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I emailed abp for my section scaled report. I started out fine first 2 sections then last 2 bombed. I think it’s a stamina problem this year, which I didn’t have previous as they were steady
Ped boards 2022
- Thread starter theunderdog2017
- Start date
Unfortunately the board exam needs a lot of work to be done on the board it self. It does not make any sense that a difference between what the board consider a competent pediatrician (those who passed) and incompetent pediatrician on the eyes of the board (those who did not pass) one or two questions.
If you compare USMLE exams to the peds boards, the questions on the peds boards are very poorly written, test random facts that no pediatrician deals with on a daily basis, and I keep going on who bad the exam is forever.
Unfortunately, that fail rate has been always high because how poor the exam is and not because of the pediatricians who are taking it. Nothing was done about this for years and years. Program directors and leaders in the field have to really step up and inform the boards that this is just insane and has to stop.
If you compare USMLE exams to the peds boards, the questions on the peds boards are very poorly written, test random facts that no pediatrician deals with on a daily basis, and I keep going on who bad the exam is forever.
Unfortunately, that fail rate has been always high because how poor the exam is and not because of the pediatricians who are taking it. Nothing was done about this for years and years. Program directors and leaders in the field have to really step up and inform the boards that this is just insane and has to stop.
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I passed this time on my second attempt! I resonate with everyone in this journey and wanted to share mine if it is helpful. I got 173 last time and 194 this time. Please know you are not alone and you can persevere!
This year I realized how much taking into consideration the big picture of my life was. It is important to pause and ask ourselves the question: do I have the mental band width and energy to take this test this year. Consider all factors. It is ok to realize and take a step back when life outside of the test is overwhelming and you want to take it another year. I wish I did that my first attempt when life took over for me and limited my ability to both study effectively and on the test day.
In addition, this was my study strategy that worked for me. For my study materials, I know I am someone that has a hard time if I try too many study materials so I stuck to two:
1) PREP questions x 1 year
2) Medstudy prep questions - full bank, did timed mixed 84 question blocks each time and then studied each block. Started initially with 40 questions block timed and then studied and built stamina up to being able to do 84 question blocks. This honestly made a huge difference for me in building stamina. On test day, I wasn't nearly as tired as I was the first time I took the test because I practiced this way. Finished all questions 2 weeks before test. I started off scoring low 70s and by the end was averaging mid-80s.
Anki Cards, Bite-sized learning and Repetition: Whether I did PREP or Medstudy questions, I made anki cards to both process and then review to learn over time. The making of anki cards this time was really effective for me. When I got a question about that topic, I would review all the anki cards related to that topic when i review that question. This way I saw these materials again and again. What this did for me is that I was processing things in bite sized amounts.
Test taking strategy: I am not a good multiple choice test taker. I also found this really helpful to have a partner who coached me through what I was honestly doing when I got questions right and wrong. I realized when I saw a hard question I panicked and then just clicked something. My partner/coach (bless him) would tell me to pause, ask me what I did to answer the question and helped me develop a strategy of 1) making sure I slow down and read the question fully, read all of the answer choices and made sure I knew why was picking an answer and not picking another way. This act of slowing down decreased my anxiety but also helped me score better as a result. It didn't affect my pace and over time, I sped up. I definitely feel it is worth it to go through this process with each question to help with test taking skills.
Last year, when I hadn't passed, I really took 1 month away from test to just reflect honestly with myself about what had gone wrong and realized and wrote down my reflections. This helped me a lot to just take objective space from it.
I hope some of this is helpful! Know that you are not alone, this test is not easy and take it slow and steady to make a plan.
This year I realized how much taking into consideration the big picture of my life was. It is important to pause and ask ourselves the question: do I have the mental band width and energy to take this test this year. Consider all factors. It is ok to realize and take a step back when life outside of the test is overwhelming and you want to take it another year. I wish I did that my first attempt when life took over for me and limited my ability to both study effectively and on the test day.
