Board Certification in Psychiatry

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I think there's one oral exam left. I used that test prep over the phone and it helped a lot.
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Any advise on helpful courses to take for part 2 (orals) of ABPN
 
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Does anyone have opinions about the Osler courses? I'm considering purchasing the MP3, syllabus, and questions. I cannot fathom sitting for 8 hours straight in one of those 4-5 day courses and would like to space things out. Any alternative recommendations? Thanks in advance.
 
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I'm registered for this September. I would greatly appreciate being able to purchase anyone's test prep materials for a good price.
Feel free to PM me if you are interested, thank you!
 
Can anyone give me an indication how long it will take to work through the Beat the Psychiatry Boards material (online lectures and notes)? My experience is that MD's take +/- similar time to work through material. I'll be crunched for time and this will help in planning. Thanks.
 
My girl friend needs a study partner to prepare for psychiatry oral board exaam , if anyone interested please send message.
 
I heard Beat the Boards and Kaufman is the best combo. With that you will need Qs pool? Spiegel and Kenny is a good tool too!!
 
Beachlove88 said:
Thanks. Is there somewhere else to get more questions?
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Try Boardvitals, We have thousands of questions including a Part C (video vignette section) that is new. Right now the question banks are buy one get one 50% off (automatically deducted at checkout).
 
I'm taking the exam in sep.

what is the breakdown? number of questions, time, vignette?

anyone know customary approximate topic distribution?

Thanks



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Is the BoardVitals Q-Bank worth getting??

I'm taking my Boards in Sept., just completed the Kaufman course in NYC (awesome course, BTW), and want to practice questions in a similar format to the exam.
 
I've got to admit I'm surprised by the lack of interest in this thread. Do psychiatrists not worry about the written board exam? Apparently we have a 75% pass rate, which is higher than for most specialites. I'm wondering if having a more active discussion of studying tools would be useful (at least to me) and hopefully to others.

Here's where I am -- just started officially studying last week. Good psychiatry PRITE scores but not so hot neurology PRITE scores. I used to like neurology but seem to have forgotten all of it in residency, which means I probably should have been reading Kaufman along the way. No anxiety or time management types of issues with standardized tests although I am feeling a bit anxious about this one. I just started a fellowship, which is less work intensive than an attending job would likely be and am hoping to be able to devote a few hours each week day to studying. I'm wondering if I should firm this up and commit to a specific schedule.

I've purchased the following:

Board Vitals: seems decent although questions have a decent amount of errors; questions are a good learning tool for me, though, so the more the better
Kaufman's Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists: seems good but long, so going through it will take a while. I'm wishing I had started on this sooner especially because this is my weak area. Haven't looked at the questions yet.
Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Update and Board Review: seems good and pretty basic
Psychiatry Test Preparation and Review Manual (Spiegel): went through a group of questions, and they seem good. Highly recommended by people in the class above me.

Beat the Boards and other formal classes seem too expensive for me and maybe unncessary. I'm planning on update this as I go along. Where is everybody else in their studying?
 
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slappy said:
Wow, I did not know this. Where did you get this statistic from? This makes my program's 100% pass rate look stellar in comparison.
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Admittedly from an interested source, but board vitals says this --

http://www.boardvitals.com/blog/psychiatry-board-review-practice-questions/

This matches with a powerpoint I found talking about Part II scores (old written) with a passage rate of ~78%.

With your program with 100% passage, do you do have a lot of PRITE/board specific didactics? How did your colleagues study?

Oh yeah, update, I'm back to hating Board Vitals. Again, it seems like lots of errors and also as if questions are generated just by randomly opening a textbook to a page and writing a question.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
Admittedly from an interested source, but board vitals says this --

http://www.boardvitals.com/blog/psychiatry-board-review-practice-questions/

This matches with a powerpoint I found talking about Part II scores (old written) with a passage rate of ~78%.

With your program with 100% passage, do you do have a lot of PRITE/board specific didactics? How did your colleagues study?

