My name is John and I am an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon. This is my story and it is similar to many others I have encountered during my training.
In undergrad, I graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in neuroscience. I finished top 20 in my dental class. I was a competitive applicant and matched to a strong residency program. But when I was an intern, I scored a 7% on the OMSITE. Literally….7%. What’s even better is my co-resident (who is far smarter than I) scored a 2%. Now at this point in my training, I was no stranger to standardized exams. To date, I had taken and successfully completed the SAT, DAT, NBDE Part I & II, and NBME. So it got me thinking… what happened?
When I approached my mentor for advice, his answer was simple: read. The only problem was I had been reading – daily, diligently. Frustrated and disheartened, I figured it was just the stress of residency and work hours that was preventing me from learning what I needed to know. But then I began to study for the USMLE Step 1. As the test approached, all of my classmates asked each other what they were studying and how they were studying. It became clear that there was a tried-and-true method to preparing for this exam: Qbank and First Aid. Sure, there were many other methods and materials out there, but if you kept these at the heart of your studies, you would succeed. So I asked myself, what do we have for OMFS?
That realization was the spark. What started as a set of handwritten lectures and curated notes evolved into what is now Advancing Residents of OMS (AROMS).
Today, AROMS has grown far beyond its origins. It is a comprehensive online education platform designed for every type of learning, at every stage of your career. From residents just starting out to practicing surgeons seeking to refine their skills, AROMS delivers high-yield, evidence-based education in the most intuitive way possible. What began as one resident’s frustration has transformed into a global movement shaping the future of OMFS education and influencing the way our specialty learns worldwide.