Anyone taking the pediatric boards????

[PICUfellow]

How and what are you studying?
What is the passing score?

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[Freibi]

How and what are you studying?
What is the passing score?

Hi, I'm taking them, too! Initially, my plan was to use Laughing Your Way, MedStudy, and First Aid, along with the PREP questions of the last 3-4 years. However, there isn't enough time to finish all of the above, and I'll just try to get through the rest of LYW and PREP (the latter of which I think is the most helpful of all), because I've started with that book and like to read it. After all, I only have so much free time to study. How about you?

 

[PICUfellow]

I've had so many "strategies" it's unbelievable....but because of lack of time, I have settled with just doing PREP questions.

I read like one chapter from First Aid! and one or two chapters from MedStudy!! but that's it... there was never any time, because of work...

People advised me about PREP so I decided to just focus on that...I might look at some Zitelli pictures the night before

I'm really freaking out....

I need to know the passing score, and what kind of averages to get on the PREP questions if you expect to pass. Do you know?

 

[KidDr]

I've had so many "strategies" it's unbelievable....but because of lack of time, I have settled with just doing PREP questions.

I read like one chapter from First Aid! and one or two chapters from MedStudy!! but that's it... there was never any time, because of work...

People advised me about PREP so I decided to just focus on that...I might look at some Zitelli pictures the night before

I'm really freaking out....

I need to know the passing score, and what kind of averages to get on the PREP questions if you expect to pass. Do you know?

I'm taking them too...NOT looking forward to it. I have no idea what a passing score is, though Laughing Your Way says this:
"The truth is that 65% will not get you a passing grade. While I am sure there is variation from year to year, I would shoot to get 85% correct; this will definitely result in a passing grade."

Um....yeah. That's probably about as helpful to you as it is to me. It's all I've been able to find so far though. Anyone else had any better luck?

As far as studying, I'm using Laughing Your Way and the past 3 years of PREP questions, and on recommendations from friends, I'm planning on spending the last couple days before the exam looking through Zitelli. Two warnings about Laughing Your Way:

1--There are a fair number of inaccuracies and some out-of-date information (I'm using the version published in 2006)...though many of them should be pretty obvious. For example, the book has a big section about when/how to use syrup of ipecac (the AAP no longer recommends ipecac as of 2003), Rotavirus vaccine isn't covered, the book's definitions of overweight/obese and percocious puberty are wrong, and so on.

2. The book is lacking many relevant details

However, I still think it's a good overview of most of the topics covered on the exam, and I don't know that there's anything better out there (I haven't looked at First Aid or Med Study)

By the way, has anyone else found that some of the PREP questions/answers and explanations contradict each other? It's really irritating.

 

[kickazzz2000]

I've gotten into a PREP groove where im gettting roughly 70% correct. Some days are better than that.


Then I opened up this PedStudy question book that I just ordered. 50 questions into it and I dont even want to take the test anymore. Holy hell it is hard.

I hope Prep is more reflective of the actual exam, or else i'm screwed.



85% on PREP is a pretty lofty goal, i'd say.

 

[PICUfellow]

85% ??? Dont scare me..
I'm barely at 70%

 

[bks524]

Oh, I feel the trembling that you guys are going through. Took it last year and glad to be done. Not that you need more tips, but here are my answers to above questions

1. Passing was always quoted as a 410 which correlates with around 73%. No one ever has an exact number, but I (and my friends who passed) all felt like around 75-78% would make us feel like we were going to pass.

2. I used LYW and so did all my friends and we thought it was excellent. It hits the big points which is all the test is.

3. The test seemed to be a lot about key words so make sure to know those.
ie- remember question which asked which of the following should not have allergy skin testing?
answer- dermatographism (this is key word stuff)

4. Zitelli's is very helpful. Go through it before the night before though. I just looked at the pictures, but I went through it 3 times over the course of the last 2 weeks. There are some pictures straight out of the book.

Hope this helps. I have never been a great test taker, but I improved each year of the inservice exams and did well on the peds boards

 

[pedidoc]

I don't think I've ever been so scared of a test in my whole life!! From my residency last year only 60% passed!! I've done six years of PREP questions (average of about 70%) and I did the third book of questions from medstudy and I went through LYW to passing the boards. I don't really know what's good to study so I just did a random shotgun approach with a little of each. I have no idea what percentage you have to have on PREP to pass the boards, but it sure would be helpful. I'm totally kicking myself for not signing up for a review course, but who has time? I think this is ridiculous that you have a job that you have to do at the same time as studying for this test. One week away and I'm already having nightmares.

 

[kickazzz2000]

85% ??? Dont scare me..
I'm barely at 70%

Don't be scared. I'm nowhere near that and am not going to get there. I'd just rather be unhappy that i'm not at 85 rather than pleased to be in the mid 60's and hoping it will be enough.

