Peds Board

[FLPrincessDoc]

Hello SDNers!!! I rarely visit this side of the forums but I am here on behalf of my resident cousin who is finishing a peds residency. So is the Peds board really hard and is it similar to Step 1? And what did you use to study? Thanks to anyone who gives advice and helpful insight!!!

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[GoSpursGo]

Yes they're hard, there's a decent percentage nationwide who do fail every year. I used medstudy questions and found them to be similar in format to questions on the actual test. It's expensive but it's more expensive to take the test twice.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Yes, the first test pass rate is 80% or so. I used PREP... and that was about it.

 

[FLPrincessDoc]

Yes, the first test pass rate is 80% or so. I used PREP... and that was about it.

First off, thanks for answering!!! Also, for further clarification: PREP is the AAP PREP right? Sorry to be a bother 🙄.

 

[FLPrincessDoc]

Yes they're hard, there's a decent percentage nationwide who do fail every year. I used medstudy questions and found them to be similar in format to questions on the actual test. It's expensive but it's more expensive to take the test twice.

Hi

Yes they're hard, there's a decent percentage nationwide who do fail every year. I used medstudy questions and found them to be similar in format to questions on the actual test. It's expensive but it's more expensive to take the test twice.

Hi!!! Thanks for answering!!! I have a question for you as well: Would you say that the Medstudy questions overprepared you for the test or gave you extra information that you did not really need to succeed (not saying that's a bad thing)? BTW love the Spurs

 

[SurfingDoctor]

First off, thanks for answering!!! Also, for further clarification: PREP is the AAP PREP right? Sorry to be a bother 🙄.

Yes. If she is a resident, her residency program should offer free access to PREP. 3 years is probably sufficient, but if she can get her hands on more... the better.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Hi!!! Thanks for answering!!! I have a question for you as well: Would you say that the Medstudy questions overprepared you for the test or gave you extra information that you did not really need to succeed (not saying that's a bad thing)? BTW love the Spurs

Not at all. I passed, with a some breathing room, but I was squarely below the national average.

I did about half a year of PREP. Its explanations were extremely comprehensive, which is both a good and a bad thing--you learn a lot, but it take a while to get through. In a perfect world, I (and your cousin) could have been more religious about studying throughout residency in which case PREP is great. I found that I didn't have time to go through them or a textbook while I was scrambling during a busy fellowship, so the more direct question form of the Medstudy questions was better for me as I could just get through them faster. As I said above, I also found the format of the questions closer to what was on the real test.

 

[FLPrincessDoc]

Yes. If she is a resident, her residency program should offer free access to PREP. 3 years is probably sufficient, but if she can get her hands on more... the better.

Thats true!!! She did tell me that she got free access yesterday but why 3 years or more?

 

[FLPrincessDoc]

Not at all. I passed, with a some breathing room, but I was squarely below the national average.

I did about half a year of PREP. Its explanations were extremely comprehensive, which is both a good and a bad thing--you learn a lot, but it take a while to get through. In a perfect world, I (and your cousin) could have been more religious about studying throughout residency in which case PREP is great. I found that I didn't have time to go through them or a textbook while I was scrambling during a busy fellowship, so the more direct question form of the Medstudy questions was better for me as I could just get through them faster. As I said above, I also found the format of the questions closer to what was on the real test.

Got it!!! Maybe my cousie will benefit from Medstudy, she will probably benefit from these direct question forms.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Thats true!!! She did tell me that she got free access yesterday but why 3 years or more?

Because residency is 3 years and they cycle the material the annually. But some of the more obscure items have a longer cycle. Thus doing 3 years is the minimum that probably should be done, but more is better because you get exposed to more obscure topics.

 

[FLPrincessDoc]

Because residency is 3 years and they cycle the material the annually. But some of the more obscure items have a longer cycle. Thus doing 3 years is the minimum that probably should be done, but more is better because you get exposed to more obscure topics.

Because residency is 3 years and they cycle the material the annually. But some of the more obscure items have a longer cycle. Thus doing 3 years is the minimum that probably should be done, but more is better because you get exposed to more obscure topics.

Cool beans, I totally get that. Also, I heard a lot of good things about Laughing your Way through the Pediatric Boards but what is your opinion?

