Board Certification in Psychiatry

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Has anyone gotten their certificate in the mail yet?
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futuredo32 said:
Thanks. I was close, too bad this isn't horse shoes or hand grenades. I am going to add on a few more question books and board vitals and go to Kaufmanns course over the summer in NY. I get to keep my BTB and someone has been kind enough to send me the newer edition of Spiegel. I am going to focus on memorization of childhood diseases. neuro and the DSM 5 until probably April and then start questions. Hopefully the third time is the charm. I really hope to match into FP and being BC in psych was my hope that it would improve my chances of that which are slim, but if I am stuck in psych it is much easier to make a living being board certified. I am also going to work on my performance anxiety .
Congrats again to all who passed the psych, child psych and MOC.
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Any review on BTB live course for 5 days?. I failed this exam twice and this year thinking to attend the live course. Thanks!
 
latuda said:
Any review on BTB live course for 5 days?. I failed this exam twice and this year thinking to attend the live course. Thanks!
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I did it online and highly recommend it along with Spiegel (know it cold) and all the practice questions you can do. I also failed 2x but studied like crazy and finally passed. Good luck. I personally prefer online. It's A LOT of lectures to cover in 5 days. You can ask questions on the group forum and the admins will get you an answer and I emailed Dr. Jack and he gave me some helpful hints. I am going to his master psych conference in Cali in Oct. He is an excellent lecturer. Don't let it be your ONLY source, especially for questions. Do q books online q banks is my advice.
 
Has anyone received their Board Cert in the mail? It should be here by now.
 
I finally got it. After all this time they sent it 2 day express and it had to be signed for. So...…… what are the requirements to keep it? It had a letter explaining it which made zero sense to me.
 
futuredo32 said:
I finally got it. After all this time they sent it 2 day express and it had to be signed for. So...…… what are the requirements to keep it? It had a letter explaining it which made zero sense to me.
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Log in here and play around with all the buttons until you have it almost memorized. Then it will make more sense.
ABPN Physician Folios
Good luck, and welcome to the next level of headaches.
 
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Hey guys,
Im about less than 8 weeks from my test. I have done most of the questions in the Beat the Boards. I did about 60% of the videos too. I suck at therapy stuff. I also suffer from "too many sources syndrome". I have heard that Spiegel is good, but I don't know if I should add a new source right now. Should I just do the questions in BTB again? I think consolidating one thing is better than doing multiple things?
 
Are lab values provided or are we suppose to memorize them? Pretty terrible that for all other exams I took in my career, the rubric and expectations were clearly defined, however, for this one, there are too many sources and not a gold standard. This reflects poorly on our profession.
 
ryerica22 said:
Are lab values provided or are we suppose to memorize them? Pretty terrible that for all other exams I took in my career, the rubric and expectations were clearly defined, however, for this one, there are too many sources and not a gold standard. This reflects poorly on our profession.
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I believe they gave a sheet of reference values, however I did not use them even once
 
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i didn't realize how long the test is. I am definitely going to need a starbucks to help me get through after lunch. do they allow you to leave the testing center during your breaks? or am i just going to have to use a 5 hr energy drink to get me through it lol?
 
ryerica22 said:
i didn't realize how long the test is. I am definitely going to need a starbucks to help me get through after lunch. do they allow you to leave the testing center during your breaks? or am i just going to have to use a 5 hr energy drink to get me through it lol?
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Some testing centers let you leave the building some don't. If I recall, they aren't supposed to let you leave the building but you can leave the testing center. You may not need the whole time but it's an endurance test too
 
futuredo32 said:
Some testing centers let you leave the building some don't. If I recall, they aren't supposed to let you leave the building but you can leave the testing center. You may not need the whole time but it's an endurance test too
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at this age, I definitely need the endurance lol
 
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how are u guys memorizing the piaget, freud and erikson stages? is there mnemonic you guys use? i hate to do rote memorization
 
Anyone doing Psychiatry Genius bank of Questions? If so, what are your thoughts?
 
medshine said:
Anyone doing Psychiatry Genius bank of Questions? If so, what are your thoughts?
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I thought the qbank from Psychiatry Genius was intelligently written, like the questions are pretty good quality. Feels like real psychiatrists wrote them, and they seemed appropriate for the board exam. The questions come in blocks of like 20 so if you're cool with that then it should be excellent prep. The block format let me get through faster than one at a time.

