Does PRITE correlate with the ABPN board certification exam?

[peppy]

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I am getting anxious now that the time for the board exam is approaching.
I always did well on the PRITE. Does getting a good score on the PRITE actually correlate to passing the real exam in your experience? Or are they really quite different?

 

[splik]

I have heard that the PRITE had good correlation with the first two sections old board exams. However the current PRITE people say that the PRITE is not a good measure of how people do on the ABPN exam. In general if you did well on the PRITE you will be fine, but essentially doing poorly on the PRITE doesn't necessarily correlate with performance on the ABPN exam. This is partly because people don't study for the PRITE, partly because the PRITE is supposed to test people at a range of different levels, whereas the ABPN is an exit/minimum competency exam, and partly because the ABPN keep the contents of the board exam secret so even if the PRITE wanted to closely mirror the ABPN exam they are reliant on what test-takers say was on it. Also now there are all those videos, and the PRITE doesn't yet have a video component, though it will do in the future. The videos have much more distracting information than just a written vignette which means people are more likely to get them wrong.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

There have been published studies correlating PRITE performance to "old" Part I board performance on the psychiatry (but not neurology) exams, but as above, no demonstrated link with the new exam as yet. (But no shocker, good test takers tend to do well on tests....)

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I have heard that the PRITE had good correlation with the first two sections old board exams. However the current PRITE people say that the PRITE is not a good measure of how people do on the ABPN exam. In general if you did well on the PRITE you will be fine, but essentially doing poorly on the PRITE doesn't necessarily correlate with performance on the ABPN exam. This is partly because people don't study for the PRITE, partly because the PRITE is supposed to test people at a range of different levels, whereas the ABPN is an exit/minimum competency exam, and partly because the ABPN keep the contents of the board exam secret so even if the PRITE wanted to closely mirror the ABPN exam they are reliant on what test-takers say was on it. Also now there are all those videos, and the PRITE doesn't yet have a video component, though it will do in the future. The videos have much more distracting information than just a written vignette which means people are more likely to get them wrong.

I'm curious where you heard this from regarding the videos. Those of us in the board certification discussion (see above -- I'm thinking stickies are paradoxical -- people see them less) are talking about the videos, and it seems like a big unknown. I know you haven't taken the examination yet. Did you get some information from other sources about the videos? As they're essentially impossible to study for due to their newness/unknown nature, I'm assuming people who would otherwise pass (people who do well on PRITE, people who studied adequately) will pass with or without the videos. Maybe you have some information indicating that's a bad assumption?

Other point, I am hoping we all get directed to that sticky above because it would be nice to have a condensed space to discuss this exam.

Last thought, does ABPN want to keep content secret? Why? As a test taker, I think I should be able to use PRITE as a meaningful study tool and indicator of performance on the board exam.

 

[slappy]

I'm thinking stickies are paradoxical -- people see them less

Hence why stickies should ideally be only used as a collection of important information that people can contribute to and refer, rather than a platform for discussion. It is most efficient in the former guise. The first few posts on that sticky were spot-on, but then the thread lost its track. You should create an "Official 2014 Boards Discussion" thread and have your discussion there.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Hence why stickies should ideally be only used as a collection of important information that people can contribute to and refer, rather than a platform for discussion. It is most efficient in the former guise. The first few posts on that sticky were spot-on, but then the thread lost its track. You should create an "Official 2014 Boards Discussion" thread and have your discussion there.

You know, I was thinking the same thing. Of course I should also wait until after boards to do it ...

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I am getting anxious now that the time for the board exam is approaching.
I always did well on the PRITE. Does getting a good score on the PRITE actually correlate to passing the real exam in your experience? Or are they really quite different?

I'm there with you in lots of ways. I'm trying to tell myself that most people pass. So your odds are already good before you add in doing well on PRITE. My program set the expectation for residents for PRITE that we score in the 30% percentile or higher on the psychiatry section based on something (I think there's a study that's been cited here before) that people who do that well have good odds of passing the boards.

 

[chameleonknight]

The ABPN exam was different from the PRITE but not really harder. It is very, very broad. You will likely see 2-3 questions on every possible topic in psych. 🙂 good luck!

 

[TexasPhysician]

And worse come to worse, just retake next year. Isn't worst case scenario just paying another $2500 and taking 1 day off from work next year?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

And worse come to worse, just retake next year. Isn't worst case scenario just paying another $2500 and taking 1 day off from work next year?

