Inservice exam resources

Started by hopemedbound
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hopemedbound

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Hey guys,

To my fellow interns/residents, I know that the inservice exam is a cool four months away. However, test-taking skills are not my best area. Don't get me wrong, I study hard and can hold my own, but I was wondering if anyone had any resources, websites or books that they could recommend to a fellow EM intern to sharpen up specifically on test taking skills. I'd really appreciate any help!

Thanks!

P.S. Fourth year med students, enjoy the last year as much as you can, and good luck!
 
Its been a few years isnce I toook the inservice, but I definately just used PEER exams, it was PEER VI when I used it. I now have PEER VII installed on the computer in my basement which I rarely use. Its a pretty good review and looks identical to #6. I am using it only for the CME credit.

Q
 
What do the more senior attendings (those who have passed boards) have to say about the relation between inservice & actual boards? If inservice exams went fine, should one just relax & take the test, study as hrad as he did or didn't in residency, study much harder, etc...?

thanks in advance
 
docB said:
PEER VII. It's a book of board type questions published by ACEP. It's really good review.

http://secure2.acep.org/BookStore/p...al-review-in-emergency-medicine-volume-7.aspx
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Thanks for the info docB, I'll definitely look into PEER.

However, I was looking for more of a resource on test-taking in general, not necessarily for the inservice exam in particular. Something to get me up to par with the folks that are naturally excellent test-takers (no matter what the subject)

thanks in advance!
 
hopemedbound said:
Thanks for the info docB, I'll definitely look into PEER.

However, I was looking for more of a resource on test-taking in general, not necessarily for the inservice exam in particular. Something to get me up to par with the folks that are naturally excellent test-takers (no matter what the subject)

thanks in advance!
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That's a tough one. Princeton review and Kaplan an so on teach a lot of test taking strategies for lower level tests like the SAT. Once you get to board exams though it's more about knowledge than tricks. That said there are some pointers to keep in mind:

-Be wary of answers that use words like "always" or "never." If you can think of even one exception to that statement then it's wrong.
-If any answer is not true you can exclude it and "all of the above." For many questions that means you eliminated 2 possibilities right off.
-Board qustions love make you answer a question by making two steps in reasoning. For example they will set you up with "You have a 25 year old smoking, post partum woman with unilateral leg swelling who presents with tachycardia, tachypnea and pleuritic chest pain." They won't ask you to say what you think it is. They'll ask you what test you should order to evaluate it.
-If there's an image like an ultrasound or xray and it's abnormal it's not subtle. The reproduction is not of the quality that they can expect you to see minute detail. If there's free fluind in Morrison's pouch it'll be obvious. They're really big on the two step bit with the images. They'll never ask if you see the free fluid. They'll ask what dispostion you should make for the patient (eg. send to OR).
-There are a lot of code words in EM and on the boards. For example if they say "tender at McBurney's point" they want you to consider appy. That might not be the answer depending on what else is going on in the question but they want you thinking about it. Here are some more:
pleuritic chest pain = PE
suden onset of worst headache of life = SAH
painless jaundice = pancreatic head tumor or biliary CA
and so on.
 
Apollyon said:
I just pictured Caesar and Cicero rolling over in their respective graves after that slight mangling of Roman numerals.

Seems there's a bit of a dearth of Latin erudition here in the EM forum (along with "agnosium" from the recent past).
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We have some very erudite Latin scholars, thank you very much! Some of us spent 4 years of college studying dead languages and history. I do fondly remember agnosium as well as a few other classics.
 
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