Child Psychiatry board exam in 2 weeks

[jokerabc]

Hi guys, any tips or suggestions for the child psych board exam, my new "video" exam is coming up on the 24th of this month. The first time this exam was given was last year I think. I am doing Beat the Boards for the exam, and it seems okay.

I heard there's not a lot of psychopharm or diagnosis asked, but a lot of therapy, etiology, co-morbidities, etc.

Anyone have any help? Getting nervous about the exam now. I definitely didn't study nearly as much for this one as the adult boards last year!

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[gibits]

The best advice I can give for broads is don't medicate yourself because you're nervous. You'd be surprised how often this happens....

 

[billypilgrim37]

A) Don't take a job that has you working a billion hours per week because your bosses decided it would be nice to screw you for the summer. Also don't have a writing deadline for a national publication the week before, and don't have your PI griping at you about the 5th revision of a journal publication you've been trying to get accepted for the past year only to be thwarted by a petty reviewer.

B) Read through the last 5 years of child prites and look up anything you don't know. (child prites are much better than the adult prites in quality... makes sense, since child psychiatrists are vastly superior in every way to their adult peers).

C) Throw the books you bought from amazon in the corner and let them collect dust, but save the receipts for tax deductions.

I failed at A, am currently doing B, and anticipate C. The fact that I'm covering for another inpatient attending who is on vacation isn't helping either.

 

[jokerabc]

Exam in 2 days! On Tuesday. Just reading the BTB notes over and over again. They don't seem to be as good as the Adult BTB notes. Oh well, we'll see. I also reviewed the last 2 Prites. Don't feel ready like the Adult boards though.

 

[NJWxMan]

Why take the child boards? I know of several child attendings that have been practicing for >20 years and never even thought to do it. I've heard that the adult cert is vital, but most places only care that you are child eligible. BTW, that's close to $6000 in two years for ABPN exams.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Why take the child boards? I know of several child attendings that have been practicing for >20 years and never even thought to do it. I've heard that the adult cert is vital, but most places only care that you are child eligible. BTW, that's close to $6000 in two years for ABPN exams.

There are now limitations on how long you can be "board eligible" without getting board certified, currently 7 years in psychiatry and its specialties. So, if you plan to work more than 7 years, you will no longer be "eligible" for "board eligible" jobs.

It's all relative, too. If you want to work anywhere where human beings actually want to live, then you are probably competing against other people with board certification. If you live where other people don't want to live, it might not matter.

And heaven help you in a court case when the opposing lawyer asks you why you completed a fellowship, called yourself a child psychiatrist, treated children as such, and did not get the "certification" subsequently.

 

[BCqueen]

What did people think of the child certification exam? Anyone know the pass date? Best of Luck to all who took boards!

There are now limitations on how long you can be "board eligible" without getting board certified, currently 7 years in psychiatry and its specialties. So, if you plan to work more than 7 years, you will no longer be "eligible" for "board eligible" jobs.

It's all relative, too. If you want to work anywhere where human beings actually want to live, then you are probably competing against other people with board certification. If you live where other people don't want to live, it might not matter.

And heaven help you in a court case when the opposing lawyer asks you why you completed a fellowship, called yourself a child psychiatrist, treated children as such, and did not get the "certification" subsequently.

 

[BCqueen]

There's a lot of info about adult boards, was wondering about people who took Child Psych Cert exam today. Anyone know the pass rate? Congrats to all who took boards today and Good Luck!!

 

[NJWxMan]

Don't fool yourself...jobs in child are about who you know; not your board cert. Your jaw would drop if you knew some of the NE senior caps and administrators that don't know what abpn is.

 

[southpsych]

Just took the child psych boards -- surprised that it didn't cover as much as I thought it would.

My big question to anyone else who took it is this: did you have the option to choose multiple answers for each question for the vignette portion? Previously with the adult test and with all of the board prep practice exams, you were instructed to choose up to 3 or so answers for one question in the vignette portion. They would even have an indication after the questions like (choose 2, or choose 4 responses). However, when I just took the exam, there was no indication to choose more than one response....So I just put one response per question.

Not sure if I should freak out or if they somehow decided to simplify the format.
Either case, I included in my comments section of vignettes and the survey at the end that this should be clearer.

Have no idea what the pass rate is...

Fingers crossed for "10 to 12 weeks" while I wait for my score.

 

[psychattending]

There's a lot of info about adult boards, was wondering about people who took Child Psych Cert exam today. Anyone know the pass rate? Congrats to all who took boards today and Good Luck!!

I believe the pass rates are posted on the ABPN website. It is higher than the adult pass rate.

 

[jokerabc]

Yep, just took the child cert exam yesterday. I was very surprised at first also that there were no questions during the video or written vignette that required more than 1 answer. I even clicked on different answers on some questions to make sure! haha!

The vignette part was okay I thought, I did miss some questions when the next answer was given away and you can't go back.

Many of the standalone questions were things I had not heard of -like some kinds of public health programs and lots of theory/therapy questions. It didn't really test a wide range of topics -there were many questions that kept testing the same therapy or disease.

Anyone still in fellowship? The program director would easily be able to tell us the pass rate for last year's child cert exam -they are emailed that info.

 

[BCqueen]

Thanks to all for responding!! (I was beginning to think there weren't any child psych fellows or new graduates on this board!) I agree with all that was said, in the vignettes you could only choose 1 answer which was different from the Adult cert exam. I thought the videos and vignettes were doable. The stand alone had a ton of statistics, family therapy, attachment theory, and neuroanatomy questions-- at least they stuck out to me by I didn't readily know the answers!

I looked at the ABPN site and it looks like the pass rate in for Child Boards in 2010 was about 89-90% (in contrast to adult boards which was 70% or so). I'm hoping for the best!! Best of luck to all and thanks again for the comments!

 

[NJWxMan]

Can you supply a link to adult pass rates? I can't find that information anywhere. I was able to find the MOC pass rates, however.

 

[Wilf]

Don't fool yourself...jobs in child are about who you know; not your board cert. Your jaw would drop if you knew some of the NE senior caps and administrators that don't know what abpn is.

I always hear that there is such a shortage of child psychiatrists. Why is hard to get a job in child?

 

[billypilgrim37]

I always hear that there is such a shortage of child psychiatrists. Why is hard to get a job in child?

It's not hard to get a job. It is a little harder to find a job that a human being would actually want to do.

 

[southpsych]

So glad that everyone had the same situation with the one response for the vignette questions...I seriously feared that I failed the exam because of only putting one answer per question.

The test did surprise me on how much psyotherapy theory was on it. Not surprised about genetics. A lot of public health stuff too.

Hope that the high pass rate remains that way since 2010. Last year was the first time it was all computerized, right? Anyone know the pass rate from that?

 

[jokerabc]

Are we really going to have to wait 12 weeks for this result? I believe the adult psych boards came in 2 months last year?

I never found out the child board pass rate from last year.

 

[jokerabc]

Scores came out earlier than I thought!

 

[Shikima]

Scores came out earlier than I thought!

How did you find out?

 

[Chimed]

Anyone who took the Child boards have anymore advice for how to study? I have one month to prep.