I really liked it.
 
ryerica22 said:
how are u guys memorizing the piaget, freud and erikson stages? is there mnemonic you guys use? i hate to do rote memorization
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I did a child fellowship, lol
 
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Are the freud, erikson, and piaget stuff like super high yield? I frickin hate studying it.
 
ryerica22 said:
Are the freud, erikson, and piaget stuff like super high yield? I frickin hate studying it.
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I took it three times and every exam had different topics and was quite different from the prior exam. I know Spiegel is heavy on it so I am guessing at least one exam at one point was heavy on it. Obviously they are going to hit the more common disorders as listed on the ABPN site but it's impossible to predict what else you may see. Most people pass the first time.
 
I feel not prepared and overwhelmed by several family issues and high demand work. Thinking to cancel this year and will sit next year. This is my third time taking, so dont want to have another attempt if take and fail again. Any thoughts? If I dont show up for exam, does is count as an attempt?? does many attempts to pass the exam affect yr career? Should I just go and sit for exam unprepared? Or prepare well for targeting next year? Thanks in advance.
 
latuda said:
I feel not prepared and overwhelmed by several family issues and high demand work. Thinking to cancel this year and will sit next year. This is my third time taking, so dont want to have another attempt if take and fail again. Any thoughts? If I dont show up for exam, does is count as an attempt?? does many attempts to pass the exam affect yr career? Should I just go and sit for exam unprepared? Or prepare well for targeting next year? Thanks in advance.
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I hear you with the family issues and work demand. Can you try to take time off? You know the format of the exam already so maybe you can cram in this month? I dont know about the other questions you asked but if you have a job then you may not need to be board certified?

In any event, best of luck to you!
 
For exam purposes and for real life, if someone has Melancholic depression and they are coming to you for the first time, do you first start them on the standard protocol (i.e. one SSRI, if it doesn't work switch to another one), then consider TCA or do you just put them on the TCA immediately?
 
latuda said:
I feel not prepared and overwhelmed by several family issues and high demand work. Thinking to cancel this year and will sit next year. This is my third time taking, so dont want to have another attempt if take and fail again. Any thoughts? If I dont show up for exam, does is count as an attempt?? does many attempts to pass the exam affect yr career? Should I just go and sit for exam unprepared? Or prepare well for targeting next year? Thanks in advance.
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I would let the ABPN know if you aren't going to sit for the exam, I believe they expect you to show up or contact them. It's really your choice. I took it for the third time last year and about 6 weeks prior I worked one day a week max and studied 16 hours a day and I still didn't feel ready(I started before 6 weeks but I am a slow studier and have severe untreated ADHD and GAD. I was a third time test taker. I didn't take it the year I graduated residency and my worry was failing by the fifth year out because I can't imagine me with my anxiety passing an oral exam as well as the written exam. I don't know how severe your family issues are, if they can be set aside for a month or not. This really isn't an exam most of us feel ready for........ I just think the pass matters. I don't think it matters how many times you take it, but someone please chime in if I am incorrect. I was SURE I failed last year and much to my surprise I passed and by a totally decent margin. I am so glad it is done and over. If it were me I would take it. You paid for it. Study as much as you can, do as many practice questions as you can and if you fail, just count it as a very expensive practice exam, but the choice is really yours. Good luck.
 
shahseh22 said:
Did you guys use old prites to study at all?
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No. I didn't really study much for my first attempt at the board exam because I did well on the PRITE exams and that was a mistake. Personally, I don't think they are representative of current boards.
 
shahseh22 said:
For exam purposes and for real life, if someone has Melancholic depression and they are coming to you for the first time, do you first start them on the standard protocol (i.e. one SSRI, if it doesn't work switch to another one), then consider TCA or do you just put them on the TCA immediately?
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BUMP, could someone answer this one for me lol, its driving me crazy!
 
There was a study that came out some time in past few years that says SSRI. The old thought of certain sub types get TCA is old news, and one of those questions you have to read into it... is the person who wrote this question up to date or doing the usual antiquated lore?
 
It's confusing... in real life I never go to a TCA or MAOI. I always start an SSRI. Though there is litreature indicating that atypical depression can turn into Bipolar later on.

