Correlation Between Question Bank Usage and In-Training Exam Scores for Anesthesiology Residents.

BACKGROUND: Trainees and educators spend significant effort in preparing for the anesthesiology In-Training Exam (ITE). We investigated how usage of a question bank (Qbank) among anesthesiology residents correlates to ITE performance. METHODS: After gathering the number of Qbank questions completed by residents and their ITE percentile scores for 3 years, we categorized the number of questions completed by each resident each year as follows: 0-100, 101-500, 501-1000, 1001-2000, >2000. We categorized ITE score percentile for each resident each year as follows: 0-10, 11-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-90, >90. We then performed a nonparametric regression analysis of (1) ITE score on the different categories of number of questions completed and (2) number of questions completed on the different categories of ITE score. RESULTS: ITE scores for residents who completed >500 questions were significantly higher than for residents who completed ≤500 questions. Those who completed <100 questions averaged <30th percentile on the ITE. The number of questions completed by residents scoring >10th percentile was significantly higher than residents scoring ≤10th percentile. Residents scoring >90th percentile on the ITE completed significantly more practice questions than other residents, averaging >1000 questions. CONCLUSIONS: ITE scores were significantly different between residents who completed a low number of questions and residents who completed a high number of questions. Further work should investigate other factors that may contribute to exam performance.