In addition, this was my study strategy that worked for me. For my study materials, I know I am someone that has a hard time if I try too many study materials so I stuck to two:
1) PREP questions x 1 year
2) Medstudy prep questions - full bank, did timed mixed 84 question blocks each time and then studied each block. Started initially with 40 questions block timed and then studied and built stamina up to being able to do 84 question blocks. This honestly made a huge difference for me in building stamina. On test day, I wasn't nearly as tired as I was the first time I took the test because I practiced this way. Finished all questions 2 weeks before test. I started off scoring low 70s and by the end was averaging mid-80s.
Anki Cards, Bite-sized learning and Repetition: Whether I did PREP or Medstudy questions, I made anki cards to both process and then review to learn over time. The making of anki cards this time was really effective for me. When I got a question about that topic, I would review all the anki cards related to that topic when i review that question. This way I saw these materials again and again. What this did for me is that I was processing things in bite sized amounts.
Test taking strategy: I am not a good multiple choice test taker. I also found this really helpful to have a partner who coached me through what I was honestly doing when I got questions right and wrong. I realized when I saw a hard question I panicked and then just clicked something. My partner/coach (bless him) would tell me to pause, ask me what I did to answer the question and helped me develop a strategy of 1) making sure I slow down and read the question fully, read all of the answer choices and made sure I knew why was picking an answer and not picking another way. This act of slowing down decreased my anxiety but also helped me score better as a result. It didn't affect my pace and over time, I sped up. I definitely feel it is worth it to go through this process with each question to help with test taking skills.
Last year, when I hadn't passed, I really took 1 month away from test to just reflect honestly with myself about what had gone wrong and realized and wrote down my reflections. This helped me a lot to just take objective space from it.
I hope some of this is helpful! Know that you are not alone, this test is not easy and take it slow and steady to make a plan.
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Congrats to everyone who passed, and sincere condolences to the 1/4 who did not pass. As many others have said, the fact we have a board which has determined for years now that 20+% of pediatricians who completed residency are not competent is insane. FWIW, your day to celebrate will come.
There are several people who have commented that exam fatigue played a major role in failing. I'll offer a somewhat controversial opinion and suggest giving yourself little mental breaks even within the blocks. My personal opinion is that this is not a test where you really reason your way through questions--you ultimately know the material or you don't, and no matter how long you stare at a question you're not going to remember the difference between Pompe's disease and Hurler's disease. So if you determine that you don't know the answer to a question, just eliminate what you know is wrong, go with your gut, and move on. If you do not have a compelling reason, don't change your answer from your first inclination. Only mark questions where you really think there is something where you can reason your way to an answer if you give it some thought. Using this method, I would often finish the block somewhere between halfway and 2/3 through the allotted time. I would then force myself to take a restroom break even if I didn't need it just to clear my brain. I felt this helped me get much more out of the second pass, as I would be approaching the questions refreshed from getting out of the exam room for a few minutes. Review the marked questions first obviously. Then go through all the questions one more time just to make sure you didn't misclick or anything--again, unless you have a compelling Eureka moment, I would avoid the temptation to change answers that you aren't 100% sure on. I would usually complete the second pass with about 10-15 minutes to spare, and then I'd just end early.
I'll stress that I did NOT get the best score on my peds boards. But after being significantly below my peers on the ITE throughout residency, this method I feel like definitely helped me outperform my benchmarks on the real deal.
Again, good luck to everyone who got disappointing news today.
