Boards Part 1 APMLE...materials, advice, time etc???

[podmed2017]

Hello, I will be taking the apmle part 1 this july. If anyone has any advice please let me know from those who recently took it last year. what materials you used, whats best for which topics, oh and if any has a study schedule they made up and can post it that would be amazing just to get an idea of the kind of schedule id run on. Please and thank you!!!

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[heybrother]

-I think the old threads cover this really well so I'm just going to throw a few thoughts down. Know the following 4 classes stone cold (and in this order - general consensus): (1) Lower limb (2) pharmacology (3) microbiology (4) physiology.
-Know your lower limb manual - I read DMUs 2-3 times. I read BRS Physiology once. I read First Aid once, but had used it throughout the 2 years. I read my DMU classnotes for microbiology and pharmacology all the way through.
-I considered reading my biochemistry notes all the way through - would have been pissed if I had - very few questions.
-I considered reading a pathology BRS style book (or some other review book) - I would have been FURIOUS if I had. So little pathology and what did appear was incredibly specific - I wouldn't have learned it even if I had studied. Someone at DMU tried to work out a deal with Pathoma - would have been soooo much overkill.
-Went ahead and read a little bit about muscle and bone histology, but gave it almost no time and was quite content - there's very little histology to be found.
-You really just need to have had a productive first and second year. If you worked your tail off there really shouldn't be any surprises and you should fly through a lot of the test (and be pissed off at the rest - its awful).

 

[podmed2017]

-I think the old threads cover this really well so I'm just going to throw a few thoughts down. Know the following 4 classes stone cold (and in this order - general consensus): (1) Lower limb (2) pharmacology (3) microbiology (4) physiology.
-Know your lower limb manual - I read DMUs 2-3 times. I read BRS Physiology once. I read First Aid once, but had used it throughout the 2 years. I read my DMU classnotes for microbiology and pharmacology all the way through.
-I considered reading my biochemistry notes all the way through - would have been pissed if I had - very few questions.
-I considered reading a pathology BRS style book (or some other review book) - I would have been FURIOUS if I had. So little pathology and what did appear was incredibly specific - I wouldn't have learned it even if I had studied. Someone at DMU tried to work out a deal with Pathoma - would have been soooo much overkill.
-Went ahead and read a little bit about muscle and bone histology, but gave it almost no time and was quite content - there's very little histology to be found.
-You really just need to have had a productive first and second year. If you worked your tail off there really shouldn't be any surprises and you should fly through a lot of the test (and be pissed off at the rest - its awful).

Thank you so much, I read the previous notes but just wanted the mot recent experience as I've heard they are trying to change the test every year. I have pretty solid class notes for lower limb, pharm and physio. What would you recommend for really getting microbio down. At nycpm we had bacteriology, immunology, and infectious diseases which is jumbled up into microbio on the boards I'm guessing. also what about general anatomy?

 

[dyk343]

I want to point out that every year the content changes. Just because pathology was not heavy one year does not mean that it will not be a majority of the test another year. When I took it a large majority was pathology. IMO BRS physiology is a must read book. I would know 3-4 subjects really really well. Especially lower limb anatomy (which you should know anyways....)

 

[heybrother]

Dyk's comment reminds me of 2 things every second year should look into. The first is the breakdown of how test questions will be divided up - as indicated the breakdown probably can change. Historically we are heavy in the 4 I listed. Second and perhaps even more important, somewhere out there is a published document that discusses basic science core competencies for podiatry students and literally lists everything your school should have covered with score weightings. I would absolute skim this because year after year I read people complaining about some of the things the board covers and ALL of them are listed as core competencies in this document.

 

[PatchAdamsFan]

http://www.aacpm.org/pdf/2014CurriculumGuide.pdf

File is too big, but here is the link to the AACPM Curriculum Guide!