Oh yeah, update, I'm back to hating Board Vitals. Again, it seems like lots of errors and also as if questions are generated just by randomly opening a textbook to a page and writing a question.
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Oops, and I also meant 75% pass rate. Still crappy.
 
gioia said:
Is the BoardVitals Q-Bank worth getting??

I'm taking my Boards in Sept., just completed the Kaufman course in NYC (awesome course, BTW), and want to practice questions in a similar format to the exam.
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See my ranting above. I'm still neutral. The formatting is good, but it seems like there's a good number of odd or poorly worded questions. It's not too expensive, though, and they do have lots of questions. I haven't looked at their vignettes yet. I think they're one of the main people who have sample questions for that.
 
http://www.abpn.com/downloads/misc_publications/pc_2011_AADPRT_Presentation_final.pdf

Here's the powerpoint bagel was likely referring to. Part I first time pass rates were 89%, while Part II rates for first time test takers was 78%. Those taking the exam a second time have abysmal (41%/54%) pass rates that drag the whole average on both exams down to about 75%. Data is from 2006-2010, who knows how things have changed since then.
 
Mad Jack said:
http://www.abpn.com/downloads/misc_publications/pc_2011_AADPRT_Presentation_final.pdf

Here's the powerpoint bagel was likely referring to. Part I first time pass rates were 89%, while Part II rates for first time test takers was 78%. Those taking the exam a second time have abysmal (41%/54%) pass rates that drag the whole average on both exams down to about 75%. Data is from 2006-2010, who knows how things have changed since then.
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That is indeed what I was referring to. Apparently internal medicine passage rates are around 90%, so we're on the low end. We're also on the low end of USMLE scores, so psych people on average have a disadvantage for all sorts of reasons.
 
splik said:
this data is out of date given the exam has substatially changed since. The pass rate for the board exam last year was 83%. for the ABIM exam it was roughly the same 86%. my guess is the vast majority of people at your program pass. the vast majority of people do pass. the numbers are almost certainly brought down by people who don't speak english, and people at the more suspect programs.
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Hmm, that's a little better. Yes, the majority of people at my program pass, and I wasn't a particularly weak resident (I think), so my odds of passing are good. I'm still feeling anxious, though, especially about neurology. I really think I should have started Kaufman sooner. I think at least 2 people in the class above me did official neurology review classes, which I skipped out on. Our neurology didactics aren't so hot and hopefully will be improved.

Good news, though, is that you don't need go pass neuro to pass the exam, which I think is a change from last year.
 
So if this whole psychiatry thing doesn't pan out, I should try to find ways to make money off this MOC thing. It seems like a growth industry.
 
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OldPsychDoc said:
Sorry--a little distracted here what with a massive change in accreditation mandates from the ACGME.
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Ah, come on -- those milestones seem really straight forward. I've got to admit I'm glad I graduated when I did.

But bigger point -- trust yet verify with information about these things. Your PD has less of an investment in this than you do.
 
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OK, admittedly I haven't taken the test, but I'm calling it in saying that Spiegel is way better than Board Vitals -- if you're only going for one question bank, go for that one. Better explanation, less errors and generally less sloppy.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
Good question. I don't know of one. You can get the kindle version of the book, which is cheaper, but it doesn't seem to come with access the online resources (unless I'm totally missing it).
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Good suggestion


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Doctor Bagel said:
OK, admittedly I haven't taken the test, but I'm calling it in saying that Spiegel is way better than Board Vitals -- if you're only going for one question bank, go for that one. Better explanation, less errors and generally less sloppy.
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Agree about Spiegel. I used Beat the Boards and Kaufman for content and Spiegel for questions. I felt well prepared.
 
Can anyone who took the Child Boards give advice on where to find good questions other than past CPRITE's? There are a couple of books out there plus the Vitals website, but little info on how good they are. Thanks!
 