There are several people who have commented that exam fatigue played a major role in failing. I'll offer a somewhat controversial opinion and suggest giving yourself little mental breaks even within the blocks. My personal opinion is that this is not a test where you really reason your way through questions--you ultimately know the material or you don't, and no matter how long you stare at a question you're not going to remember the difference between Pompe's disease and Hurler's disease. So if you determine that you don't know the answer to a question, just eliminate what you know is wrong, go with your gut, and move on. If you do not have a compelling reason, don't change your answer from your first inclination. Only mark questions where you really think there is something where you can reason your way to an answer if you give it some thought. Using this method, I would often finish the block somewhere between halfway and 2/3 through the allotted time. I would then force myself to take a restroom break even if I didn't need it just to clear my brain. I felt this helped me get much more out of the second pass, as I would be approaching the questions refreshed from getting out of the exam room for a few minutes. Review the marked questions first obviously. Then go through all the questions one more time just to make sure you didn't misclick or anything--again, unless you have a compelling Eureka moment, I would avoid the temptation to change answers that you aren't 100% sure on. I would usually complete the second pass with about 10-15 minutes to spare, and then I'd just end early.
I'll stress that I did NOT get the best score on my peds boards. But after being significantly below my peers on the ITE throughout residency, this method I feel like definitely helped me outperform my benchmarks on the real deal.
Again, good luck to everyone who got disappointing news today.
I know how demotivating and devastating that is. I had similar experience and passed this time so there is hope!
I will share what resources I used and what I liked about each.
- Pediatric Board Study Guide: A Last Minute Review (book purchased on Amazon. Easy read and quick review of overall peds for beginning of studying. Also has a high yield section in back which was super helpful
- Med study videos - comes with a book with the slides. This was very helpful for me as I am a visual learner and Many speakers point out high yield items (quick to get through as you can adjust the speed). I would re listen to videos on my drive to and from work.
- PREP questions - finally decided to use them this time around and can attest to their credibility. I got the paper copy of last 3 yrs and went through almost all of the questions in each book (should be fine with 2 yrs too) Answer explanations are lengthy but you learn so much from them and helps reinforce topics. I would do questions at work between patients or break. This tool is more for learning NOT used as qbank
- Med study - only q bank used, it has few strange questions but overall felt like the best q bank (used true learn, njem, board vitals in past ). Saw few same questions on boards .
- Cleveland clinic board review: HIGHLY RECOMMEND! hands down a big reason I passed exam this time. It is a one week course, very fast pace and LONG excruciating days but the information presented is phenomenal and VERY high yield.
Hopefully this helps!
I passed first time with a score significantly higher than my average ITE score. My plan was sticking to one major qbank.
During 3rd year of residency, I did medstudy qbank to about 30% before giving up. I noticed medstudy qbank repeated a lot of questions and sometimes boring to me.
I also did about 1/3rd of PBR before I gave up due to boredom of textbooks.
I reached out to a senior colleague who did very well in boards who recommended “TrueLearn qbank for the ABP board certification”.
The questions were about 1400+. I did a 3 month subscription. This Qbank was extremely helpful and engaging. Each question was unique and testing every concepts in pediatrics similar to what I found in the board exams.
I took 9 days off work during my final weeks. During this time, I did the last two years of prep at one seating to help build stamina. Those prep questions helped a lot during the board. I reviewed some concept In TrueLearn qbank. Also watched medstudy videos on genetics, hematology, immunology, vaccines and metabolic for a refresher.
In summary the TrueLearn Qbank was the most helpful for my score on the boards.
During 3rd year of residency, I did medstudy qbank to about 30% before giving up. I noticed medstudy qbank repeated a lot of questions and sometimes boring to me.
I also did about 1/3rd of PBR before I gave up due to boredom of textbooks.
I reached out to a senior colleague who did very well in boards who recommended “TrueLearn qbank for the ABP board certification”.
The questions were about 1400+. I did a 3 month subscription. This Qbank was extremely helpful and engaging. Each question was unique and testing every concepts in pediatrics similar to what I found in the board exams.
I took 9 days off work during my final weeks. During this time, I did the last two years of prep at one seating to help build stamina. Those prep questions helped a lot during the board. I reviewed some concept In TrueLearn qbank. Also watched medstudy videos on genetics, hematology, immunology, vaccines and metabolic for a refresher.
In summary the TrueLearn Qbank was the most helpful for my score on the boards.
