Psychiatry Initial Certification Boards: How much neurology/psychology/stats is in this thing?

[PS2summerdays]

Hey all, trying to get things together for the boards - exam is on September 9th.

Getting high/mid 60s on Boards Vitals (24th percentile) and Spiegel. Going to do MyPsychBoards after this.

A lot of obscure neurology is coming up on Spiegel - just wondering, how relevant is this? Should I really brush up on my neurology? Just seeing what's high yield so I can pass. Browsing the threads here and getting old or mixed reviews. Never studied for PRITES and scored low-ish. Would appreciate any updated advice. Thank you!

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[djo208]

This link has the content breakdown of the exam: https://abpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Psychiatry_Certification_Content_Specifications.pdf

In my day, 30% of the boards was neurology, but they reduced it a lot since then, such that when I took the recertification exam recently, it was much much less, as you'll see in the breakdown. It's really up to you and your own study strategy as to how you break down your studying. If you're strong on other topics, it can be worthwhile to spend some time on it. If other topics are your biggest weakness, you could spend more time on them.

Personally, I spent a lot of time on the neurology, but part of that was just that I like neurology, and I studied mostly from Spiegel and Kenny as well as Kaufman's Neurology for Psychiatrists. It worked very well for me both times I took the board exam, but my situation is very different from yours, so I think you might want to look at the breakdown at the link I posted before you decide where to put your energy.

 

[PS2summerdays]

This link has the content breakdown of the exam: https://abpn.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Psychiatry_Certification_Content_Specifications.pdf

In my day, 30% of the boards was neurology, but they reduced it a lot since then, such that when I took the recertification exam recently, it was much much less, as you'll see in the breakdown. It's really up to you and your own study strategy as to how you break down your studying. If you're strong on other topics, it can be worthwhile to spend some time on it. If other topics are your biggest weakness, you could spend more time on them.

Personally, I spent a lot of time on the neurology, but part of that was just that I like neurology, and I studied mostly from Spiegel and Kenny as well as Kaufman's Neurology for Psychiatrists. It worked very well for me both times I took the board exam, but my situation is very different from yours, so I think you might want to look at the breakdown at the link I posted before you decide where to put your energy.

Thanks so much! Glad you got through it. It’s funny, thinking that this is sort of the last exam I’ll really have to take. You can just do CME credits for recertification now I hear.

 

[djo208]

Well, it is the last exam that you HAVE to take. You can't JUST do CME, though. You have to either do the articles pathway OR the recertification exam. Pass the initial exam first and THEN you can worry about those, though. Personally, I chose to continue to do the certification exams rather than the article pathway. I constantly read plenty of articles already and I like the one-and-done for 10 years nature of the exams. With a general and a subspecialty board certification, I think I'd find the articles annoying to keep on top of, myself, but you get to choose which pathway works for you.

 

[Merovinge]

Thanks so much! Glad you got through it. It’s funny, thinking that this is sort of the last exam I’ll really have to take. You can just do CME credits for recertification now I hear.

Last one you have to take if you pass. I would get your grind on, sounds like you are right on the edge of someone I would expect to pass vs fail. Taking it a second time is a far more annoying task and can (apparently) be brought up on any malpractice case for the rest of your career.

 

[PS2summerdays]

Last one you have to take if you pass. I would get your grind on, sounds like you are right on the edge of someone I would expect to pass vs fail. Taking it a second time is a far more annoying task and can (apparently) be brought up on any malpractice case for the rest of your career.

Wow, scary. And yeah, I'm working on studying diligently. Luckily, doing better on Boards Vitals tests now. Going to try to use Speigel as more of an information source as opposed to a metric to measure pass rate.