Beachlove88 said:
So I bought the spiegel book and the questions are harder and better written than the focus books (I did both volumes). The kindle version doesn't give you online access. The Kaufman book also uses expert consult and you can actually do the questions and an answer pops up but for spiegel for some reason it just looks like the book version and isn't interactive unless I'm missing something. Still a good question book I just wish the font was bigger. :). Thanks, bagel. I'm debating now if I should get the board vitals vignettes section only since vignettes are half the test.
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Yeah, I can't get the online features to work for the kindle book either. That was a disappointment, especially as one of the commentators at Amazon incorrectly stated that you could access them from the kindle version. I did a few of the Board Vitals vignettes, but it seemed like the videos weren't particularly useful. You could glean all the information you needed from reading the vignette. I'm wondering if videos on the real exam will be the same.
 
3 weeks left to study! Why couldn't they have this test at the end of residency? I heard back in the days of the orals that people took the written exam before finishing residency. That would be nicer for time prioritization.
 
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Beachlove88 said:
Ok so I've completely abandoned any reading and now just doing questions. Is it bad that I'm averaging about 65-70% every time I take a practice test? How is everyone else faring? Is it like med school- 70% is passing?
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Wondering this as well. What percent do we need to pass?


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Beachlove88 said:
Ok so I've completely abandoned any reading and now just doing questions. Is it bad that I'm averaging about 65-70% every time I take a practice test? How is everyone else faring? Is it like med school- 70% is passing?
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I'm generally hitting in the 70s on Board Vitals. I don't have online access for Spiegal, so I haven't been scoring. On the last test, I missed a ton, though, so I'm not feeling so confident. Details about various CYP450 receptors and nitpicky (at least to me) neurology stuff are what's getting me. Oh yeah, and percentages -- I know broad numbers but not details. I kinda don't want to learn any of this stuff either because it seems fairly unimportant -- I mean you look that stuff up when you need it. This being SDN means that someone will probably jump in and tell me I'm going to be a bad doctor because of this attitude.
 
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Doctor Bagel said:
I'm generally hitting in the 70s on Board Vitals. I don't have online access for Spiegal, so I haven't been scoring. On the last test, I missed a ton, though, so I'm not feeling so confident. Details about various CYP450 receptors and nitpicky (at least to me) neurology stuff are what's getting me. Oh yeah, and percentages -- I know broad numbers but not details. I kinda don't want to learn any of this stuff either because it seems fairly unimportant -- I mean you look that stuff up when you need it. This being SDN means that someone will probably jump in and tell me I'm going to be a bad doctor because of this attitude.
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This has been my experience too, and I was wondering the same thing. I'm hitting anywhere from 60s-70s % right in Spiegel (depending on how many nit picky questions and how many obscure neurological disorders the questions in that test cover).

One resident from my program who took and passed his boards last year recommended Psychtutorial q-bank. Does anyone have any experience or any feedback on whether it's any good? Also, anyone with a coupon code to save a little money on it? Thanks for any feedback.
 
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Doctor Bagel said:
I'm generally hitting in the 70s on Board Vitals. I don't have online access for Spiegal, so I haven't been scoring. On the last test, I missed a ton, though, so I'm not feeling so confident. Details about various CYP450 receptors and nitpicky (at least to me) neurology stuff are what's getting me. Oh yeah, and percentages -- I know broad numbers but not details. I kinda don't want to learn any of this stuff either because it seems fairly unimportant -- I mean you look that stuff up when you need it. This being SDN means that someone will probably jump in and tell me I'm going to be a bad doctor because of this attitude.
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Just finished test 4 in Spiegal, and got HAMMERED. Getting upper 60s/low 70s on the other tests so far. The tough parts for me are all the questions about obscure, eponymous neurologic symptoms/syndromes.

I was in the upper third/quarter of the class on the PRITES, and our program's board pass rate is in the upper 90s, so unless I am getting dementia I should be ok, right?
 
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Would love some opinions:

As I have done successfully for every big exam so far, I am relying on doing a lot of questions to prepare for the board exam, with minimal extra reading outside of looking up confusing stuff in questions. With just a few weeks left, and a fairly busy work schedule, trying to decide what to do from here. In the next day or two I will have completed all the questions in Speigel. Overall average will be about 70%. Should I:

a) Move on to another question bank, maybe Board Vitals, or Focus
b) Repeat Speigal to try to solidify the material presented there

Thoughts?
 