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Based on this^, the ABP was okay with passing rates of 87-91% in recent years until last year when it was 81%, and now it seems to have been 74%???
This is basically something theyre actively choosing to do by making these curves, right, or am I missing something???
Helloitsmebee
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Yes, it's bell curved 💲💲💲
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Medical mafia
It used to be a true curve where a set percent of people would fail every year. They changed it a few years back - now it's a set proficiency someone has to meet in advance and they say that in one year theoretically the pass rate could be anything from 0% to 100%. They explicitly say the performance of other candidates doesn't affect your score. I can't find it right now but this is all buried in the FAQs on the abp website.
If you look at the graphic they give of the score distribution it isn't a perfect bell curve - there are more low performers than high performers, and it is slightly skewed. That's why they describe the score median rather than an average.
If you look at the graphic they give of the score distribution it isn't a perfect bell curve - there are more low performers than high performers, and it is slightly skewed. That's why they describe the score median rather than an average.
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In all seriousness, first time test takers this year had their entire residency affected by COVID. Virtual lectures, seeing less cases, and general burn out from other life stressors. Yes ABP needs to revamp their tests, but consider this incredibly unique circumstance. As a first time test taker, I learned a lot about peds cases through study materials, which is not ideal. I hated virtual didactic, feeling isolated, and jealous of people working from home during a deadly pandemic. Say what you want about ABP trying to make money but ultimately our residency education failed us by not trying to find solutions to this, in my opinion, large deficit in residency experience during COVID.
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You basically hit it right on the nail with what the ABP says Exam Applicants FAQs | The American Board of Pediatrics
Additionally, this blog post from PBR in 2012 basically explains that in the relative olden days (pre-2012), the boards were formulated to ensure that 20-25% of pediatricians would fail (which is ridiculous). However, in 2012, the grading structure was changed so that now it's based off percentage correct (or meeting a defined competency level), and with that change, you saw an increase in passing percentages (80s-low 90s%).
ABP Pediatric Boards Pass Rate | Pediatric Board Review
The pediatric boards pass rate has been horrendously low in years past. With the latest scoring changes, that could be a thing of the past.
Basically, while I'm not saying test-taking metrics as a measure for proficiency is a good thing, I don't think the test was skewed to necessarily fail X amount of test-takers (as it had been a decade since the test was designed to be that way). More than likely, I think a lower passing rate reflects the interruption in training caused by a pandemic. At my hospital during the peak, the most common reason for admission was suicidal ideation awaiting psych placement, and we took turns not coming in during what were supposed to be busy inpatient rotations due to the low patient census and in the interest of not allowing an entire residency program to become vectors of disease transmission.
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This years first takers were interns through the 2019-2020 respiratory season before covid hit. That was a hellacious respiratory season numbers wise. There were less admissions during covid and less sick visits but a lot of the topics tested were still being seen as they are chronic diseases. As for didactics, we are all adult learners that strived to self study for the steps. The same goes for boards. A residency program lectures shouldn’t make or break your education. Everyone should be self learning. Which I’m confident residents were. It’s a testing issue
I was part of the class 1st affected by COVID. My program historically has abysmal board pass rates in 70-80s%. We advocated to our program director to no longer have a board study curriculum in our residency, as we wanted to self-study (these board lectures were awful & taught by headed-to-retirement attendings who could care less). For the 2022 boards, my class had an almost 100% pass rate, which is historical for my program & reflects the importance of self-study. Collectively, we used MedStudy & PBR +/- PREP & NEJM.
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I can't stop beating myself up, I can't believe I failed. It's been a hard 2 days.
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No particular insight, just sympathy and support. 25% or so failure rates are ridiculous, unsustainable and deeply damaging to the field. It must be changed for the sake of all of us. I just don't know how, other than resident groups and the like in the AAP making this a big issue for the AAP to take on with the ABP.
