Hello, I am sitting for podiatry certifications this summer. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to approach this exam, study guides and what to expect? Any suggestions will be appreciated.🙂
Sitting for podiatry certification
- Thread starter Neddier
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For the ABPS board exams, I used the lectures notes that I got from the Goldfarb Foundation Board Review Course, Hershey Manual, and Boards By the Numbers software for review. If you do take the Goldfarb Foundation Board Review Course, the Hershey Manual and the Boards By the Numbers software are included in your tuition. For selected topics that I needed refresher on, I used McGlamry's Textbook, Gunman's Foot and Ankle Trauma book, Gerbert's Bunion Book, Coughlin and Mann's book, or Myerson's book. Yes, I did used Coughlin and Mann's and Myerson's textbooks because they contain information that I could not find in McGlamry's. For example, I am glad that I read the Pediatric chapter in Coughlin and Mann's book because I had a question on my boards about Congenital Hallux Varus and I recall reading about the Farmer's Technique for the Congenital Hallux Varus treatment. I did glanced through P.I. Manual.
I would recommend you doing the practice questions on the study guide bulletin for the ABPS exam. This can be obtained from ABPS website.
Lastly, there is a residency program in Philadelphia, where the residency director runs weekly lectures that are open to all residents in the Philadelphia area. He actually does couple of board review sessions as well. They were extremely helpful and am glad that I went to them.
For the ABPOPPM exam, I know that there is a study guide textbook that is available for that exam. I am not sure how helpful this is since I did not take the ABPOPPM exam.
I hope that this helps. Good luck on your boards.
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Here's are a couple of resources:
http://www.certifiable.com/Boards_overview.php
http://www.podiatriceducation.com/boards/
I much prefer computer-based material to any textbook-based material for some reason. I seem to pick up better with it.
http://www.certifiable.com/Boards_overview.php
http://www.podiatriceducation.com/boards/
I much prefer computer-based material to any textbook-based material for some reason. I seem to pick up better with it.
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I assume you're referring to ABPS written boards. I took both the forefoot and rearfoot/ankle sections on the same day this past summer. Most people I know split the days up but I think it adds to the stress. I liked the way I did it and wouldn't change it. My attendings said don't worry about it and just study the obscure stuff which was right. I already felt comfortable with all the major surgical texts so I just focused on obscure procedures because they commonly ask these things. I would be familiar with cavus recons, clubfoot tx, tumors, and many complications. Also I hadn't dealt with things like resting calcaneal stance position and some more obscure biomech measurements since school so I looked at that. And of course you need to know the textbook answers for bunion procedures - know what procedures are supposed to be used for what angles. Look at the sample tests because some of their answers for bunion procedures were not what I commonly do. I thought both were pretty easy and actually I thought the forefoot was more difficult than the rearfoot (but remember they won't even grade your rearfoot if you don't pass the forefoot section). If you had a decent residency and did what you were supposed to do keeping up on studies you really should have no problem.
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Also, the written boards are a computer-based adaptive test. That is, they make each successive question easier or harder based upon the preceding answer.
It is supposed to find your level of knowledge that way. I found it difficult to gauge how well I was doing while I was answering questions. All was fine until after the test, when the post-exam questionnaire asked some questions such as:
1. "Was the testing center comfortable?" Yes.
2. "Were the testing center personnel helpful?" Yes.
3. "How much did you actually study for this test?" Hunnh???
4. "If you did not study, how did you expect to pass this test?" [PANIC!]
It is supposed to find your level of knowledge that way. I found it difficult to gauge how well I was doing while I was answering questions. All was fine until after the test, when the post-exam questionnaire asked some questions such as:
1. "Was the testing center comfortable?" Yes.
2. "Were the testing center personnel helpful?" Yes.
3. "How much did you actually study for this test?" Hunnh???
4. "If you did not study, how did you expect to pass this test?" [PANIC!]
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Those are good resources. I had forgotten that PRESENT now has a board review track. Http://www.certifiable.com/Boards_overview.php is for the Boards by the Numbers software that I had discussed in my posting.
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I also took the forefoot and rearfoot boards on the same day. I much rather get it over with in one day instead of prolonging the stress. I also agree that the forefoot boards were harder than the rearfoot boards. I guess there are more things that they can ask about in the forefoot boards (since the forefoot boards do actually contain some rearfoot questions). I also agree with about knowing the textbook answers. When I had discussed in my posting about doing a refresher on selected topics, I was referring to re-reading the textbooks to get the textbook answers for various clinical scenarios. As you said, what I would I do in reality may differ from the typical textbook answer.