Red Beard said:
Would love some opinions:

As I have done successfully for every big exam so far, I am relying on doing a lot of questions to prepare for the board exam, with minimal extra reading outside of looking up confusing stuff in questions. With just a few weeks left, and a fairly busy work schedule, trying to decide what to do from here. In the next day or two I will have completed all the questions in Speigel. Overall average will be about 70%. Should I:

a) Move on to another question bank, maybe Board Vitals, or Focus
b) Repeat Speigal to try to solidify the material presented there

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'd love to hear the answer to this, too. My thought for going forward is go for option #2, really trying to solidify what's in Spiegel, but I haven't taken the test, so I don't really know.
 
Red Beard said:
Just finished test 4 in Spiegal, and got HAMMERED. Getting upper 60s/low 70s on the other tests so far. The tough parts for me are all the questions about obscure, eponymous neurologic symptoms/syndromes.

I was in the upper third/quarter of the class on the PRITES, and our program's board pass rate is in the upper 90s, so unless I am getting dementia I should be ok, right?
Click to expand...

My worst Spiegels were #4 and 5. #6 was a confidence booster. It sounds like you're doing fine.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
I'd love to hear the answer to this, too. My thought for going forward is go for option #2, really trying to solidify what's in Spiegel, but I haven't taken the test, so I don't really know.
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I am leaning this way as well (rather than buying a Q-bank), but I am worried that I haven't done enough Vignette questions. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether it's worth buying a Q-bank to help with that area, and if so, which one?
 
Red Beard said:
Would love some opinions:

As I have done successfully for every big exam so far, I am relying on doing a lot of questions to prepare for the board exam, with minimal extra reading outside of looking up confusing stuff in questions. With just a few weeks left, and a fairly busy work schedule, trying to decide what to do from here. In the next day or two I will have completed all the questions in Speigel. Overall average will be about 70%. Should I:

a) Move on to another question bank, maybe Board Vitals, or Focus
b) Repeat Speigal to try to solidify the material presented there

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

So, I decided to opt for #1 as I just wanted some variety after doing so many Spiegel questions. I went ahead and bought the subscription to psychtutorial. So far, I really like it. I think the questions are well written and touch on some things that Spiegel did not, and the answer explanations are good but not too long. If anyone else ends up wanting a subscription, there is a discount code for $15 off if you have someone refer you. Let me know if you want me to sent it to you.
 
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gpcar said:
So, I decided to opt for #1 as I just wanted some variety after doing so many Spiegel questions. I went ahead and bought the subscription to psychtutorial. So far, I really like it. I think the questions are well written and touch on some things that Spiegel did not, and the answer explanations are good but not too long. If anyone else ends up wanting a subscription, there is a discount code for $15 off if you have someone refer you. Let me know if you want me to sent it to you.
Click to expand...

Does psychtutorial have "vignette" type questions? If not, what is a good source for this?

Also, any opinions on using old PRITES to study?




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gpcar said:
So, I decided to opt for #1 as I just wanted some variety after doing so many Spiegel questions. I went ahead and bought the subscription to psychtutorial. So far, I really like it. I think the questions are well written and touch on some things that Spiegel did not, and the answer explanations are good but not too long. If anyone else ends up wanting a subscription, there is a discount code for $15 off if you have someone refer you. Let me know if you want me to sent it to you.
Click to expand...

I am interested in psychtutorial. Looks already reasonably priced, with $15 off I would probably try it out. I remember really liking the online qbanks for other exams (easier to look at explanations, don't have to constantly flip back and forth from question to answer section.)
 
So I'm going back and forth on feeling anxious on this test, but I'm now convinced that if I fail it, it will be because of the vignettes rather than neurology (although who knows about that one). I did the sample vignette on the ABPN site and found it thoroughly annoying and also impossible to study for.
 
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