Official ABIM Exam/study tools thread!

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Hi,
I am looking for a study partner for the ABIM. I am taking the Certification test in August 2017. We can Skype or something to make sure we are on track with our individual schedules. Please let me know.
 
What about IM subspecialties board exams??? I heard those are brutal :O
 
PurpleMD said:
Hi,
I am looking for a study partner for the ABIM. I am taking the Certification test in August 2017. We can Skype or something to make sure we are on track with our individual schedules. Please let me know.
Click to expand...
Hi,
I am looking for a study partner too. Let me know when u want to start/
 
Hey! I am looking for a study partner. Please reply if interested.
 
Hi,
New to this forum..glad I found one..had given my exam in 2012,failed ..taking my exam after 5 years..I had Som personal prob so out of practice for almost 5yrs n out of USA too.
Please guide me other then U world,myxsap ,basic board review book ,awesome review..anything else to b done..thanks
 
hey ppl how are you guys using board basics (by MKSAP) for ABIM exam - mindless reading is not sticking? Any tips on how to utilize board basics book better? Thanks
 
realized i posted in wrong thread

Anyone using board basics- i'm trying to read through it but just not sticking - feel like i'm just mindlessly reading. Any tips on how to utilize board basics? thanks
 
drake19 said:
realized i posted in wrong thread

Anyone using board basics- i'm trying to read through it but just not sticking - feel like i'm just mindlessly reading. Any tips on how to utilize board basics? thanks
Click to expand...


I made flashcards out of it. Didnt end up going through the 500+ cards before the exam, but writing it out really helped it stick
 
drake19 said:
realized i posted in wrong thread

Anyone using board basics- i'm trying to read through it but just not sticking - feel like i'm just mindlessly reading. Any tips on how to utilize board basics? thanks
Click to expand...

A better idea is to do the MKSAP questions and read the relevant MKSAP text associated with them as you go along.
 
Is anyone using the medstudy videos/syllabus/core curriculum/audio full kit? Just wondering how you get through everything!


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Are there questions on the the boards with references in the stems like mksap? Some of those questions are basically unanswerable unless you've read a paper that is only a year old in a highly specific field so I'm unsure if they're trying to test my abstract reading skills or if it genuinely thinks 10 month old subspecialty study data is fair game on this test.
 
chessknt87 said:
Are there questions on the the boards with references in the stems like mksap? Some of those questions are basically unanswerable unless you've read a paper that is only a year old in a highly specific field so I'm unsure if they're trying to test my abstract reading skills or if it genuinely thinks 10 month old subspecialty study data is fair game on this test.
Click to expand...
Yup. Not many of them though.
 
chessknt87 said:
Are there questions on the the boards with references in the stems like mksap? Some of those questions are basically unanswerable unless you've read a paper that is only a year old in a highly specific field so I'm unsure if they're trying to test my abstract reading skills or if it genuinely thinks 10 month old subspecialty study data is fair game on this test.
Click to expand...
I don't remember any with references in the stem on last years test. There were some bizarrely specific questions on the real thing though. I like to assume they're experimental and move on.
 
Looking for a serious study partner to go through MKSAP with for board prep. Send a message my way if you are interested!
 
How reflective are Uworld questions of the real deal? I'm scoring in the high 80s percentile-wise and about halfway through the bank, and don't really plan on using any other resource to study. Sufficient or am I nuts? Thanks.

Edit: Seems I was a bit hasty in posting my question before browsing the thread more thoroughly! Think I'll finish UWorld and get through as much MKSAP as possible. Any thoughts on MedStudy videos?
 
Does anyone know which test bank format (not question style but interface itself, including buttons etc) most closely represents ABIM exam?
 
MKSAP 16 vs MKSAP 17?
BB3 vs BB4?

I have MKSAP 16 and BB3. Do you think it is worth getting MKSAP 17 and BB4?
 
I've went through MKSAP 17 once and reading BB3 going along. Is UWorld a good approximation of the test to invest in in addition to repeating missed MKSAP questions? I've heard/read mixed reviews. Thanks!
 
Vigileo said:
I've went through MKSAP 17 once and reading BB3 going along. Is UWorld a good approximation of the test to invest in in addition to repeating missed MKSAP questions? I've heard/read mixed reviews. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I am of the opinion that for the average-->good test taker, one Q bank is enough. MKSAP and UWorld are different and I don't think either of them is "better" per se.

If you used my advice (repeated 8 or 173 times in this thread alone) to take a pre-test in every subject area and then do focused study in the areas that you score <75% in, followed by a full-on re-test, you should be fine. If you've got CME money burning a hole in your PD's pocket, then by all means, spend some on another Q bank. But you probably don't need one.
 