I returned the MedStudy question book btw. Way too hard at this stage of the game.

People said they did the same 3 or 4 PREPS at least three times over the course of their studying. A lot of questions came straight out of the PREP questions.

 

[J-Rad]

Yup, taking them in Chicago next Monday. Freakin' Pedialink site keeps going down (can't install the disks on my work computer and it's a pain to lug the books around).
At this point I'm just doing PREP questions and I'm planning on brushing up on my weaker areas. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Good luck everyone!

 

[Freibi]

[...]

2. I used LYW and so did all my friends and we thought it was excellent. It hits the big points which is all the test is.

[...]

4. Zitelli's is very helpful. Go through it before the night before though. I just looked at the pictures, but I went through it 3 times over the course of the last 2 weeks. There are some pictures straight out of the book.

Thank you for providing some reassurance (e.g. your #2)! For the sake of time, I'll have to focus on Zitelli's Derm chapter (chapter 8) only - more high-yield than tooth alignment X-rays and that kind of stuff, isn't it?

 

[bks524]

When I say that I went through Zitelli's, that is exactly what I did. I flipped pages like a magazine. I didn't read anything except a few captions. You just want to have seen the pictures before-takes maybe 3-4 hours to do it once. Good luck on the test to everyone. Relax and just go with your gut and KEY WORDS

 

[PICUfellow]

I cant seem to improve my PREP score, and I am still freaking out....all I have left is prayer, since the exam is in 3 days....

Good luck to us all!!!!!!!

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Good luck tomorrow everyone!

and be grateful that unlike us old bears, you don't have to take oral pedi boards.

 

[J-Rad]

Here I am in the lobby of the Chicago Marriot; been done for about 45 min...and all I've got to say is: ouch.

 

[TexasRose]

Hope the boards went well for everyone!

 

[CrazyPeds527]

Hope all is well for those post-test takers out there. Remember that it is normal to feel like you failed after any and all board exams. It doesn't necessarily mean you did!

 

[Freibi]

Congratulations, everybody who took the boards today! Pass or fail - we did it!

 

[Bernardo_11]

Is it still a 2 day exam? If so, good luck tomorrow guys.

Nardo

 

[KidDr]

Is it still a 2 day exam? If so, good luck tomorrow guys.

Nardo

nope, this is the first year it's down to just 1 day, thank God...

 

[kickazzz2000]

nope, this is the first year it's down to just 1 day, thank God...

I was surprised how different the Qs on the real exam were compared to PREP...overall the Qs were much shorter and had fewer details on the real exam (esp with the picture questions). I found some of it kinda irritating and unrealistic. It's not like in real life you're going to be diagnosing rashes based on pics alone with no history.

Yeah, I didn't like that either. It's a pain reading longer vignettes, but part of my game was being able to glean important information from them...the shorter question stems kinda threw me off.

And the pictures with no clinical history at all really sucked.

Overall, i'm just glad its over, and hope thats the only time I had to do that.

 

[PICUfellow]

A lot of people i talked to thought the same thing, that the questions were very different from PREP because they were shorter. I actually prefer shorter questions because i hate reading long questions. That doesnt mean i necessarily knew the answers when little info was provided -- but the way i look at it is, you either know it or you dont!

Am i the only one who felt drained towards the middle of the second half, and could no longer read the questions and was thus just "skimming" through?

 

[Stitch]

A lot of people i talked to thought the same thing, that the questions were very different from PREP because they were shorter. I actually prefer shorter questions because i hate reading long questions. That doesnt mean i necessarily knew the answers when little info was provided -- but the way i look at it is, you either know it or you dont!

Am i the only one who felt drained towards the middle of the second half, and could no longer read the questions and was thus just "skimming" through?

Definitely. I was totally over it by then. Hopefully everyone else was too...

 

[J-Rad]

Nah, the way I've always taken tests is too not perseverate over questions I don't know the answer to (do the best to narrow to the least nonsensical and guess between the two). I finished both sections in 2 hrs each. There were a friggin' lot of questions I didn't know the answer to. On the plus side, I was able to catch a few ZZZs after the first half .

 

[wikiwiki]

A lot of people i talked to thought the same thing, that the questions were very different from PREP because they were shorter. I actually prefer shorter questions because i hate reading long questions. That doesnt mean i necessarily knew the answers when little info was provided -- but the way i look at it is, you either know it or you dont!

Am i the only one who felt drained towards the middle of the second half, and could no longer read the questions and was thus just "skimming" through?

I felt the same way during the second half. You know, I did a ton of Prep q's, but I feel like they didn't really help. The q's on the exam were so random...

 

[PICUfellow]

Hey everyone, I passed!
I'm soooo happy!!!