That makes sense! I felt exactly the same way last year. It’s normal to feel that way. And, it’s not your fault, and this happens to so many people who go on have successful clinical, research, and administrative/leadership careers.
One mentor told me - everyone has something they struggle with in medicine. Your thing is tests. That’s okay and what is important is what you do in response. Any leader that responds poorly to you trying to overcome this ****ty thing is a poor leader and that’s on them, not you. (Luckily, I received nothing but empathy and support).
Personally, it helped me to reach out to people who had failed previously (with the help of my prior residency and current fellowship director). Those people helped to normalize the failure and decrease the shame and guilt. I started counseling for anxiety, at first because it was so hard to even start studying again without feeling PTSD-like symptoms, and later, to help with some approaches to test taking anxiety.
Then, for me, it was helpful to have a game plan that I felt confident could be successful both personally and professionally. I was honest with a lot of people about the need to minimize prior commitments to free up any spare time. I saved vacation time for studying immediately before the test. I went to only essential social/family events. I wanted to never study for this particular test again.
It sucked. It was awful and humiliating and so costly. And I kept thinking, I need to do this because I’ve dreamed about being a pediatrician for decades. Plus, other people I mentor in the future will look to me when this happens to them and I need to practice what I preach and figure out how to feel confident and successful despite the boards failure.
You can do this. And it makes sense to feel terrible for awhile. It’ll get better.
This is an interesting idea. I don’t know if anyone here is currently a part of the AAP SOPT, but if so, that would be a topic to raise at their next monthly virtual meeting
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Yes we are all self directed learners, but to say that residency lectures shouldn't make or break your education is not true and gives license for programs to use residents like work horses "to learn" rather than have structured time to review textbook knowledge about a disease. I think it's sad that we use test prep to "know what a board certified" x should know but whatever. Medical students and residents will forever spend thousands of dollars to become a physician.
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I'm too humiliated to tell anyone, hoping I can pass next year without anyone finding out. I've always been weak at tests, but have never failed. I thought I studied pretty hard.
Of course do whatever is right for you! You don’t owe anyone this information. If you are still in training, your program director will likely find out, but that doesn’t mean you have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I had never failed anything either and I did study a lot the first year, which is what made it hurt so much. Personally, I had to figure out how to prepare a little differently. Good luck!
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Over worked is a different issue. Those are individual program issues. I don’t believe 1/4 of all residences aren’t preparing their residents adequately. I think every program has its issues but 1/4 of all programs are not failing to adequately train their residents. It’s a test issue
Omg - the humiliation is unreal! Having failed 3 times, I’m at a loss for words.
The PD at my residency program is now one of my former co-residents. So…knowing that he was notified of my failure made me feel even worse. It kinda made me want to crawl in a hole and disappear for a while.
Then I had a perspective shift - it’s just a dumb test. I will eventually pass it. I’ve been though so many more difficult things in life. If people want to judge me based on one test which is certainly not a reflection of the quality of physician I am, that’s their prerogative. After all, haters gonna hate.
Honestly, I’m done feeling embarrassed and humiliated in silence. I emailed my former co-resident/current PD this morning and just completely opened up about it all and asked for his advice. It was actually pretty liberating.
The test is the problem. We are not.
AirForce2022
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I've heard about PBR. I was wondering what part of the program your class used (i.e. books, test taking strategies, audio etc)? Also, what did you guys think about NEJM questions? Thanks!
gustavo7826
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Trust me, I think if AAP replaces ABP for examination for Boards, the exam will be in that case EXTREMELY BRUTAL.
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The humiliation surrounding all of this is terrible.I feel like garbage knowing that the intern to my senior class has passed and I still haven’t. I still can’t get over the 2 points. It kills me. It’s been a hard last few days.
I agree with you 100%. It is terrible.
I wish it were different. >25% of folks failed this year. We need to normalize failing this stupid thing, because if it happens to 1 in 4, it is normal. It’s NOT AT ALL a reflection of you as a doctor or a person.
