Spring BCPS 2017 in 4 weeks!

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merceraluminium

merceraluminium

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Taking the exam exactly 4 weeks from today and I'm nervous! I feel like I'm studying using the ACCP notes and lectures but not retaining much :(

So at this point, I think my best bet is to do as many practice questions as possible. Is anyone willing to split cost/sell any question banks with me?

Also for those have taken it, any tips for the exam??
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Know your biostats really well, especially what kind of statistical analysis is appropriate -- most of those questions are formatted the same way, so if you don't know your study design, it can screw you out of a bunch of points. There was a lot of policy questions that I had no clue about and just guessed on. Some of the clinical stuff was straightforward, but some were super random. I think the ACCP mock exam was pretty representative of the types/difficulty of questions on the real test. And don't worry if you don't get a good mock exam score; I did pretty badly on it but still passed BCPS.
 
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mfdoom said:
Know your biostats really well, especially what kind of statistical analysis is appropriate -- most of those questions are formatted the same way, so if you don't know your study design, it can screw you out of a bunch of points. There was a lot of policy questions that I had no clue about and just guessed on. Some of the clinical stuff was straightforward, but some were super random. I think the ACCP mock exam was pretty representative of the types/difficulty of questions on the real test. And don't worry if you don't get a good mock exam score; I did pretty badly on it but still passed BCPS.
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Do you remember what your mock exam versus your real score was approximately? I'm not doing so hot on the mock exam!
 
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PharmDozier said:
Do you remember what your mock exam versus your real score was approximately? I'm not doing so hot on the mock exam!
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Pretty sure I got like a 60% on the mock? And I barely passed the real one haha. Definitely didn't study as much as I should have but it ended up working out.
 
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mfdoom said:
Pretty sure I got like a 60% on the mock? And I barely passed the real one haha. Definitely didn't study as much as I should have but it ended up working out.
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I'll take whatever passing score I can get on the real thing. The regulatory section is what scares me the most. It seems like a random hodgepodge of material. I hope the ACCP review is enough to get by.
 
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mfdoom said:
Pretty sure I got like a 60% on the mock? And I barely passed the real one haha. Definitely didn't study as much as I should have but it ended up working out.
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Do you remember what the pass/fail cutoff was for the real exam? I know it's been in the low 60s most years.
 
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mfdoom said:
Know your biostats really well, especially what kind of statistical analysis is appropriate -- most of those questions are formatted the same way, so if you don't know your study design, it can screw you out of a bunch of points. There was a lot of policy questions that I had no clue about and just guessed on. Some of the clinical stuff was straightforward, but some were super random. I think the ACCP mock exam was pretty representative of the types/difficulty of questions on the real test. And don't worry if you don't get a good mock exam score; I did pretty badly on it but still passed BCPS.
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Thank you for these tips!
 
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Rockinacoustic said:
Can anyone comment on how the ACCP flip cards for BCPS compare to questions on the real exam or mock exam?
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The flip card questions are much more difficult than the mock exam questions in my opinion. I keep hearing different things about the real exam. Some are saying the mock exam is harder than the real thing, others are saying it's about the same.
 
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PharmDozier said:
Do you remember what the pass/fail cutoff was for the real exam? I know it's been in the low 60s most years.
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I think it's scaled? They don't give you your raw/percentage score on your results report, just your score between 200-800.
 
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mfdoom said:
Pretty sure I got like a 60% on the mock? And I barely passed the real one haha. Definitely didn't study as much as I should have but it ended up working out.
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I am sitting in three weeks for BCPS. Any suggestion on these "fluff" chapters like Econ/patient Outcomes, Managing a Clinical Practice, Drug Info, etc as far as how/what to study? Thanks!
 
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Pharmy2012 said:
I am sitting in three weeks for BCPS. Any suggestion on these "fluff" chapters like Econ/patient Outcomes, Managing a Clinical Practice, Drug Info, etc as far as how/what to study? Thanks!
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I don't remember specifics anymore, but policy questions in general felt like MPJE to me, where the questions on the exam were so far out from the material that I was just wildly guessing. There were some that were fairly straightforward, such as P&T scenarios with costs and outcomes provided, asking which drug you'd pick for formulary; there were also some that I would never have known the answer to even if I'd studied for months. I would just give it a read through and make educated guesses when it comes to the actual exam.
 