 

[premedkid10]

First things first realize that you will think u did bad coming out of the test (almost every person i spoke to after the test agreed- so try not to worry).
1) LEAN- class notes, dissector, know your relationships, know your BONES!
2) Pharm- I used First Aid, but I felt most of what i knew was from what i remembered from class (and suffixes!)
3) Microbio- The immuno wasnt horrible, not at all like some of the textbooks ive seen (and studied with), first aid should be more than enough. Infectious dz first aid i thought did a great job of covering the major major points- you should spend some time on this
4) Biochem- Know your major enzymes (I believe first aid has a list, just know those and what comes about when they take action- big picture)
5) Anatomy- Personally I thought this was the hardest part of the test, there wasnt a boat load of questions as you can probably see in the breakdown but it seemed like some of it was random
6) I was really dissapointed and thought pathology wasnt a major point, but test changes from year to year so who knows- maybe find some reviews

I started after 1st week in May, went over everything at least once by late June, and last 2 weeks before boards were rapid reviews (like 2 days per subject). Do not start too early you will burn out. If you want to start going over things now you can but dont drive yourself crazy, keep it simple and stupid

 

[podmed2017]

First things first realize that you will think u did bad coming out of the test (almost every person i spoke to after the test agreed- so try not to worry).
1) LEAN- class notes, dissector, know your relationships, know your BONES!
2) Pharm- I used First Aid, but I felt most of what i knew was from what i remembered from class (and suffixes!)
3) Microbio- The immuno wasnt horrible, not at all like some of the textbooks ive seen (and studied with), first aid should be more than enough. Infectious dz first aid i thought did a great job of covering the major major points- you should spend some time on this
4) Biochem- Know your major enzymes (I believe first aid has a list, just know those and what comes about when they take action- big picture)
5) Anatomy- Personally I thought this was the hardest part of the test, there wasnt a boat load of questions as you can probably see in the breakdown but it seemed like some of it was random
6) I was really dissapointed and thought pathology wasnt a major point, but test changes from year to year so who knows- maybe find some reviews

I started after 1st week in May, went over everything at least once by late June, and last 2 weeks before boards were rapid reviews (like 2 days per subject). Do not start too early you will burn out. If you want to start going over things now you can but dont drive yourself crazy, keep it simple and stupid

Thanks a lot for the advice. Yea I dont want to burn out but just want to start skimming through things that I completely forgot or havent seen in a while

 

[FootAndAnkle]

I just read through First Aid once and reviewed lower extremity class notes twice, which worked fine. I would throw in a little extra review of upper extremity anatomy, too, if you can.

 

[AttackNME]

I prayed and drank a lot.. its a rough test

 

[Popat Lal]

I'm slightly worried about Biochem and Pathology. Is the Biochem enzymes in first aid all I need to know? And as far as Path, since pathology can be so many things, is everything in First Aid regarding path fair game? Given that the boards are only 5 weeks away, I'd hate to overkill.

Also, we were told by out faculty that we have to achieve a total of 75% in all of the sections of the test. Meaning that even if we get a 75% overall, we still have not passed the boards if we failed a particular section of the test with less than 75%. But this hasn't been confirmed anywhere else, not even on their website. Any truth to our faculty's claims?

 

[KSUCPM2015]

I found that the BRS pathology flashcards plus First Aid combined were perfect for path. I used my class notes for biochem but I think that with biochem being less than 10% of the exam, you could get away with just First Aid if you're in a time crunch.
As far as scoring goes, first thing is that "75" on the exam does not equal 75%. It is a number spit out after your raw score is run thru am equation. Also, your raw score is only determined after pilot and statistically unfair questions are thrown out. I'm not trying to start a new thread here so all I would say is that one of the major complaints of our board exams is lack of transparency in all ways, including scoring. I have no idea if your professor(s) are correct but I would argue that if transparency is indeed such an issue, then there is no way they could know for sure if they are correct either. All I can say for sure is that in 4 years I never heard of that as the scoring system, whatever that is worth.

 

[dyk343]

Rule of thumb - If you feel like you got 50% of the questions correct you probably passed...