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Sucks to not pass. However, the ABP, the AAP, etc… have no incentive to change anything.
Given that Prometric and ABP probably makes a sh-tton of money off all of this though, the best they could do is drastically reduce the cost so there isn’t the financial burden it is. Like most “education” in this country, it’s become a financial Ponzi scheme. Having a “time-limit” on retakes is also stupid and pointless.
Given that Prometric and ABP probably makes a sh-tton of money off all of this though, the best they could do is drastically reduce the cost so there isn’t the financial burden it is. Like most “education” in this country, it’s become a financial Ponzi scheme. Having a “time-limit” on retakes is also stupid and pointless.
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2 out of the 10 of used PBR. All 10 used the MedStudy QBank. 8 out of 10 used the MedStudy books with audio lecture +/- flashcards because of a great group discount. We also got a group discount on NEJM. Overall, we found their questions harder than MedStudy, but still as brief as the MedStudy ones similar to what’s actually on the boards. NEJM was great in asking nit-picky questions especially on vaccines, genetics, and IBEM.
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I agree that we should normalize failure. I think the truth is that people who don't accept failure, self select into the field of medicine
Yes, of course
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Anyone else keep checking to see if their score miraculously changed?
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Welp, results are public now
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What do you mean?
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You can now look people up to see if they are board certified
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I want to share my experience with how I passed the boards the second time.
My first score was a 165 and my second time was 182.
The first time, I realized I made many crucial errors:
- PBR was great, in that there is a multi-modal strategy of learning ( audio, video, text) and test-taking strategy lectures. I really wanted PBR to work for this reason but I realized that not much of the information was sticking and realized it’s because the explanations are not very detailed. Thus, it's hard to understand the concepts, and so the information most of the time reads like unconnected facts. Once I started looking at other material like MedStudy to understand the material, then it was easier to get back to PBR. So if you're looking at PBR after you have studied MedStudy or have a background knowledge of a topic, then it will make more sense.
- I bought into the narrative that PREP is not written by the same people that write the boards, and someone who passed the boards on their third try told me to not spend too much time on the explanations. So I didn't study from the explanations but saved the questions until the last minute to use as practice questions. I should have used the PREP questions to learn from because I ran out of time to solve them, and I think I only got through like 3 years worth of PREP questions out of the 6 years worth I had access to. Since I read online that 3 years worth of PREP is what you need, I thought I was fine.
- I solved the majority of the True Learn questions and 95% of MedStudy questions.
After I failed, I had to forget everyone else's advice and be honest with what my weaknesses were and figure out what I needed to pass.
I realized this youtube channel organized the pediatric information in a much more digestible way to me as it was organized clearly and the slides were well-organized diagrams. The videos are also by a primary care physician which is great because the exam covers general pediatrics and what a primary care physician should know about other specialties.
Then, I realized that PREP has the best explanations. So I organized as many PREP questions as I could get my hands on ( 6 years worth that covers my time in residency and afterwards), and organized them all by chapter. When I missed some questions on the ABP Practice test, I realized it's because I had not yet gone through all of the GI PREP questions. After reading through 6 years worth of questions on a topic, I felt like I had struck the right balance of information that I could not find in either MedStudy (too detailed) or PBR (too concise).I did skim through PBR again right before the exam, especially the chapters that contain information that is on more of a ‘you know it or you don’t basis’ like genetics, metabolism, developmental milestones, and looked over as much of the high yield information as I could.
Bottom line:
My first score was a 165 and my second time was 182.
The first time, I realized I made many crucial errors:
- PBR was great, in that there is a multi-modal strategy of learning ( audio, video, text) and test-taking strategy lectures. I really wanted PBR to work for this reason but I realized that not much of the information was sticking and realized it’s because the explanations are not very detailed. Thus, it's hard to understand the concepts, and so the information most of the time reads like unconnected facts. Once I started looking at other material like MedStudy to understand the material, then it was easier to get back to PBR. So if you're looking at PBR after you have studied MedStudy or have a background knowledge of a topic, then it will make more sense.
