TEGO (FEBRASGO / AMB) common mistakes
TEGO (FEBRASGO / AMB) · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Memorizing numeric cutoffs (gestational age thresholds, hemoglobin values, Bishop scores, dosage regimens) as isolated facts without knowing the clinical decision each number triggers.
TEGO rewards applied reasoning; candidates who drill tables from review books learn the number but freeze when the stem describes a patient and asks for the next step, because the link between value and action was never built.
What to do instead
For each key number, write a one-line card in the form 'value → decision → alternative if not met' and rehearse it against a short clinical vignette rather than reciting the list.
Answering obstetric emergency questions with the definitive management instead of the immediate first step asked by the stem.
Candidates know the correct ultimate treatment (e.g., delivery, laparotomy, hysterectomy) and select it reflexively, ignoring that the question asks what to do first in the stabilization sequence.
What to do instead
Before choosing, underline the interrogative in the stem ('first measure', 'next step', 'best initial') and rank the options chronologically; discard any option that skips a required stabilization step.
Confusing screening tests with diagnostic tests and choosing a diagnostic gold standard when the question asks about population screening, or vice versa.
The same disease appears in both contexts, and candidates recognize the disease name and pick the most familiar test without checking whether the stem describes an asymptomatic population or a symptomatic patient.
What to do instead
Classify each stem explicitly as screening or diagnosis before looking at options, and maintain a two-column list per condition (screening tool vs confirmatory test).
Managing hypertensive disorders of pregnancy by treating the blood pressure number alone, without separating maternal stabilization (antihypertensives, magnesium) from fetal/obstetric decision-making (timing of delivery).
Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia questions bundle severity criteria, drug choice, seizure prophylaxis, and delivery timing; candidates collapse these into one reflex answer and miss the specific element the stem targets.
What to do instead
Answer every hypertensive-disorder item in three ordered steps: severity assessment, maternal therapy, delivery timing; practice stems where only one of the three is asked.
Misapplying gestational-age windows for screening and prenatal diagnosis (first-trimester combined screening, cell-free DNA, second-trimester markers, amniocentesis vs chorionic villus sampling).
The windows overlap and shift with guideline updates; candidates learn a single version and cannot reconcile a stem that specifies a gestational age outside their memorized window.
What to do instead
Build a timeline from conception to term with each screening and diagnostic test placed at its valid interval and its stated limitation, then test yourself only with stems that give an exact gestational age.
Choosing a contraceptive method from efficacy alone while ignoring the stem's contraindications, comorbidities, and patient preference cues.
Candidates anchor on the 'most effective' option and overlook absolute contraindications (e.g., estrogen-containing methods with migraine with aura, smoking over 35, thrombosis history) embedded in the history.
What to do instead
For contraception items, extract the patient's risk profile first, eliminate contraindicated methods, then choose among the remainder by efficacy and acceptability.
Treating abnormal uterine bleeding as a single entity rather than applying a structured classification by age, bleeding pattern, and structural versus non-structural cause.
The differential is broad and candidates jump to the most memorable diagnosis (e.g., fibroid, endometrial cancer) without systematically excluding pregnancy, coagulopathy, ovulatory dysfunction, and iatrogenic causes.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed checklist (pregnancy test, then structural causes on imaging, then non-structural causes including thyroid, coagulation, medication) and run it on every bleeding vignette before reading the options.
Confusing benign, premalignant, and malignant findings on cervical and endometrial evaluation, and mismatching the finding with the correct follow-up interval or procedure.
Cytology, colposcopy, and histology use different vocabularies, and candidates mix reporting systems, so they pick a management that belongs to a different test result.
What to do instead
Keep separate reference sheets for cytology results, colposcopic impressions, and histopathology, each paired with its own management pathway, and practice translating one into the other.
Answering infertility items without sequencing the investigation: jumping to assisted reproduction before confirming ovulation, tubal patency, and semen analysis.
Advanced technology is salient and heavily publicized, so candidates skip the basic triad and select an intervention that is premature for the couple's described workup.
What to do instead
Memorize the basic infertility evaluation as a fixed ordered set and, in each stem, identify which element is still missing; the correct answer is usually the next uncompleted step.
Losing points on time management by over-investing in long clinical vignettes and leaving little time for later items, then changing answers under pressure.
TEGO items are lengthy and case-based; candidates who read every option in full and deliberate on uncertain items run out of time and make rushed revisions.
What to do instead
Simulate full-length timed exams, set a per-item budget, flag and move on from uncertain items, and review flagged items only after completing the first pass.