Vigileo said:
I've went through MKSAP 17 once and reading BB3 going along. Is UWorld a good approximation of the test to invest in in addition to repeating missed MKSAP questions? I've heard/read mixed reviews. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I did most of both and felt that while Uworld is harder than the real thing, MKSAP is easier. Neither was that expensive (especially compared to the board review courses some of my coresidents took) and it gave me some peace of mind to get some variety.
 
jackson292292 said:
Are there any ABIM practice exams available?
Click to expand...
There are plenty of ABIM-like study resources with exams out there. They're talked about ad nauseum in this thread (where I moved your post). Have a look around.

If you're asking if ABIM publishes official "sample" exams, the answer is no.
 
Raryn said:
I did most of both and felt that while Uworld is harder than the real thing, MKSAP is easier. Neither was that expensive (especially compared to the board review courses some of my coresidents took) and it gave me some peace of mind to get some variety.
Click to expand...

Why is MKsap easier? It comes from ABIM. You'd expect it to be spot on, no easier, no harder, right?

When you say UWorld is harder: in what way is it harder? Are they nitpicking things, just to seem harder and thus more respectable as a product? Or are the questions made harder to drive home a relevant point? (I'd hope for the latter)
 
I found MKSAP questions much more straight forward. No tricks. Just tests whether you know your stuff.

UWorld throws a lot of information in each question stem, some meant to throw you off, others meant to be the key that clenches the answer. It requires a lot more synthesis of a bunch of information and interpreting that information. Knowing your stuff isn't always enough to get the answer right. Requires a bit of examanship and clinical judgement.
 
DrMetal said:
Why is MKsap easier? It comes from ABIM. You'd expect it to be spot on, no easier, no harder, right?

When you say UWorld is harder: in what way is it harder? Are they nitpicking things, just to seem harder and thus more respectable as a product? Or are the questions made harder to drive home a relevant point? (I'd hope for the latter)
Click to expand...
ACP (which publishes MKSAP) and ABIM are not the same organizations. Sure, they both "represent" internists...and they both have A(merican) in their acronym(name). But they're not the same.

ABIM does not publish study questions.

I didn't use UW since I got MKSAP for free and I happen to think that if you can't pass one of these exams using one well-rounded study resource, the problem most likely doesn't lie with the resource.
 
Anri of Astora said:
I found MKSAP questions much more straight forward. No tricks. Just tests whether you know your stuff.

UWorld throws a lot of information in each question stem, some meant to throw you off, others meant to be the key that clenches the answer. It requires a lot more synthesis of a bunch of information and interpreting that information. Knowing your stuff isn't always enough to get the answer right. Requires a bit of examanship and clinical judgement.
Click to expand...
The actual exam is more on the straightforward side with the occasional curveball.

I suspect that either one of these (I wasn't dumb enough to pay for one them, let alone 2...I got MKSAP for free) is more than enough.
 
gutonc said:
The actual exam is more on the straightforward side with the occasional curveball.

I suspect that either one of these (I wasn't dumb enough to pay for one them, let alone 2...I got MKSAP for free) is more than enough.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input. I was fortunate to have my program pay for Uworld so will probably just stick with that.
Any thoughts on review courses? They seem nice just for a refresher on major IM topics but wondering if there is much utility for ABIM prep.
 
Anri of Astora said:
Thanks for the input. I was fortunate to have my program pay for Uworld so will probably just stick with that.
Any thoughts on review courses? They seem nice just for a refresher on major IM topics but wondering if there is much utility for ABIM prep.
Click to expand...
I had friends that swore by awesomereview. I don't consider it worth the time/money personally, but perhaps if you struggled on the ITEs in residency...
 
Are ITEs good predictors? I scored >90 percentile in all my three years, but never gave them much thought. I'm from a Canadian residency program where our board exam is significantly different from the ABIM.
 
Anri of Astora said:
Are ITEs good predictors? I scored >90 percentile in all my three years, but never gave them much thought. I'm from a Canadian residency program where our board exam is significantly different from the ABIM.
Click to expand...
If you score >30th percentile in your second year, you have something like a >95% PPV for passing the ABIM exam. There's actually a nomogram from cleveland clinic floating around on the internet if you want more detail than that.
 
Does anyone happen to have the Awesome board review notes? I hear this is the best board review course out there but I don't have the chance to go to the actual review course.
 