- I bought into the narrative that PREP is not written by the same people that write the boards, and someone who passed the boards on their third try told me to not spend too much time on the explanations. So I didn't study from the explanations but saved the questions until the last minute to use as practice questions. I should have used the PREP questions to learn from because I ran out of time to solve them, and I think I only got through like 3 years worth of PREP questions out of the 6 years worth I had access to. Since I read online that 3 years worth of PREP is what you need, I thought I was fine.
- I solved the majority of the True Learn questions and 95% of MedStudy questions.
After I failed, I had to forget everyone else's advice and be honest with what my weaknesses were and figure out what I needed to pass.
I realized this youtube channel organized the pediatric information in a much more digestible way to me as it was organized clearly and the slides were well-organized diagrams. The videos are also by a primary care physician which is great because the exam covers general pediatrics and what a primary care physician should know about other specialties.
Then, I realized that PREP has the best explanations. So I organized as many PREP questions as I could get my hands on ( 6 years worth that covers my time in residency and afterwards), and organized them all by chapter. When I missed some questions on the ABP Practice test, I realized it's because I had not yet gone through all of the GI PREP questions. After reading through 6 years worth of questions on a topic, I felt like I had struck the right balance of information that I could not find in either MedStudy (too detailed) or PBR (too concise).I did skim through PBR again right before the exam, especially the chapters that contain information that is on more of a ‘you know it or you don’t basis’ like genetics, metabolism, developmental milestones, and looked over as much of the high yield information as I could.
Bottom line:
- Study as many years of PREP as you have access to per your residency, for the content
- Med Study books are great for reference -there are some high yield facts that are highlighted.
- PBR summarizes high yield information
- Figure out your own weaknesses and what works for you, and take other's advice with a grain of salt
- Make cards, or an outline but organize the information in a way so that you can go over any high yield information leading up to the exam and that it sticks!!
- Take the ABP Practice Exams! I was able to access the ABP Practice Online Exam in both years that I took the test. It was a different version each time, and the old one had expired and was not accessible.
- Be your best self:
- Think about what foods work for you on test day? Eat well while you're studying too
- Make sure your fitness level is good so that you have endurance
- Have a support team : for example, sister, parents, significant other to help you stay positive
- This is a personal thing - I found out that my vitamin D was 12 when it should be over two times that level, and there’s some emerging evidence that vitamin D affects recall, so who knows? I've been inside most of the time during shifts during residency and studying, so it likely affected my vitamin D, but I was shocked to what extent as I eat a normal diet.
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For those that are having trouble with ABP and are doing gen peds then I would encourage you to also look into the AOBP certification. They don’t have a lot of the sub boards that ABP has but if you are wanting to do outpatient/nursery/community hospital then it would be an option. (The only sub-board they have are NICU and allergy) If I’m not mistaken, they just opened it up to MDs as well. I took both this year and I felt the AOBP certification tested what I would expect a general pediatrician to know without the esoteric questions that ABP had (which are way out of the realm of expectations for general pediatricians).
certification.osteopathic.org
Board Policies: American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics
View the board certification policies of the American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics, including board eligibility requirements for physicians.
certification.osteopathic.org
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okay, this is really interesting...https://certification.osteopathic.org/pediatrics/certification-process/neonatology/For those that are having trouble with ABP and are doing gen peds then I would encourage you to also look into the AOBP certification. They don’t have a lot of the sub boards that ABP has but if you are wanting to do outpatient/nursery/community hospital then it would be an option. (The only sub-board they have are NICU and allergy) If I’m not mistaken, they just opened it up to MDs as well. I took both this year and I felt the AOBP certification tested what I would expect a general pediatrician to know without the esoteric questions that ABP had (which are way out of the realm of expectations for general pediatricians).