 

[Popat Lal]

Also having a tough time finding difficult practice questions regarding LE Anatomy. Anybody know of any good sources? BRS and NMS are not detailed enough for LE anatomy IMHO. Not that im tryna be a wiseass or anything...

 

[josebiwasabi]

Your class notes for lower anatomy should be what you are studying for those. i'd suggest spending time studying osteology.

 

[Popat Lal]

Your class notes for lower anatomy should be what you are studying for those. i'd sugge..st spending time studying osteology.

Unfortunately for us, since our school is completely integrated with the DO program, our exposure to LE Anatomy is only as extensive as it was for the DO's. We've been using the "Scholl powerpoints" but other than that we have no other resources for LE Anatomy...i understand that there are copyright issues associated with sharing. But please feel free to send me a message and share some of that wealth. I'm sure I have resources to reciprocate with, that some of you might not have. Create a joint google drive or something..or you could just be a gunner and just not give two effs! lol

 

[rayovac]

Unfortunately for us, since our school is completely integrated with the DO program, our exposure to LE Anatomy is only as extensive as it was for the DO's. We've been using the "Scholl powerpoints" but other than that we have no other resources for LE Anatomy...i understand that there are copyright issues associated with sharing. But please feel free to send me a message and share some of that wealth. I'm sure I have resources to reciprocate with, that some of you might not have. Create a joint google drive or something..or you could just be a gunner and just not give two effs! lol

We have to take both clinical anatomy with the MD's and then our separate lower anatomy, it a night a day difference on what is expected from each class. The clinical anatomy touched so superficially on the lower extremity. I sympathize with you for not getting a separate lower course, it really should be incorporated in your curriculum.

 

[GreenGreen]

Part 1 is really hard to study for, because the test is essentially covering material from the first two years of POD school - a HUGE amount of information. My advice would be to be rock solid on your LE anatomy, including ossification times. Micro and Pharm are priorities too, but the overall content can shift around year to year so don't be surprised if these subjects are not emphasized as much. Don't look too much into the curricular guide - it spells out what is supposed to be taught at school but it won't help you know what to expect on the test.

The test is brutal no matter what you do. It's a complete grab-bag for some topics (ex: there 3 on the brachial plexus). I kept a 3-category tally in the test which revealed on 50% of questions I was confident in the answer. 20% I was able to narrow down to two answers, and 30% I flat out guessed. All in all I probably made around a 65% in terms of a percentage grade and still passed. Try not to stress - it will only slow you down. I had off for two weeks. The first week I studied about 6 hours a day and was just trying to enjoy life. The week leading up to the test I went through a 12 pack of monsters, and crammed about 16 hours for 3 days, then 18-20 hours for the next 4. I was too wired to sleep the night before, so I didn't even sleep which I don't think mattered I was so wired on caffeine.

It's not easy, but it's very passable. I'm around the bottom of my class and pulled it off 1st try so I'm sure anyone can.

 

[dyk343]

Unfortunately for us, since our school is completely integrated with the DO program, our exposure to LE Anatomy is only as extensive as it was for the DO's. We've been using the "Scholl powerpoints" but other than that we have no other resources for LE Anatomy...i understand that there are copyright issues associated with sharing. But please feel free to send me a message and share some of that wealth. I'm sure I have resources to reciprocate with, that some of you might not have. Create a joint google drive or something..or you could just be a gunner and just not give two effs! lol

??? - What school do you go to?

 

[ucfgrad10]

Just curious, does any other school start third year classes/rotations before boards? We start this week at Kent.

 

[illinigrad11]

Just curious, does any other school start third year classes/rotations before boards? We start this week at Kent.

At DMU, the clinical portion of the curriculum begins before part I boards, but I believe those several weeks of Summer clinic are still considered 2nd year. 3rd year classes and rotations officially started about two weeks after part I boards.

 

[Popat Lal]

Yup here at Western we have rotations before boards too. But we're done as far as coursework is concerned. It's just clinical now.