The weekend portion of the course remains predominantly focused on passing the viva portion of the examination with cases that similarly can be used for long case written reports. This is a comprehensive instruction to assist you in evaluating unknown or difficult cases in a rationale way, constructing pertinent or combined differentials. But it is not enough to simply make the diagnosis. You must milk that case for everything it is worth and present it in a way that is clinically pertinent and distinguishes you from other candidates. You need to aim for a 7-8 on cases you know not a 6!
The course conveys this information in many different engaging ways, single cases, multiple case, mini-vivas, collections of related cases, micro-summaries/lectures, rapid fire techniques and many more themed groups of cases. This drives home the material and its mimics. I am always trying to highlight your strengths but probing to evaluate and improve your weaknesses.
But prior to the course I want to get to know you better and help you. You are paying for a weekend course. But this stuff is some bonus stuff I do for trainees. A few weeks before the course I start sending out long cases, stacks of images of a case or select images. I ask specific questions. You can answer and every few days I guide or reply by email. Maybe more images on the same cases follow. You elect whether you want to participate or not. If you do, you are getting personalised feedback on interpretation and analysis and I get advanced knowledge of your areas of strength and weakness. If you don’t respond because you are shy, that’s okay too. You get the answers and teaching points regardless.
Everyone is increasingly worried about the rapid reporting. Mostly because the quality of “packs” available is variable and so indeed is the exam. How do you handle this? Well we specifically address scientific strategic approach to the exam sections on the course. But we do not want to waste a lot of time on the rapid reporting. So we do this pre-course. I’ll send you detailed radiological approaches and strategy for dealing with this section. You get at least a couple of practice packs, done and marked before the course.
After the course, we are usually in pre-exam mode but I am still here for advice and send out some more cases, time permitting.