Board Policies: American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics
View the board certification policies of the American Osteopathic Board of Pediatrics, including board eligibility requirements for physicians.
indicates that you can take the board exam after 2 years of an "AOA-recognized subspecialty fellowship training in Neonatology." I haven't looked it up, but does the AOA "reognize" all ACGME neo fellowships now? If so, this would mean that a 3rd year fellow could become AOA board certified in neo during the spring of their 3rd year. It would potentially allow someone to skip the 3rd year of fellowship on the hope of passing the AOA boards although since 3rd year is mostly research I'm not sure that is worth it. But it would get one board certified faster, especially if one finishes fellowship on an "off" neo board year.
Do I have this right? Which programs are AOA "recognized" that would qualify?
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AOA recognizes all ACGME accredited programs since they’re the only ones now. Idk about the neo specifically but I do think that competition is a good thing overall. Pushes ABP to not control a monopoly.
I will say that you take gen peds boards may of 3rd year but there is a caveat that you aren’t certified even though you pass until you complete residency. It might be similar to neo.
But on the other hand, I would support having shorter requirements seeing as the large research requirement for all fellowships. Treat it as a clinical track fellowship imo
Take advantage of your electives and read a book you prefer ( my advice: Pediatric Board study guide: last minute review).
I would prefer that you do TrueLearn during residency beside PREP questions.
Before the exam, do Medstudy questions.
write notes of the questions you answered incorrectly and review them ( as a quick summary note) multiple times before the exam. I personally had around 30 papers of condensed information.
PBR book and the 50 questions are USLESS ( i know this is different from what you read in these forums). PBR audio is just a read of the book itself. Please don't waste your money.
If you think you will pass without studying, then get ready to struggle!
The way ABP score are structured do not make any sense!! No one look at our feedback or even care. Just study hard !!!!
I would prefer that you do TrueLearn during residency beside PREP questions.
Before the exam, do Medstudy questions.
write notes of the questions you answered incorrectly and review them ( as a quick summary note) multiple times before the exam. I personally had around 30 papers of condensed information.
PBR book and the 50 questions are USLESS ( i know this is different from what you read in these forums). PBR audio is just a read of the book itself. Please don't waste your money.
If you think you will pass without studying, then get ready to struggle!
The way ABP score are structured do not make any sense!! No one look at our feedback or even care. Just study hard !!!!
For the same reasons, I though PBR book and questions are not helpful and just a waste of money!!!
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I’ll say that all I used was PBR book and medstudy questions. PBR audio in the car and when walking the dog. I read the difficult medstudy chapters during residency (GI, Cardiology, pulm). I spent two weeks before the exam studying 12-14 hours a day. I am not a good test taker by any means and had a very low step 1 score. I passed my peds boards by a good margin. Different strokes for different folks, but pick ur resources and stick with them
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Same. I did medstudy books for content review because I wanted the in-depth details. I started reading them slowly during the end of 2nd year. Then I did 2 years of PREP followed by all of TrueLearn and finally all of medstudy questions. I hate TrueLearn. I found so many questions were wrong with too simplistic explanations.
Does anyone have the 2022 PDF for
PEDIATRICS BOARD REVIEW: Your EFFICIENCY BLUEPRINT to Passing the Pediatric Boards
The failure rate for the American Board of Ophthalmology is 22%. Of those who pass, they have to take an oral exam, where the failure rate is 18%. In contrast, the American Board of Urology failure rate for the written exam is 1% and the oral exam failure rate is 3%.
The ABP has no oral exam. In Canada, peds has an oral exam.
ABP charges $2,265. The American Board of Ophthalmology charges $3,900 and doesn't accept American Express, unlike the ABP. However, if one fails the written exam, they don't have to pay the oral exam fee. They just have to pay the written exam fees again. Each exam costs $1,950.
The American Board of Ophthalmology does not have any practice tests. They have a written and an oral exam. For the orals, they used to have a sample oral question as a video. The video was supposedly totally unrealistic. They then redid the videos and now have 4-5 sample oral questions.
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