledge

Question banks: - TrueLearn — department subscription - Hall's Anesthesia: A Comprehensive Review

Online: - OpenAnesthesia — openanesthesia.org - Learnly — learnly.org

Podcasts: - ACCRAC (Anesthesia and Critical Care Reviews and Commentary) — accrac.com

Library: - Lane Library for UpToDate, PubMed, journals - Stanford Anesthesia Inkling

Textbooks: - Faust's Anesthesia Review — concise short chapters - Miller's Basics of Anesthesia - Morgan & Mikhail's Clinical Anesthesiology - Barash's Clinical Anesthesia - Yao & Artusio's Anesthesiology

04A Realistic Study Cadence

  • Months 1–3: stay alive, learn how to work; read the chapter for tomorrow's case
  • Months 4–9: add 30–60 min of question bank or chapter reading most days
  • Last 2–3 months before ITE: ramp question-bank volume; review weakest topics; teach the topic to a co-resident
  • Mock orals / OSCE: start during CA-2; lean on senior residents

Most important: build the habit early. Daily 30 min beats one Saturday cram.

References & Further Reading

  1. 1
    Textbook

    Adriano A, Morris R, eds. 2021 CA-1 Tutorial Textbook (15th Ed.). Stanford University Medical Center, Department of Anesthesiology.

Citations are provided to direct further study. Always check the most current edition of guidelines and society recommendations — the information in this chapter is a teaching summary, not primary source material.