Beat the boards.

[deleted310399]

Hey Guys ,

PGY-4 resident here. Thinking about starting Board preparation. Beat the boards is the obvious choice .
It is quite expensive though. 1100 $.

My question is this - if there is a way to get just the Q-bank for a lower price , should I do that. I don't think that I will be able to see most of the lectures anyways.

Thanks guys.

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[wolfvgang22]

If you're not going to view the lectures you should just not do Beat the Boards and spend all your time on doing the questions in the Kenney and Speigel book. It's really the best concise prep and I did both.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Lots of people don't do BtB and do just fine. I'd go for it if you're worried about passing or if he do well with things like video lectures. I think the Spiegel book is the best source out there, and you might be able to pass with that alone. Or you could add Board Vitals if you wanted more questions.

 

[PistolPete]

Most of the people I've talked to do not recommend Beat The Boards, and definitely not for that price. Most do Spiegel and Kaufman. We'll see if they all pass this year though!

 

[wolfvgang22]

Kaufman is great, but takes too long. Honestly, the neuro in the Spiegel book is also overkill and more than enough. The Psychiatry content is just right.

 

[notdeadyet]

Agree with the above. For a question bank, you really can't beat the Spiegel book (and I loved having the questions/answers/explanations on my iphone to do when a few minutes would present itself).

BtB is the best in-person class I found and I enjoyed it, but I certainly wouldn't do it for the sake of the questions.

 

[deleted310399]

I have an older edition of Kenny and Spiegel. It has 600 questions. You guys think that is enough. Does the new book have more...?

 

[notdeadyet]

The most recent version has 900 questions, if memory serves. You get a scratch off in the book that allows you to access the website, as well as iPhone, iPad, and android apps. This allows you to do questions online, track which ones you get right and wrong, and do basic searches.

Whether or not it is worth it to you is up to you. Personally, I would definitely pop the $50 or whatever it costs for the new version, so that you get up-to-date information, more questions, and greater interactivity. That said, I am a horrible standardized test taker and fear things like the board exam.


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[Igor4sugry]

What was your study schedule like for those that have taken the boards in September after graduation?

I'm thinking about starting to read Spiegel now, but feel its too early.
What about reading the book and then doing questions closer to the test?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

What was your study schedule like for those that have taken the boards in September after graduation?

I'm thinking about starting to read Spiegel now, but feel its too early.
What about reading the book and then doing questions closer to the test?

Definitely didn't start anywhere close to this early. I maybe idly looked at some things starting in June but didn't really jump into things until I started my fellowship in mid-July. After that, I aimed to study for a few hours each night, which didn't really happen -- studying probably looked more like an hour a day.

 

[singinfifi]

You can also sign up with a group (they don't have to all be your specialty) you save 10% for 1-2 ppl and it goes up from there.

 

[Comanaprocil]

Go over your old PRITEs too.

I did the Kaufman course for both psych and neuro for psychiatrist, the neuro textbook that goes with the course has good (but detailed) practice questions in it. I also used Spiegel and it was very helpful.

 

[WingedOx]

I probably should recommend BtB because my PD was/is a contributor, but realistically you can probably get by with K&S alone if your baseline knowledge is decent (basically if your non-stuided PRITE scores are reasonable)

I got by with just K&S 1.5x though, plus a couple PRITEs in the two days before the actual test and it was more than fine...and I really wasn't a huge reader in residency.