What are Bush Notes?

I learn by doing questions. Not reading textbooks.

I wanted the ultimate question bank, so I spent months organising available trial exams by topic in an attempt to create the ultimate resource for exam study (Available here). The result? vast content that was intimidating and unapproachable.  It was great for refining the minutia of a subspecialty, or drilling in management for big ticket items through repetition, but not for rapidly revising the broad contents of the exam. 


After completion, I realised it was not the resource I had originally planned it to be. It was too big, too vast, too hard. Something better was required - A single, concise reference that I could use to test myself with what ACEM wanted to know - Nothing more, nothing less. To create this resource, I took the compiled documents with 2000 odd pages and over half a million words. Then each topic was rationalised, duplicate questions combined, ideal answers consolidated and the ultimate study guide to pass the fellowship was born. To keep track of what's important , everything in black is from past trial exams. Everything in blue is added for clarity or with updated information. 


After the exam I was burnt out and never wanted hear about the exam, or to see these notes again - I thought that chapter of my life was behind me. Then something happened. People heard about my notes and started asking for a copy. It turns out others found these notes useful - something I never really anticipated. After multiple requests and much feedback, I decided to release these notes to the wild.  The result is this website.


This is how Bush Notes was born. Hard work. long hours, and meticulous attention to detail. I put the effort in so hopefully you don't have to. Its question and answer format, its from past exams, and its all free and available online.


Who are you?

Probably all you need to know: I'm someone who passed the ACEM written examination and OSCE  first go and I'm giving you the notes that allowed me to do that. If you want to know further I'm  an emergency registrar (soon to be FACEM) working in Sydney. I'm currently undertaking a term in prehospital and retrieval medicine. I like sailing, guitar, and tinkering with renovations (which usually don't go to plan). I hate night shift in particular the 7:30 AM admission phone calls to a professor of haematology on night 3 of red bull and broken dreams. Can't get enough of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and managed to see Oasis live in Wembly stadium as a post exam treat. I hate studying but love learning something new. I once, jokingly, told an intern to order an MRI whole body and they tried to get it past the radiology reg - that was awkward. I wanted to be a surgeon but I was cured of that long ago. I'm someone who never thought I'd get through exams, let alone create a set of notes such as this or a website to dedicated to fellowship study. I didn't think I could do those things and I did. If I can do it, you can smash this exam too! 


What's your advice for how to use Bush Notes?

Print it and bind it (its about $85 with delivery from officeworks). Highlight, scribble, cross out, cross reference, annotate, and mark these notes to make them yours. If you go through a section put a tick on the page to track your progress. These notes are mine, but by the exam these notes should be yours!


In conjunction with Bush Notes I would suggest doing the following resources:


External Resources


What's your advice for the exam?

Study is a muscle:  You need to work at it and build it up. 30 minutes on day 1 was a big achievement. After months of study I was able to do hours and hours. Be happy with any progress you make.  You won't get it all done and thats OK

Turn on mute:  There are lots of well intentioned colleagues who will advise you that you "Can't pass the exam without doing XYZ" and that was difficult to hear. The "whatsapp" group of well intentioned colleagues was filled with friendly chatter that often made me sick with anxiety. When someone mentioned the 5 part classification system for urethral injury grading I had a fortnight long freakout - I never thought that I knew anything despite studying so much. Muting the notifications from the whatsapp group really helped my preparation. Accepting you will never know everything, and accepting you probably know a lot is a huge achievement.

Get outside: I went to my local park, sat on a cheap folding chair, and read these notes aloud. For months. I left all technology at home and had no distraction. I got some very odd looks but it worked. I got a tan studying for fellowship (not many people can say that). Do it question and answer style.

You need time off: Spend quality time with your family and friends. Exercise. Eat something nice. It will pay back dividends in your mood and your ability to concentrate

Do it your way: You haven't gotten this far in your career by failing exams. you know what to do and what works for you. This resource might be it, it might not be. 


I don't think these notes are for me:

You might think this website and its resources are rubbish, and if so that's great - you probably learn in a different way to me  and its awesome you've identified that. Keep at it however you do it and dominate that exam. 


BOSMOJ?

Yes. BOSMOJ. Before I did medicine I was an engineer. Phil, One of our engineering lecturers, would always talk about BOSMOJ time. It stood for bum on seat, mind on job. It always stuck with me. Every time I wanted to quit I could hear his voice in my head saying put in some BOSMOJ time - I always tried a little harder, and a little longer. It worked through 2 degrees. it worked through primary and fellowship examinations. It sums up everything you need to do to pass this exam.