Chjo34 said:
Does anyone happen to have the Awesome board review notes? I hear this is the best board review course out there but I don't have the chance to go to the actual review course.
Click to expand...

I don't, sorry.

Interested in getting this thread going again, if anyone else is studying for boards right now. I've been studying since March because of a bunch of personal obligations coming up over the next two months (including giving birth, NBD, haha).

1) Would be interested in knowing other peoples' study schedules if anyone cares to share (?)
2) I'm still using MKSAP 16 because that's what I ended up having access to, but I wonder how much the content changes each year (?) - open to speculation or actual data, haha. I think I'll have time to go through UWorld as well.
3) Has anyone used the MedStudy flashcards? I might find it in me to shell out another $200 if anyone has used it (or heard of others using it) with good results, but I'm on the fence about it.

I see a lot of people like the Awesome Review Course, but I can't find it in me to travel somewhere else to study for boards (especially at the end of my pregnancy and especially for a company with a website that looks like a 6th grader designed it. seriously, they need new web designers).
 
hopefuloncologist said:
I don't, sorry.

Interested in getting this thread going again, if anyone else is studying for boards right now. I've been studying since March because of a bunch of personal obligations coming up over the next two months (including giving birth, NBD, haha).

1) Would be interested in knowing other peoples' study schedules if anyone cares to share (?)
2) I'm still using MKSAP 16 because that's what I ended up having access to, but I wonder how much the content changes each year (?) - open to speculation or actual data, haha. I think I'll have time to go through UWorld as well.
3) Has anyone used the MedStudy flashcards? I might find it in me to shell out another $200 if anyone has used it (or heard of others using it) with good results, but I'm on the fence about it.

I see a lot of people like the Awesome Review Course, but I can't find it in me to travel somewhere else to study for boards (especially at the end of my pregnancy and especially for a company with a website that looks like a 6th grader designed it. seriously, they need new web designers).
Click to expand...

I'm a slow burn kind of studier so I slowly started doing UWorld questions in Jan/Feb and annotating into BB 4. I am taking the test mid Aug and only have about 50 UWorld questions to go. I'm at 75% correct now but have quite a few sections where I'm < 70% - endo, heme/onc (unfortunately UWrodl doesn't separate heme and onc). I don't like the MKSAP style of questions but am between trying to bang out the MKSAP questions and read the corresponding section in BB or just doing multiple passes of BB with the annotations I already have. Any thoughts?

I would prb get the updated MKSAP, although it's likely 95% similar to 16.
I'm personally not using MedStudy or any flashcards, just not my style. No course for me either.

Something I thought was interesting is if you look at the breakdown on the ABIM website, 10% of the test should be a combo of HTN (plus secondary causes like RAS or Cushing's) + obstructive airway diseases (2.5%) + cough/dyspnea/hemoptysis (2.5%).
 
kdhmed said:
I'm a slow burn kind of studier so I slowly started doing UWorld questions in Jan/Feb and annotating into BB 4. I am taking the test mid Aug and only have about 50 UWorld questions to go. I'm at 75% correct now but have quite a few sections where I'm < 70% - endo, heme/onc (unfortunately UWrodl doesn't separate heme and onc). I don't like the MKSAP style of questions but am between trying to bang out the MKSAP questions and read the corresponding section in BB or just doing multiple passes of BB with the annotations I already have. Any thoughts?

I would prb get the updated MKSAP, although it's likely 95% similar to 16.
I'm personally not using MedStudy or any flashcards, just not my style. No course for me either.

Something I thought was interesting is if you look at the breakdown on the ABIM website, 10% of the test should be a combo of HTN (plus secondary causes like RAS or Cushing's) + obstructive airway diseases (2.5%) + cough/dyspnea/hemoptysis (2.5%).
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding to my post! Yeah, interesting about the breakdown.

I just started UWorld having finished MKSAP 16 and I think UWorld is definitely more challenging and each question teaches more concepts, so UWorld is decidedly a better study tool. FWIW, I'm going over the questions I got wrong on MKSAP now and it seems like my retention is good (I'm now getting >80% of the questions correct that I originally missed). I think taking time to go over the questions I missed is helpful.

I originally got about 65% of MKSAP questions right, but after finishing MKSAP, I'm getting about 75% of UWorld questions right now. I'd like to have a better margin of passing than that if I can since I will have a 5 week old newborn when I take the test and I'm sure I'll be totally sleep deprived which I expect will lower my score significantly. I'm going to try to go over my missed UWorld questions as well.