Yes, true. I think people who fail once are much more likely to fail, though. Also, the embarrassment. Doesn't your program see who passes and who doesn't, so it's not like a total secret either. Again, not really that important, but it's there.

Personally, I think failing would be a big confidence blow for me. Sure, I'd get over it, but it'd still suck and cost me more than $2500 and a day of work. And I really don't want to study for this thing again.

Are you taking it next week?

 

[chameleonknight]

You guys won't fail. Everyone passed that I know of, and I barely studied

 

[Shikima]

I feel it's more of an exercise in test taking skills than actual knowledge. Sure, there will be questions which are straight up rote knowledge and if I miss it, it falls on me.

I just wish they'd be up front and ask for $5k and we'll be done with this.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Yes, true. I think people who fail once are much more likely to fail, though. Also, the embarrassment. Doesn't your program see who passes and who doesn't, so it's not like a total secret either.

Yes--and we're usually not surprised...

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Yes--and we're usually not surprised...

Usually not surprised now.
Never surprised with the old Part I, surprised fairly frequently with the old Oral boards. When I examined, I felt like it was valid, or at least it felt like I could tell who knew what they were doing and who didn’t, but a lot of good people choked on it. Everyone thought they failed after they took it. The only guy I know who was sure he passed, failed.

 

[liquidshadow22]

whats the consensus these days, is the actual board exam anything like the PRITE?

 

[Shufflin]

whats the consensus these days, is the actual board exam anything like the PRITE?

I recently took the board exam and I have to warn you that they are nothing alike. The PRITE kicks your ass. Every year I felt run over by a steamroller after each PRITE exam, the questions are hard, there's lots of stuff you've never seen on there or heard of.

The board exam is not designed to karate chop your butt, but to make sure you have a fair knowledge of psychiatry EXCEPT for the Neurology questions where you either know your Neuro or you will fail. I know someone who failed and they didn't know their Neuro.

So no! They are different beasts. PRITE is definitely much harder! and fellowships look at your scores! (they asked for mine)

 

[Shufflin]

... and to make matters worse, the PRITE is scored based on how your peers across the country do. So not only is it a difficult test, but those who don't study are doubly penalized because you're ranked against others (favoring those who do study for it). So it's a double punch.

 

[liquidshadow22]

is there much straight up clinical neurology on the actual board exam ? The prite to me didnt have too much straight up clinical neurology, maybe 20-30 questions, most of the neuro on the PRITE had some psychiatric/behavioral tinge to it.

also any recommendations for books? Do you think doing the kenny and spiegel + K/S question review book (2011 version) would be enough for boards?

 

[futuredo32]

I didn't study for the boards the first time I took them because I had done really well on 3 out of 4 Prites. BIG mistake. They are VERY different. I am taking it for the third time. Last year I studied like crazy and failed, it was kind of a WTF exam, it took forever to score, it was the first year it was DSM 5. The year prior I would definitely call it a fair exam.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

Probably the biggest leap towards making the board easier was changing the scoring so that neuro and psych are combined into one score. Now you can make up for bad neuro with good psych and visa versa. Go ahead and read the articles faculty give you, but don't forget to read a text book at some point during training.

 

[Merovinge]

is there much straight up clinical neurology on the actual board exam ? The prite to me didnt have too much straight up clinical neurology, maybe 20-30 questions, most of the neuro on the PRITE had some psychiatric/behavioral tinge to it.

also any recommendations for books? Do you think doing the kenny and spiegel + K/S question review book (2011 version) would be enough for boards?

I'm a couple years out but the neurology was extremely fair, basically every question had a behavioral slant to it. I don't want to mention the time I spent memorizing medualary stroke syndromes (which I have 100% forgot as of now)...

 

[futuredo32]

There have been published studies correlating PRITE performance to "old" Part I board performance on the psychiatry (but not neurology) exams, but as above, no demonstrated link with the new exam as yet. (But no shocker, good test takers tend to do well on tests....)

This was so the opposite for me. I did really well on 3 of 4 prites (I was super ill for my PGY 4 one) and unfortunately I thought that because I did well on the Prites I didn't need to study much for the first time I took it. But I think for me, there was no stress for the Prite exam. For my first program no bonus or penalty. 2nd program, if you did amazing you could get an extra day or two off . For the boards, it DOES matter and my performance anxiety kicks in.
One resident in my second program memorized the old Prites and got almost perfect scores.