Any Recommendations for Inservice Exam studying?

There are two opposing camps to studying for the inservice.

Camp 1: You shouldn't study. This allows you to get a good idea of how well you are doing and your knowledge base. If you study for hte test this will skew your results as it may only reflect what you studied and not what you know.

Camp 2: You should study. You will learn as you study and you will learn from taking the test. Yes, its "artificial" book knowledge, but any studying is good.

I did study some. I would take PEER VI (at the time) about two days before the test. I didn't do Carol Rivers or whatever. Depending on what program you are at is whether you should make a big deal out of it or not.

Q

Personally, I hate doing badly on an exam. So I studied. Quinn has some good thoughts, but I want to interject another one: What does your program director do with In Service results? If poor In Service results are going to result in remediation, probation, a forced reading program, or if Chief Resident is on the line based on your results, then by all means study. Start a month or two in advance and gently read stuff. Most people do about the same, so the 3 or 4 extra questions that you answer correctly after studying will make a huge difference in your percentile score.

I liked Peer VI and used Peer VII for the boards. Carol Rivers is ok and has some high yield stuff, but I wasn't that happy with it. It was useful for certain things that I found my residency was weaker on.

I think studying for it is a good idea. The reason they test the information that they test is that it is important to EM. Studying "for the test" reinforces important info. I like reading PEER and other Q&A books during the rest of the year, too.

You didn't get this far in your education by not studying for important exams.

Don't kid yourself into thinking you won't need benzos if you try to quit cold turkey. Everyone studies. Even if they say they're not studying for the test, they're still studying.

This is a focused exam on what you're gonna do for the rest of your life. I'd recommend you study. Who cares if you're studying for the test or not. Just study to be a better doctor and you'll likely do better on the test.

Take care,
Jeff

PS, I tried Rivers and found it was better than Ambien. I did the PEER questions and listened to EMRAPs on my way back and forth to work.

I've been working on Peer VII. Also, I heard EM secrets is a great source of info, if you don't have it already. But I'm only a lowly intern. We'll see how my strategy works out.

La Fiera said:

Thanks so much for the advise!!
One more question, I've looked on Barnes and Noble as well as amazon, and both Peer VI and VII, as well as River's are "unavailable", any suggestions? I live in NYC so I thought they should be relatively easy to get.
Thanks again!

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Try the ACEP bookstore on line.

Carol Rivers has a website, something like "emergency medicine educational enterprises.com"

The point about relevence in your own house is VERY important.

I didn't study first year.
I studied some second year.
I studied some third year.


I did poorly.
I did better.
I did fine.


Most importantly, I passed my boards which is about all this test predicts. However, there are some important trends, ie low low scores (especially if you have studied) can give an early warning sign of areas that need to be improved on and help you figure out where you need to go.

so, I would study but don't kill yourself. Study based on how you learn. I have never touched rivers because I hate outline format stuff. I can't learn from it. I did questions.

Just study something, based on how you know you learn.

BKN said:

Try the ACEP bookstore on line.

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I think the only place you can get PEER VII is through ACEP's website

There's a discount if you're a resident ACEP member...i think it's 115$