I will be a PGY-1 this July. Granted this will vary due to individual preference, but how would you prepare for boards if you could do it again? General or specific suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
How would you study if you could do it again?
- Thread starter DaSein77
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Depends on your program, IMO. If you do a lot of subspecialty signout in 1st & 2nd year, then in a way it's easier because you can focus your study more system by system. I found it difficult to maintain a regimen of reading through chapter by chapter since most texts are separated by system, when my signout was all over the place -- colon, prostate, kidney, GI biopsies, H&N, etc. etc. -- and I felt like I also needed to read up on each of those as they came up. At the end of 3-4 years it does even out. I ended up feeling more settled in reading chapter by chapter / system by system in 3rd and 4th year, but by then I had a decent grip on the common stuff we saw in our program so didn't feel the need to bop around reading about every single new case.
If I had it to do over again.. I dunno, to be honest. Most of my early plans went in the trash after a couple months, and it wasn't until much later that I felt like the world slowed down enough to read in a more organized manner and beyond what I was seeing day to day. I guess I would take the first 2-3 weeks and try to figure out what the common specimens & entities are in that program, list them out, and read about those -- personally I preferred reading about things in the same system, and closely related entities, and reading the corresponding stuff in 2 or 3 different books. The sooner you can get a good grip on the common things that you actually are seeing, the sooner you can spend time on the less common and more difficult things that may take longer to get a grip on. But every program is different and many people learn differently, so one size does not fit all.
If I had it to do over again.. I dunno, to be honest. Most of my early plans went in the trash after a couple months, and it wasn't until much later that I felt like the world slowed down enough to read in a more organized manner and beyond what I was seeing day to day. I guess I would take the first 2-3 weeks and try to figure out what the common specimens & entities are in that program, list them out, and read about those -- personally I preferred reading about things in the same system, and closely related entities, and reading the corresponding stuff in 2 or 3 different books. The sooner you can get a good grip on the common things that you actually are seeing, the sooner you can spend time on the less common and more difficult things that may take longer to get a grip on. But every program is different and many people learn differently, so one size does not fit all.
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I am many years out but my advice is to read about your cases, study something every day, and if your program does didactics, prepare for those. I would cover all of sternberg or rosai over the course of 4 years and read the clinical compendium by Mais. I am sure there are new review books out that i never used. But don't put off learning your new field. You can't cram for the boards IMO. I would also go over the item descriptors that the inservice exam sends out, the RISE is alot like the boards. Or used to be.
Thanks for the advice. My main objective is to do as much prep over the 4 years that it will only feel like review and not learning and cramming at the last minute. I guess I'll have to see how my residency (which does do subspecialty signout) does things and try to build the best study plan.
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This is a good way to do it. For me (an AP only guy), my plan was to figure out who the best few surg path attendings are, and did what I could to maximize my scope time with those people. For all the brown stains that are part of routine practice, the ABP AP exam, at least a few years ago, was overwhelmingly an H&E exam. See as much as you can, know the routine stuff really well, and try to recognize the characteristics zebras.
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Personally I think reading smaller books and knowing them very well is better than drowning in a large multi-volume text and getting little out of it.
I also think the over-arching concept is to keep doing -something- all the way through, but probably be flexible that first couple months as you figure out something that works for you in your circumstances. Avoid the trap of "well, this rotation is busy, so I'm just gonna get through my cases and read more next rotation..". There is absolutely utility in a lot of scope time though -- in other words, don't sacrifice preview time or scope time with someone helpful just because you feel you need to leave early to read, but don't eliminate reading time altogether either. Balance, grasshopper.
I also think the over-arching concept is to keep doing -something- all the way through, but probably be flexible that first couple months as you figure out something that works for you in your circumstances. Avoid the trap of "well, this rotation is busy, so I'm just gonna get through my cases and read more next rotation..". There is absolutely utility in a lot of scope time though -- in other words, don't sacrifice preview time or scope time with someone helpful just because you feel you need to leave early to read, but don't eliminate reading time altogether either. Balance, grasshopper.
