- Joined
- Sep 15, 2011
- Messages
- 360
- Reaction score
- 19
For all the folks planning on taking the RPVI boards, here is my advice. I took them yesterday and passed them so I thought to share a couple strategies here since there is nothing up-to-date regarding RPVI prep in these forums for the past several years.
First of all, don't underestimate the exam. It's not a piece of cake. You can fail if you don't study for it and if you don't read the 500 studies with people who can give you good feedback.
Next, Pegasus lectures are MOSTLY ok, but they are not the only source I'd recommend for the clinical portion. I found them to be lacking at times in certain topics (the details escape me but trust me, Pegasus is not enough for the clinical portion). I also bought and used VESAP 5 (the vascular surgery board prep) and did all their vascular lab questions, which are about 200 questions and I felt they resembled the actual test a little more than Pegasus.
For the physics portion, Pegasus is enough if you buy the full $700 suite that comes with the US physics book. The physics lectures are kinda weird/boring and it's HARD to keep focused, but keep taking notes and do the brief practice questions the guy tells you to do during the presentations. After you're done, go to the book and read/do the same section you just watched.
The Pegasus question bank is good. It's 2 exams consisting of about 220ish questions each. However, there is no timed-tutor mode for them so it's a slog to go through all those damn questions without getting immediate feedback. Just finishing one of those exams takes like 3-4 hours, which will leave you drained, only to have to go back and review every question to read all explanations, some of which can be several pages long. The qbank is good because it has the most BS "gotcha" questions that show in a very similar fashion in the exam, so you will be able to avoid falling for their stupid traps if you do the Pegasus qbank.
Finally, I bought the Zweibel book, and even though I didn't read it cover-to-cover, there are some chapters that I strongly suggest you read (all about carotids, LE veins, venous hemodynamics and waveforms [learn how to identify central obstruction from peripheral vein tracings, learn how to identify what vein you might be looking at just by its spectral doppler tracing], arterial hemodynamics and waveforms [learn how to identify a distal obstruction/significant stenosis by the changes seen in the spectral doppler waveform of a proximal healthy segment, how to identify a proximal obstruction/significant stenosis by the changes in the arterial spectral doppler waveform of the distal vessel], all about LE physiological testing including ABI/PVRs as this shows up A LOT in the exam).
Hope this is useful for the peeps looking for info on this exam here. And good luck!
First of all, don't underestimate the exam. It's not a piece of cake. You can fail if you don't study for it and if you don't read the 500 studies with people who can give you good feedback.
Next, Pegasus lectures are MOSTLY ok, but they are not the only source I'd recommend for the clinical portion. I found them to be lacking at times in certain topics (the details escape me but trust me, Pegasus is not enough for the clinical portion). I also bought and used VESAP 5 (the vascular surgery board prep) and did all their vascular lab questions, which are about 200 questions and I felt they resembled the actual test a little more than Pegasus.
For the physics portion, Pegasus is enough if you buy the full $700 suite that comes with the US physics book. The physics lectures are kinda weird/boring and it's HARD to keep focused, but keep taking notes and do the brief practice questions the guy tells you to do during the presentations. After you're done, go to the book and read/do the same section you just watched.
The Pegasus question bank is good. It's 2 exams consisting of about 220ish questions each. However, there is no timed-tutor mode for them so it's a slog to go through all those damn questions without getting immediate feedback. Just finishing one of those exams takes like 3-4 hours, which will leave you drained, only to have to go back and review every question to read all explanations, some of which can be several pages long. The qbank is good because it has the most BS "gotcha" questions that show in a very similar fashion in the exam, so you will be able to avoid falling for their stupid traps if you do the Pegasus qbank.
Finally, I bought the Zweibel book, and even though I didn't read it cover-to-cover, there are some chapters that I strongly suggest you read (all about carotids, LE veins, venous hemodynamics and waveforms [learn how to identify central obstruction from peripheral vein tracings, learn how to identify what vein you might be looking at just by its spectral doppler tracing], arterial hemodynamics and waveforms [learn how to identify a distal obstruction/significant stenosis by the changes seen in the spectral doppler waveform of a proximal healthy segment, how to identify a proximal obstruction/significant stenosis by the changes in the arterial spectral doppler waveform of the distal vessel], all about LE physiological testing including ABI/PVRs as this shows up A LOT in the exam).
Hope this is useful for the peeps looking for info on this exam here. And good luck!