I have a TEENY tiny attention span for questions so I just do them one at a time and try to get what I can from them; annotating was never a skill I was able to master consistently. I couldn't read my writing at the end, for one thing. But if annotating works for you then that's great. I have to be actively asked questions to learn things, for the most part.
 
BTW, GI is decidedly my worst area by a significant margin. Go figure, I didn't think I was so bad at it. Somehow I'm rocking the derm sections. Makes NO sense. Oh well.
 
hopefuloncologist said:
BTW, GI is decidedly my worst area by a significant margin. Go figure, I didn't think I was so bad at it. Somehow I'm rocking the derm sections. Makes NO sense. Oh well.
Click to expand...

I've got a two year old on this end so I hear ya. I think I'll take your advice and probably re-do the missed questions through UWorld and then just focus on BB and corresponding MKSAP. I'm pretty strong in GI, if you could just impart some of that heme/onc knowledge....(heme questions have been pretty challenging....)
 
hopefuloncologist said:
BTW, GI is decidedly my worst area by a significant margin. Go figure, I didn't think I was so bad at it. Somehow I'm rocking the derm sections. Makes NO sense. Oh well.
Click to expand...

For some reason I got logged in under an old account, but that's me above.
 
hopefuloncologist said:
I don't, sorry.

Interested in getting this thread going again, if anyone else is studying for boards right now. I've been studying since March because of a bunch of personal obligations coming up over the next two months (including giving birth, NBD, haha).

1) Would be interested in knowing other peoples' study schedules if anyone cares to share (?)
2) I'm still using MKSAP 16 because that's what I ended up having access to, but I wonder how much the content changes each year (?) - open to speculation or actual data, haha. I think I'll have time to go through UWorld as well.
3) Has anyone used the MedStudy flashcards? I might find it in me to shell out another $200 if anyone has used it (or heard of others using it) with good results, but I'm on the fence about it.

I see a lot of people like the Awesome Review Course, but I can't find it in me to travel somewhere else to study for boards (especially at the end of my pregnancy and especially for a company with a website that looks like a 6th grader designed it. seriously, they need new web designers).
Click to expand...

1) I've been reading the MKSAP books (one per week) for the bigger topics per the ABIM Blueprints percentage (so, cards, endo, pulm, GI, ID, and rheum) and making flash cards from them using ankiapp for easy list type questions or just straight memorization topics. Probaby not the most efficient way, but I did really crappy on the ITEs and I had the time, so that's what I decided. Along the way, doing the MKSAP and UWorld questions. For the remainder of the subjects just gonna stick with BB.
2) I doubt there's much difference between MKSAP 16 and 17 to make a difference for passing or failing, but I have MKSAP 17.
3) I have the MedStudy flashcards. I think they're good for just a general pattern recognition (for instance, a rheum one just flat out says "pregnant patient presents with pain over the radial wrist and hand, worse when pinching or grabbing, and positive Finkelstein test - the backside has the dx/labs/tx) but probably not that great for just rapid fire stuff like antibodies or things like that.

Just my two cents. 🙂
 
Last edited:
zephyrhills123 said:
1) I've been reading the MKSAP books (one per week) for the bigger topics per the ABIM Blueprints percentage (so, cards, endo, pulm, GI, ID, and rheum) and making flash cards from them using ankiapp for easy list type questions or just straight memorization topics. Probaby not the most efficient way, but I did really crappy on the ITEs and I had the time, so that's what I decided. Along the way, doing the MKSAP and UWorld questions. For the remainder of the subjects just gonna stick with BB.
2) I doubt there's much difference between MKSAP 16 and 17 to make a difference for passing or failing, but I have MKSAP 17.
3) I have the MedStudy flashcards. I think they're good for just a general pattern recognition (for instance, a rheum one just flat out says "pregnant patient presents with pain over the radial wrist and hand, worse when pinching or grabbing, and positive Finkelstein test - the backside has the dx/labs/tx) but probably not that great for just rapid fire stuff like antibodies or things like that.

Just my two cents. 🙂
Click to expand...

Thanks for responding. I did pretty crappy on my ITEs too (although I'm not sure how much of that was due to my significant lack of effort since we were told they didn't count...and let's face it, I wanted to get out of there and go home).

I appreciate your thoughts on the MedStudy flashcards and MSKAP 16 vs 17.
 
Are there any self-assessment tests like NBMEs for the steps?

Thanks
 
Gastrin said:
Are there any self-assessment tests like NBMEs for the steps?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I found something online googling "ABIM Practice test" (by "Mometrix Test Preparation") but I am not aware that this or any other source has been widely used or validated. Definitely interested if others have heard of such a thing.
 
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