podstu2022
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How common is it to fail boards part 1? I'll be taking it next year and am worried after hearing some people at my school need to take a year off to attempt it a 3rd time.
Boards Part 1 Question
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Did you attempt to learn the material for the past two years?
Did you got by with TQs / notes that floated around the school?
I struggled with the exam even though I passed 1st time. But I was honest with myself about my own abilities. I never cheated and I tried my best to learn the material cause I knew it was going to come back around in some way shape or form.
I knew I had to work harder than I ever have to pass and I did just that. Took a month off and just hammered it away 4-5 hrs per day 6-7 days a week.
Best of luck.
Did you got by with TQs / notes that floated around the school?
I struggled with the exam even though I passed 1st time. But I was honest with myself about my own abilities. I never cheated and I tried my best to learn the material cause I knew it was going to come back around in some way shape or form.
I knew I had to work harder than I ever have to pass and I did just that. Took a month off and just hammered it away 4-5 hrs per day 6-7 days a week.
Best of luck.
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Not common if you do your part and studying during the first 2 years. The first pass avg was lower for the last 2 years due to covid, but those numbers should go up from your class. Learn the material from your class materials, then during exam prep, follow BVs and the other resources we all used. Search for the past threads on this exam and the prep.
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I can tell you it happens at every school, not just Western.
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Use search function. There is an entire thread dedicated to APMLE Part 1 for each year.
Dexter has even formatted it to specifically what each poster used and how long they studied for each section.
Many people who failed did not have the basics going in.
Some had personal family events that distracted them from dedicated studying
Some had test anxiety/test taking skill problems
Some simply did not put in enough time- all other aspects negligible- they simply did not put in enough hours.
The harder you study and train, the easier the test will feel. There is no way around it. It is built to trick you. As asinine as it is, it is also built to test you on what you should know.
Dexter has even formatted it to specifically what each poster used and how long they studied for each section.
Many people who failed did not have the basics going in.
Some had personal family events that distracted them from dedicated studying
Some had test anxiety/test taking skill problems
Some simply did not put in enough time- all other aspects negligible- they simply did not put in enough hours.
The harder you study and train, the easier the test will feel. There is no way around it. It is built to trick you. As asinine as it is, it is also built to test you on what you should know.
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I studied EVERY subject not just LEA, Micro, and Pharm. I made sure I understand the foundation of materials before going into details. I found that the type of questions they asked is very broad but superficial. There were tricky questions but if you know basic it helps you eliminate answer choices. There are many reasons why people failed. IMO part of it is they try to know every little details and not looking at the big picture or only do practice questions without understanding the materials. I would read APMLE part I threads like people said above and see how they studied and what resources they used. Do not overwhelm yourself with resources sometimes less is more. Study hard the first two years and it will serve you well when study for board. Good luck!
podstu2022
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Thank you everyone! Your comments have made me feel a lot better, I'll use the resources on sdn and study hard this upcoming year
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How come?! I hear they take DO curriculum. Aren't they well prepped for immuno, Micro, pharm, anatomy, path Biochem?
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4th try? I know each podiatry school has a different limit for amount of boards they are able to take, which I think is anywhere between 3 and infinite.
Although personally I don't think it matters how many times someone takes it. It's a test where some people have a few resources where they kind of have a headstart on the test material, so it's impossible for me to pass judgement on anyone who has to retake it.
Same thing can even be extended to classes with their resources.
That's why I think the most important thing is to just show the attendings how competent you are in clinic, as well as how you are friendly with communicating to your colleagues, attendings, patients and other staff.
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Back when I took boards part 1, I thought the vast majority of content wasn't really taught in curriculum, but rather it was studied from what I saw on board vitals, sketchy, etc.
At least at my school, they could have tried much better to teach material that was taught on boards. It's almost as though they taught material in class irrelevant of what was expected on boards.
The professors offered board type help specifically outside of their class material, but I think therein lies the problem -- not teaching board relevant material during the actual curriculum and offering board-like help in non-specific curriculum forms.