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mfdoom said:
I don't remember specifics anymore, but policy questions in general felt like MPJE to me, where the questions on the exam were so far out from the material that I was just wildly guessing. There were some that were fairly straightforward, such as P&T scenarios with costs and outcomes provided, asking which drug you'd pick for formulary; there were also some that I would never have known the answer to even if I'd studied for months. I would just give it a read through and make educated guesses when it comes to the actual exam.
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I sincerely appreciate the advice. I've been through it all once, just struggling worrying about all the non-clinical stuff that "might" come up!
 
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I also have my exam scheduled in a little less than four weeks. Have been studying here and there since January but don't really feel like I have studied anywhere near enough. Really sucking on some some sections of the flip cards! Just going to give it a go and see how I do.
 
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mustang sally said:
I also have my exam scheduled in a little less than four weeks. Have been studying here and there since January but don't really feel like I have studied anywhere near enough. Really sucking on some some sections of the flip cards! Just going to give it a go and see how I do.
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I hear ya! If you want to schedule some facetime/Skype study sessions let me know!!
 
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Does anyone have the BCPS 2017 audio? I took the exam in 2015 and passed. I just want to listen to the lectures. I have the BCACP audio and I'm willing to trade. :)
 
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mfdoom said:
Pretty sure I got like a 60% on the mock? And I barely passed the real one haha. Definitely didn't study as much as I should have but it ended up working out.
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I am getting like 58% on the mock exam, do you think thats representative for how i will do for the real exam? Everyone freaked me out on the biostats portion of the exam so i studied that very throughly, but i did n't do well for the pharmacotherapy section...im just scared that this is reflective of how i will do for the real exam. ACCP mock exam was definitely tough. some questions I had no idea how to answer....
 
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greenpie said:
I am getting like 58% on the mock exam, do you think thats representative for how i will do for the real exam? Everyone freaked me out on the biostats portion of the exam so i studied that very throughly, but i did n't do well for the pharmacotherapy section...im just scared that this is reflective of how i will do for the real exam. ACCP mock exam was definitely tough. some questions I had no idea how to answer....
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I don't know how much it's representative of the real exam, since the exam is scaled and they don't report the raw score. It's good that you are solid on biostats, as I feel like that's one of the few subjects where studying is very likely to pay off. For the pharmacotherapy questions, I drew a lot from on-the-job experience rather than what I'd studied. Some questions pull from standard guidelines, but some are very detailed. I could've studied for months and still gotten those questions wrong.
 
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ACCP mock exam was really tough. I have also used practise questions of pharmacy question bank. Has any one taken the BCPS exam. I wanna know if the exam questions are more similar to the ACCP mock questions of the practise questions on the pharmacy question bank. Please advise.
 
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geriatricPharmacist said:
ACCP mock exam was really tough. I have also used practise questions of pharmacy question bank. Has any one taken the BCPS exam. I wanna know if the exam questions are more similar to the ACCP mock questions of the practise questions on the pharmacy question bank. Please advise.
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I literally took the test this morning, and it was a struggle. I think I failed. It was very random how they asked questions. They were unlike the ACCP ones. Some yes, some not. Some were full charts, some weren't, some were as direct as: 45 year old male, no comorbidities, what is the BP goal. and youre like thats a gimme question. but I got that wrong..of course...I can't stop thinking about that one, cause I was driving home after the exam and I realized that I answered that wrong, once the nerves were down....I can't believe I got that wrong.....
My biggest advice is READ THE QUESTION-- cause some are tricky, I sat there on one question for 5 minutes trying to figure out what they were asking...maybe i over did it, but definitely didn't feel good about it. I will probably be re-taking it in the fall.. crossing fingers I won't, but damn that was hard.
 
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geriatricPharmacist said:
ACCP mock exam was really tough. I have also used practise questions of pharmacy question bank. Has any one taken the BCPS exam. I wanna know if the exam questions are more similar to the ACCP mock questions of the practise questions on the pharmacy question bank. Please advise.
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ACCP mock exam were semi-similar. formats could be similar but the content of the question from ACCP was harder I think cause it s more detailed, buttttt the exam also had some really detailed questions. I never took the practice questions from the pharmacy question bank so can't compare.
 
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Ugh. I have one week left before I take my BCPS and let me say my studying has been pretty much nonexistent. I've been watching the ACCP videos and doing some practice questions. Other people around me have said they only studied for one night/a couple of weeks and keep trying to tell me I'll be fine but I dunno. I'm going to finish going through all the ACCP videos this week and then spend a week on pretty much just stats. Too late to turn back down. I really hope I don't fail...
 