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Cool beans, I totally get that. Also, I heard a lot of good things about Laughing your Way through the Pediatric Boards but what is your opinion?

I bought some review book. Maybe First Aid? They are okay I guess. They are probably all the same. But each person is different.

 

[mvenus929]

Questions are going to be key. I used PREP questions exclusively, because my minimal experience with MedStudy was that they focused too much on the minutia that wasn't going to be on the test.

Laughing Your Way is a good refresher right before the test, but should not be used as a primary study material--it doesn't go far enough in depth.

I recommend the MedStudy books and/or videos (the course), depending on learning style. They cover things in more detail and the videos cover a lot of high yield stuff for the test.

There are also threads on this board that go over how to study for the pediatric boards.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Questions are going to be key. I used PREP questions exclusively, because my minimal experience with MedStudy was that they focused too much on the minutia that wasn't going to be on the test.

Laughing Your Way is a good refresher right before the test, but should not be used as a primary study material--it doesn't go far enough in depth.

I recommend the MedStudy books and/or videos (the course), depending on learning style. They cover things in more detail and the videos cover a lot of high yield stuff for the test.

There are also threads on this board that go over how to study for the pediatric boards.

I think the MedStudy books are great if you get them around the beginning of 3rd year of residency, and even though we're in May if it's possible to do it and get through a good number of questions, go for it. If it's not realistic (i.e. starting a brutal fellowship in July) to actually get through the books AND do enough questions, if I had to pick one I would do the questions. I personally disagree that there was too much minutiae on the medstudy questions--if anything, while the PREP questions usually didn't ask about minutiae, the giant explanations tend to get too far into the minutiae. But to each their own--the important thing is that your cousin do some arbitrarily large number of questions.

I though LYW was good. Agree that it's mostly a supplement to the questions, won't teach enough on it's own.

 

[thelogicalsong]

So I am preparing for my next ITE in July and I intend to do well lol. I will be PGY3, I want to prepare using only questions as reading textbooks makes me really tired.

So far I have been using PREP questions, and as far as I can tell, PREP questions are nothing like the ITE questions, the format is completely different. Also, the explanations in the PREP are really long and does not always address why the other answers are wrong (like UWORLD).

Does any know anything about medstudy questions? are they like the ITE format? what about NEJM peds? it is very expensive, about $450 for 600-700 questions, and I have not heard that many people use them.

 

[MEN2C]

Has anyone tried any audio or video review course? the PBR course isn't that expensive?

 

[Rumalum]

has anyone gotten by with not studying for peds boards? My ITE exams predict a 99% chance that I should pass the peds boards, but don't know how worthwhile those ITE exams actually are

 

[physicsnerd42]

So I am preparing for my next ITE in July and I intend to do well lol. I will be PGY3, I want to prepare using only questions as reading textbooks makes me really tired.

So far I have been using PREP questions, and as far as I can tell, PREP questions are nothing like the ITE questions, the format is completely different. Also, the explanations in the PREP are really long and does not always address why the other answers are wrong (like UWORLD).

Does any know anything about medstudy questions? are they like the ITE format? what about NEJM peds? it is very expensive, about $450 for 600-700 questions, and I have not heard that many people use them.

You may want to look at TrueLearn. I’m combined Peds-Anesthesia and everyone at my anesthesia residency uses TrueLearn Qbanks for the Anesthesia ITE and boards and the questions are remarkably similar in content and structure to the real tests and the explanations are phenomenal. It’s better than UWorld and it’s the only resource that most people use. They now have Peds ITE and boards Qbanks and they’re way cheaper than medstudy, so you might want to check those those out.

*No, I don’t work for TrueLearn; I just think it’s awesome.


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[thelogicalsong]

You may want to look at TrueLearn. I’m combined Peds-Anesthesia and everyone at my anesthesia residency uses TrueLearn Qbanks for the Anesthesia ITE and boards and the questions are remarkably similar in content and structure to the real tests and the explanations are phenomenal. It’s better than UWorld and it’s the only resource that most people use. They now have Peds ITE and boards Qbanks and they’re way cheaper than medstudy, so you might want to check those those out.

*No, I don’t work for TrueLearn; I just think it’s awesome.


