best ped board review materials?

[docru]

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I just failed my Pediatric Boards
😡
I used MedStudy and PREP

any other suggestions on good peds board review materials or
live programs???

😕

 

[bks524]

I enjoyed "laughing your way through the boards". I thought it was short enough to learn, yet covered all of the topics. Almost everyone I know used this to study.

If you have time, this is what I did. I looked through Nelson to read about the areas that I felt weak in when I went through the book. I also looked at the pictures in Zitelli a few times-many were reused on the exam.

The one thing I heard over and over was to pick one thing and learn it cold as opposed to having a bunch of books and just "looking through them."

Don't feel discouraged.

 

[shirt]

🙁 I failed too. I'm not loving the ABP too much right now.

I studied way too leisurely. Only used PREP. Guess PREP is not enough. I have heard great things about "laughing your way..." I know it's only a test but what a bummer. 1/4 failed, pretty high failure rate.

 

[pedsnnyc]

I too failed the boards. If anyone is looking for a study partner (via phone, im, or email). Let me know.

🙁🙁

 

[michigangirl]

hi guys...sorry about the boards-- I found that the "laughing your way" book, as the other posters have stated, was an EXQUISITE tool for passing the boards. I knew that book cold. and i ignored some of the silly references and jokes, but some of the memory aids (especially for the crazy genetic syndromes)were right on- i can't underline how many times i referred to that book in my head during the test.

As an adjunct i used the first aid peds board book to "fill in some gaps". didn't memorize it, but read through the whole thing and memorized anything that i didn't remember reading in "laughing your way".

did all the prep questions of course, but that was definitely not enough.
good luck! 🙂

 

[Bernardo_11]

Hello guys, I'm sorry about your recent board experiences. It is a really friggin hard test. But if you think about it, you've already have done the best preparation for next year... consider it a pre-test 🙂 Remember the experience-- the room, the quality of the questions.. and then consider the difficulty level of the questions as you progress through your studying.

I found the "laughing" series to be an extremely good preparation. Not only did I use the main text, but I did a couple of their practice tests as well-- which were unlike the board questions, but still effective... by the time you got through with them you were able to interpret gases, know the ranges of common lab values, and focused on the HIGH yield conditions dealing with genetics and dysmorphology. They don't seem too important, but there were a lot of subtleties that they try to catch you on.... like giving you a bordeline hypokalemic patient, a subtle, but abnormal gas... nothing was ever too obvious as far as lab values were concerned. I did the best in Renal physiology and FEN.... and I'm a developmental fellow.

That, along with 5 years of PREP questions, and daily flippings through Zitelli proved really beneficial for me. Again though, I'd have to say that the "laughing" series was quite helpful.

Nardo

 

[Homunculus]

in addition to normal residency learning, my specific board review was about a month-- 2 weeks of kinda piddling around, then 2 weeks of much more intense review.

most people will know what their studying style is like-- you should have taken enough standardized tests by now to understand what works for you. for me, anyhting i study more than a few weeks before the exam isn't really retained that well.

i used laughing, 3 years of PREP (from the ILP online on the AAP site) and first aid. PREP questions, if you read all the answers, are golden. a few board questions were straight from PREP. i did those simultaneously with laughing, and was going along at around an 80% clip and passed comfortably. though afterward i, like everyone else, was sure i had failed. i looked through first aid, but i found it to be WAY too detailed and didn't want to spend that much time on getting the few questions that wre than detailed right anyway-- but i looked through it nonetheless. my time i thought would be better spent on broad topics than the exact genetic mutation causing mucopolysacharoidosis type VI or something.


i would say PREP/Laughing, if done efifciently, will be enough to pass. Add first aid if you are a details person and want to know it all. 🙂

--your friendly neighborhood FAAP caveman

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Hello guys, I'm sorry about your recent board experiences. It is a really friggin hard test. But if you think about it, you've already have done the best preparation for next year... consider it a pre-test 🙂 Remember the experience-- the room, the quality of the questions.. and then consider the difficulty level of the questions as you progress through your studying.

I found the "laughing" series to be an extremely good preparation. Not only did I use the main text, but I did a couple of their practice tests as well-- which were unlike the board questions, but still effective... by the time you got through with them you were able to interpret gases, know the ranges of common lab values, and focused on the HIGH yield conditions dealing with genetics and dysmorphology. They don't seem too important, but there were a lot of subtleties that they try to catch you on.... like giving you a bordeline hypokalemic patient, a subtle, but abnormal gas... nothing was ever too obvious as far as lab values were concerned. I did the best in Renal physiology and FEN.... and I'm a developmental fellow.

That, along with 5 years of PREP questions, and daily flippings through Zitelli proved really beneficial for me. Again though, I'd have to say that the "laughing" series was quite helpful.

Nardo

I believe the best way to study is to have Nardo show you around Honolulu. We'll see you May 4th for SPR! (I'll create a separate thread about SPR after match day when it won't get lost...)

 

[kristing]

My buddies who passed took the University of Michigan review course and did phenomenally well.

Wondering how those of you who failed did on your inservice exams...

 

[fourthyearmed]

What do most of you guys think about Board Review Courses? Worth the time and money?

 

[bks524]

seems to be hit or miss. I know several people who went to board review and some passed, some didn't. I don't think it is adequate in and of itself, but the materials are nice and thorough.

My reasoning (for myself only) was if I did well on the inservice my 3rd year then I would not take a review course and if I didn't do well then I would.

I also didn't want to spend the money (haha)