Walking the plank, aka Sitting for Boards

Get it? Plank, board, plank, board? Hee, hee. Anyhoo...
I took my internal medicine boards today. Two things on that.

1) My specialty proved quite advantageous. There were a lot of rheum questions on that test, which from my perspective was great.
Other (hypothetical) person: Man, there was a lot of rheum on my boards. :(
Me: Man, there was a lot of rheum on my boards! :)

2) This brought back some horrendous memories of vascular surgery. You see, I had a rather difficult attending who liked to pimp. A lot.

[Note: This section has been edited for content to avoid getting myself hunted down by ABIM for disclosing classified testing material.]

Attending: Why does [this specific phenomenon] happen in renal failure?
Me: I don't know.
Attending: Sigh. Because of [this specific reason].

The fortunate part for me was that she didn't remember any of us, so the questions got repeated over and over and over again.

Attending: Why does [this specific phenomenon] happen in renal failure?
Me: This seems too easy. Is it a trick question? Well, I'll go for broke. Because of [this specific reason].
Attending: Hm. Very good.
Me: Woohoo! Point for Bethie!

Then, lo and behold, one of my questions today was....

42. Why does [this specific phenomenon] happen in renal failure?

And after fighting back a string of PTSD memories, I knew the answer.

Curses and many thanks, Dr. X.