The eye stuff is really hurting me. I really hate neurology and I hate the fact that I have to remember things that I learned in 1st year of med school again lol. any tips on how high yield it is? like pupil dilation and lesions (anterior choroidal, etc)? Or even questions like transient vascular ischemia causing a shade of curtain to appear in visual field? ugh i cant even remember them lol
 
Neurology is only 6% of the exam. I wouldn't focus too much on that. I'm just focusing on high yield topics such as depression, anxiety, trauma, substance use, personality d/o, bipolar, neurocognitive, etc....
 
medshine said:
Neurology is only 6% of the exam. I wouldn't focus too much on that. I'm just focusing on high yield topics such as depression, anxiety, trauma, substance use, personality d/o, bipolar, neurocognitive, etc....
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This is very surprising because I thought it was ~30% of the exam.... and all the qbanks seem so heavy on neurology.
Anybody have any input on how neuro was tested, and which qbank is best??
 
Failed once due to not enough study (work+child). Had only done K+S book and came very close to passing.
Not much changed this year. Would BTB Videos only + Board vitals suffice? Thanks
 
Is board Vitals similar to the actual exam? I find some of their questions to be hard.
 
The K/S book question seemed somewhat difficult for me and getting mid 60s on those exam. I did BTB questions. Did not get board vitals
 
The neuro questions were super straight forward. I would know the basics. I missed a lot of easy points because I didn't study neuro.
 
futuredo32 said:
The neuro questions were super straight forward. I would know the basics. I missed a lot of easy points because I didn't study neuro.
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thank for the info appreciate it. Hoping the psych questions are not tough as well or hopefully not like the PRITE questions
 
BH52 said:
The K/S book question seemed somewhat difficult for me and getting mid 60s on those exam. I did BTB questions. Did not get board vitals
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Everyone keeps referring to the KS book. Do you mean Kaplan and Saddock textbook, or Kenny and Spiegel question book?

I've done Kenny/Spiegel question book 1.5x, and I hope everyone on this board who says "do KS" mean Kenny and Spiegel lol! I have not opened Kaplan/Saddock. I did read the Boston Massachusetts board prep book cover to cover though.
 
skybliss said:
Everyone keeps referring to the KS book. Do you mean Kaplan and Saddock textbook, or Kenny and Spiegel question book?

I've done Kenny/Spiegel question book 1.5x, and I hope everyone on this board who says "do KS" mean Kenny and Spiegel lol! I have not opened Kaplan/Saddock. I did read the Boston Massachusetts board prep book cover to cover though.
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yes the question book lol.
 
BH52 said:
yes the question book lol.
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Thank God. That Kaplan and Sadock book I think is not well written and has too much minutiae. I got 2 more weeks to go. Averaged 70-75 on Kenny/Spiegel, 70% on board vitals, and thus far averaging 60% on psych genius, which makes me worried. It's like I'm getting dumber with every question bank. But I have not been able to track down projections of psych genius score. Whereas Kenny and spiegel "70-75% is almost certain to pass", and 70% on board vitals is a 96% chance of pass, so here's to hoping that psych genius is just harder.
 
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skybliss said:
Thank God. That Kaplan and Sadock book I think is not well written and has too much minutiae. I got 2 more weeks to go. Averaged 70-75 on Kenny/Spiegel, 70% on board vitals, and thus far averaging 60% on psych genius, which makes me worried. It's like I'm getting dumber with every question bank. But I have not been able to track down projections of psych genius score. Whereas Kenny and spiegel "70-75% is almost certain to pass", and 70% on board vitals is a 96% chance of pass, so here's to hoping that psych genius is just harder.
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Same here, I don't know why but psych genius questions seem so much harder and they seem very random... Even their vignettes seem very random, like you have to take a random guess because you don't have many clues that point to the right answer. I found K&S questions most educational and well written, Board Vital seems to be a good mix of random questions and basic questions but their vignettes were way too easy...
 
scentofpapaya said:
Same here, I don't know why but psych genius questions seem so much harder and they seem very random... Even their vignettes seem very random, like you have to take a random guess because you don't have many clues that point to the right answer. I found K&S questions most educational and well written, Board Vital seems to be a good mix of random questions and basic questions but their vignettes were way too easy...
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Agreed with your impression. Though many people say that psych genius is most representative of what they saw on boards. Hopefully what they mean is the questions are written in a way that is similar to boards, but psych genius has a higher percentage of hard questions relative to boards. Because I think 70% is the raw percentage for passing boards, and I'm getting 60%. ahhhhhh DX.