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You are right. Our program gives us Truelearn for free, and I found their questions to be very similar to the ITE. I did not pay attention to them because everyone is talking about PREP and medstudy. I think I will just stick with Truelearn for the next two months.

Thanks.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Does any know anything about medstudy questions? are they like the ITE format? what about NEJM peds? it is very expensive, about $450 for 600-700 questions, and I have not heard that many people use them.

As I said above, I think MedStudy is very similar to the actual exam-style FWIW

has anyone gotten by with not studying for peds boards? My ITE exams predict a 99% chance that I should pass the peds boards, but don't know how worthwhile those ITE exams actually are

Well, my PGY-1 SITE score predicted I had a 100% chance of passing, and as I said above I definitely would have failed without doing some hardcore questions for the months leading up to the exam. You don't need to read 3 textbooks and complete 5 years of PREP questions, but need to do something.

 

[NLJ]

anyone interested in group studying for Peds boards?

 

[TheNightDoctor]

Hii everyone,

I have been lurking SDN for a while but thought I should share my study plan as well hehe 🙂
I just finished peds residency few weeks ago and currently studying for the pediatric boards. I have never failed any tests in my life but I'm also not the best test taker. I usually take more time than others to study so for any big test I usually make a study schedule far in advance (usually 6 months before test date) to make sure I do well. For this test, I'm currently using Med study and PREP. I just finished all Med study questions (took me a while) and will be reviewing weak areas + PREP questions starting next week. I like Med study questions but the books are so detailed (I'm planning on using the audio to help get me through). If I have time I hope to do all the wrong answers questions from med study.

I don't work well in big groups but if anyone is interested in forming a small 2-3 people group to motivate each other and run through studying ideas let me know 🙂.

 

[j.rose]

Hii everyone,

I have been lurking SDN for a while but thought I should share my study plan as well hehe 🙂
I just finished peds residency few weeks ago and currently studying for the pediatric boards. I have never failed any tests in my life but I'm also not the best test taker. I usually take more time than others to study so for any big test I usually make a study schedule far in advance (usually 6 months before test date) to make sure I do well. For this test, I'm currently using Med study and PREP. I just finished all Med study questions (took me a while) and will be reviewing weak areas + PREP questions starting next week. I like Med study questions but the books are so detailed (I'm planning on using the audio to help get me through). If I have time I hope to do all the wrong answers questions from med study.

I don't work well in big groups but if anyone is interested in forming a small 2-3 people group to motivate each other and run through studying ideas let me know 🙂.

Hey,
I take forever to prepare for exams as well. I am going through three years of PREP, and hoping to finish them all by the end of this month. I am also doing medstudy with the videos and focusing on the points they talk about in the videos. I am also going to the Michigan board review class in August, so hoping to go over all the PREP questions from the last 3 years, the medstudy videos and book prior to that. If you want a study partner to keep each other motivated and on target, let me know! I know I could sure use it!

J.

 

[j.rose]

Has anyone looked in the ROSH review questions? A friend of mine was talking to me about it today because she said that her husband, who is an EM doc uses it and found it to be really useful, but when I look- it seems like most EM people use it, and not so much peds. Anyone?

 

[TheNightDoctor]

Hey,
I take forever to prepare for exams as well. I am going through three years of PREP, and hoping to finish them all by the end of this month. I am also doing medstudy with the videos and focusing on the points they talk about in the videos. I am also going to the Michigan board review class in August, so hoping to go over all the PREP questions from the last 3 years, the medstudy videos and book prior to that. If you want a study partner to keep each other motivated and on target, let me know! I know I could sure use it!

J.

Hey J.Rose,

Let's do it! Let's motivate each other and make sure we are on target with our goals. I tried to message you but error kept popping up.
Can you message me with the best way to contact.

Thanks!

 

[help4mehelp4you]

Has anyone looked in the ROSH review questions? A friend of mine was talking to me about it today because she said that her husband, who is an EM doc uses it and found it to be really useful, but when I look- it seems like most EM people use it, and not so much peds. Anyone?

I have the same question. @j.rose Did you, or has anyone else used Rosh Review for studying for the Peds Board Exam? It's popular in the EM circles but I haven't heard from any peds people using it.