Practice Exam for Psychiatry Certification Exam?

[shahseh22]

Does anyone know if there is a practice test one can take to see if they would pass the real thing? or at least give an idea. I remember having those from NBME when I did the USMLE.

EDIT: I found this, APA Learning Center Study Guide for the Psychiatry Board Examination Q-Bank

Curious if anyone ever used it?

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[TexasPhysician]

I’m not sure there is a market for this. It’s one of the least important exams that you will ever take. Many of us take it without studying at all.

If you fail, you’ll still have more job offers than you can count, and you can retake it next year. If you pass, many jobs won’t care or provide a pay raise.

My opinion is study when/if you desire and don’t worry about it.

 

[shahseh22]

I’m not sure there is a market for this. It’s one of the least important exams that you will ever take. Many of us take it without studying at all.

If you fail, you’ll still have more job offers than you can count, and you can retake it next year. If you pass, many jobs won’t care or provide a pay raise.

My opinion is study when/if you desire and don’t worry about it.

Actually,in my fellowship program we are strongly advised to take it. There is very little teaching in my program but for some reason they think your the next big thing if you pass the boards.

If I were to fail, it would be embarrassing and my PD would likely put me down for it. May even affect my ability to moonlight as a PGY5 outside of the program. Not to mention the residents and fellows in my program would talk about it behind your back on a regular basis.

Besides that, most jobs require you become board certified within a couple of years. So this isn't something you should go into with a mentality, "I'm just going to wing it." Depending on how much you know about therapy/psychological theories, you may need to study your tail off.

 

[TexasPhysician]

If I were to fail, it would be embarrassing and my PD would likely put me down for it. Not to mention the residents and fellows in my program would talk about it behind your back on a regular basis.

Besides that, most jobs require you become board certified within a couple of years.

I can understand embarrassment if you tell your peers that you failed.

“Most” jobs do not require board certification. I would recommend passing them before board eligibility expires (many jobs require eligibility), but outside of academia, I’ve yet to encounter a job that requires certification. 4 years out of residency when I checked, 50% of my graduating class had board certification. All have easily found work. No one outside of academia in my class earns <$300k.

 

[Merely]

I can understand embarrassment if you tell your peers that you failed.

“Most” jobs do not require board certification. I would recommend passing them before board eligibility expires (many jobs require eligibility), but outside of academia, I’ve yet to encounter a job that requires certification. 4 years out of residency when I checked, 50% of my graduating class had board certification. All have easily found work. No one outside of academia in my class earns <$300k.

You talk about income with them? That’s a good relationship

 

[Shufflin]

I worked at a hospital in Southern California where they booted a psychiatrist for her not maintaining her board certification. N of 1 but important to know.

 

[TexasPhysician]

You talk about income with them? That’s a good relationship

Definitely. Good people.

 

[TexasPhysician]

I worked at a hospital in Southern California where they booted a psychiatrist for her not maintaining her board certification. N of 1 but important to know.

Maintaining is different than certifying. With NBPAS, board certification is easy to maintain now.

 

[Shufflin]

Maintaining is different than certifying. With NBPAS, board certification is easy to maintain now.

Interesting. NBPAS has Psychiatry listed. So does it matter whether one maintains with ABPN or NBPAS? any tangible differences?

 

[TexasPhysician]

most entities do not recognize NBPAS as yet. personally, I don't think NBPAS makes sense since it is reliant on you having initial certification through an ABMS board. Thus it is a not very well thought out protests against MOC, that does not deal with the issue of the monopoly and over-emphasis of the board certification industry.

Acceptance is growing weekly. My PT jobs have recognized it as equal. Harvard programs are behind it as well. States are on board.

Before 100% switching to NBPAS, talk to your employer(s).

It cuts out all of MOC which is the aspect of ABMS that they are protesting. Using ABMS initial cert allows them to use funding on expansion, acceptance, and policy instead of a test that is easy to pass. How is that not an effective protest?

 

[FlowRate]

most entities do not recognize NBPAS as yet. personally, I don't think NBPAS makes sense since it is reliant on you having initial certification through an ABMS board. Thus it is a not very well thought out protests against MOC, that does not deal with the issue of the monopoly and over-emphasis of the board certification industry.

I think NBPAS is trying to appeal to the set who think that initial certification is valuable but who think that MOC is not.

Harvard programs are behind it as well.

Paul Matthew is a Harvard-affiliated neurologist but I didn't see any of the Harvard-affiliated hospitals listed last time I checked the NBPAS website. Are you aware of some newer update?

 

[TexasPhysician]

I think NBPAS is trying to appeal to the set who think that initial certification is valuable but who think that MOC is not.

Paul Matthew is a Harvard-affiliated neurologist but I didn't see any of the Harvard-affiliated hospitals listed last time I checked the NBPAS website. Are you aware of some newer update?

The list is not frequently updated.

Harvard is somewhat divided on MOC. A Partners physician actually testified FOR MOC. I understood that Paul made significant headway there though. I’ll have to reach out again.

Last I checked, Oklahoma passed state legislation making it illegal to discriminate between board certification entities. Every employer in Oklahoma should thus be listed. Massachusetts had legislation on the same issue, but I’m not sure how far it’s gotten. That’s my understanding at least.