Kenny/Spiegel questions do seem very good learning questions. Most of the ones I got wrong were neuro, and neuro this year is only 4% of the boards, though neurocog is a good 5-10% or something like that. Hopefully this is good sign. Pass rate last year was 88 or was it 87%. That's very low. what gives. Maybe it's all the DO programs joining the MD programs, so there's a lot of new test takers from residencies that were geared towards the AOA rather than the ACGME boards. That's what I think.
 
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skybliss said:
Agreed with your impression. Though many people say that psych genius is most representative of what they saw on boards. Hopefully what they mean is the questions are written in a way that is similar to boards, but psych genius has a higher percentage of hard questions relative to boards. Because I think 70% is the raw percentage for passing boards, and I'm getting 60%. ahhhhhh DX.

Kenny/Spiegel questions do seem very good learning questions. Most of the ones I got wrong were neuro, and neuro this year is only 4% of the boards, though neurocog is a good 5-10% or something like that. Hopefully this is good sign. Pass rate last year was 88 or was it 87%. That's very low. what gives. Maybe it's all the DO programs joining the MD programs, so there's a lot of new test takers from residencies that were geared towards the AOA rather than the ACGME boards. That's what I think.
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Let's focus on the positives, if 70% on BV is 96% chance, then that means even if you are scoring in the 60s, there is a HIGH chance that you will pass. Plus, K&S was very heavy on neuro, I felt like 20-30% of the questions were neuro questions (I felt like they purposely did this because neuro used to be tested heavily for psych boards)... so if the questions you are getting wrong are mostly neuro, then there is even a higher chance that you will pass. Also, many psych genius questions have 7+ answer choices to choose from, when other question banks give 4-5 choices... so you have <20% chance of getting a question right on psych genius, whereas you have at least 20% chance of getting it right even if you just take a random guess.
 
The actual exam is VERY VERY random. K&S questions are way too easy for this exam. I think Psych genius does a better job of reflecting the actual exam, as far as the randomness goes. I emailed psych genius and they told me getting above 50% on psych genius question bank is a good indicator of doing well on the actual exam. So who knows....
 
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medshine said:
The actual exam is VERY VERY random. K&S questions are way too easy for this exam. I think Psych genius does a better job of reflecting the actual exam, as far as the randomness goes. I emailed psych genius and they told me getting above 50% on psych genius question bank is a good indicator of doing well on the actual exam. So who knows....
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that is concerning.... I thought K&S was supposed to be harder than the actual exam.... plus, I find it frustrating that different qbanks have different answers and explanations from different sources, so you don't know which one to trust and memorize...
 
medshine said:
The actual exam is VERY VERY random. K&S questions are way too easy for this exam. I think Psych genius does a better job of reflecting the actual exam, as far as the randomness goes. I emailed psych genius and they told me getting above 50% on psych genius question bank is a good indicator of doing well on the actual exam. So who knows....
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Oh, 50% on psych genius, good to know. I emailed them as well, and they said they didn't have the metrics on what percent correlates with passing. Maybe you worded your email better than I did! haha.
 
scentofpapaya said:
that is concerning.... I thought K&S was supposed to be harder than the actual exam.... plus, I find it frustrating that different qbanks have different answers and explanations from different sources, so you don't know which one to trust and memorize...
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this is frustrating for me too. There are so many studies. For example, bipolar prevalence has been estimated at anywhere between 2 - 4% depending on the study you're looking at and whether you're going by dsm4 or dsm5 criteria. borderline prevalence has been estimated anywhere between 2-4%, and some have estimated up to 8% among teen girls. That's why I try to stick with sources like KS and board vitals. Ultimately you're competing against your peers to pass, not the exam. They say the exam isn't curved, but certainly they must do some adjustment of scores every year. I'm hoping that as long as I'm not in the bottom 10% of my peers, I'll be ok even if I don't know everything.
 
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