EBOD 2010 – Summary Report

The EBO Diploma Examination took place once again in the Palais des Congres, Paris, on Friday 7th May 2010. We are delighted to announce a record attendance for this year’s examination, which is growing annually in popularity across Europe. The 2010 examination saw 310 candidates from across 27 European countries sit the exam in their quest to attain the title of FEBO (Fellow of the European Board of Ophthalmology). In addition to this number 180 examiners travelled from all over Europe to make up the panel of skilled, multi-lingual EBO Examiners, all experts in their various fields.

As in previous years, the EBOD examination comprises of a multiple choice written exam (MCQ) as well as a four-part viva-voce exam, the latter seeing each candidate examined on the four key topics of ophthalmology by a team of examiners. For the first year in its history, the EBOD saw the introduction of negative marking to its multiple choice written examination. The reason for adopting this system was to increase the discriminating power of the MCQ examination through eliminating uneducated guessing and rewarding knowledge. With a very satisfactory pass rate this year of 92%, it confirmed that this new system need not have a negative or harsh impact on the pass rate of students but simply elevates superior students from those relying more in some cases on guesswork. Once the examination had concluded, sponsors Laboratoires Thea, once again organised a fun and informal dinner event where all examiners and candidates could wind down in a relaxed atmosphere and celebrate the truly European spirit of the EBO exam.

The annual EBOD Awards Ceremony then took place in the impressive Bordeaux Amphitheatre on the evening of Saturday 8th May. This once again saw all successful candidates, as well as the exam’s highest scoring candidates, being commended for their achievements. Alan Ridgway was in attendance to present The Alan Ridgway Award for highest MCQ to the worthy winner, which closed another successful EBOD examination for 2010.

Congratulations once again to all successful candidates and a special acknowledgement to the highest achievers of EBOD 2010 as outlined below:

Highest Scores for Overall EBOD 2010:
1st
Panagiotis Georgoudis GREECE

2nd
Tomas Cudrnak CZECH REPUBLIC
Heike Christine Hasselbach GERMANY

3rd
Lorenzo MD Franscini SWITZERLAND
Nicolas Mesplie FRANCE
Aurore Muselier FRANCE
Valentine Nyssen BELGIUM
Iris Steinbrugger AUSTRIA

Highest Scores for MCQs EBOD 2010:

1st
Iris Steinbrugger AUSTRIA

2nd
Tomas Cudrnak CZECH REPUBLIC

3rd
Lorenzo Mario Davide Franscini SWITZERLAND