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greenpie said:
I literally took the test this morning, and it was a struggle. I think I failed. It was very random how they asked questions. They were unlike the ACCP ones. Some yes, some not. Some were full charts, some weren't, some were as direct as: 45 year old male, no comorbidities, what is the BP goal. and youre like thats a gimme question. but I got that wrong..of course...I can't stop thinking about that one, cause I was driving home after the exam and I realized that I answered that wrong, once the nerves were down....I can't believe I got that wrong.....
My biggest advice is READ THE QUESTION-- cause some are tricky, I sat there on one question for 5 minutes trying to figure out what they were asking...maybe i over did it, but definitely didn't feel good about it. I will probably be re-taking it in the fall.. crossing fingers I won't, but damn that was hard.
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You are freaking me out, greenpie! I am taking mine one week from now, kind of just wish I could hurry up and get it over with, but I scheduled it as far out as possible to allow for the maximum study time (seems kind of humorous to me now).
 
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greenpie said:
I literally took the test this morning, and it was a struggle. I think I failed. It was very random how they asked questions. They were unlike the ACCP ones. Some yes, some not. Some were full charts, some weren't, some were as direct as: 45 year old male, no comorbidities, what is the BP goal. and youre like thats a gimme question. but I got that wrong..of course...I can't stop thinking about that one, cause I was driving home after the exam and I realized that I answered that wrong, once the nerves were down....I can't believe I got that wrong.....
My biggest advice is READ THE QUESTION-- cause some are tricky, I sat there on one question for 5 minutes trying to figure out what they were asking...maybe i over did it, but definitely didn't feel good about it. I will probably be re-taking it in the fall.. crossing fingers I won't, but damn that was hard.
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I just took it this morning too and I KNOW what you mean. Some of the questions are so random that even if i studied for half a year I would not ever get it and some questions were just like here's a chart of 15 things that are out of range, which drug did this...smh
 
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All the best to the 2017 BCPS and other BPS specialty test takers! Tomorrow is the big day for me, wish me luck!
 
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PharmD&Mom said:
All the best to the 2017 BCPS and other BPS specialty test takers! Tomorrow is the big day for me, wish me luck!
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I am sure you will do great. From what I gather, stats is where it's at. The rest is a gamble. Best of luck--I sit Friday!
 
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Just took the exam...it was hard. But the mock exam from accp was harder. For those who will be taking soon....here are my recommendations

1. Know the stats. I have 25-30 questions on stats
2. Cardiology...know guidelines well....
3. ID ..know well ...know HIV. Know hiv drug interaction
4. Know dyslipidemia
5. The rest is random.
 
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UGAZ said:
Just took the exam...it was hard. But the mock exam from accp was harder. For those who will be taking soon....here are my recommendations

1. Know the stats. I have 25-30 questions on stats
2. Cardiology...know guidelines well....
3. ID ..know well ...know HIV. Know hiv drug interaction
4. Know dyslipidemia
5. The rest is random.
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I second all the above...
Exam much harder and random than I expected.

I had to re read some questions and felt that there was barely enough time to finish. For stats know when to change the % back to decimal for NNT. Lots of regulatory Domain 3 questions. I feel it did not go too well for me :(
 
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I'm done!! Had about 1.5 hours to spare. I only use the break to go to the bathroom. I honestly didn't think it was bad. The questions on the exam were much easier than the practice questions on ACCP. I thought the first half was easier than the second half. I agree above. Most of my questions were stats, cardiology, and HIV/ID related. Even though I feel okay, I'm still nervous of course. The wait is going to be killer.
 
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GoldfishPharmD said:
I'm done!! Had about 1.5 hours to spare. I only use the break to go to the bathroom. I honestly didn't think it was bad. The questions on the exam were much easier than the practice questions on ACCP. I thought the first half was easier than the second half. I agree above. Most of my questions were stats, cardiology, and HIV/ID related. Even though I feel okay, I'm still nervous of course. The wait is going to be killer.
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I feel like the questions on my test were on par with the accp material. Maybe it was just the nerves. I took all 45 minutes of my break to call my wife and vent. I felt better after fact checking the questions that I could remember.
 
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PharmDozier said:
I feel like the questions on my test were on par with the accp material. Maybe it was just the nerves. I took all 45 minutes of my break to call my wife and vent. I felt better after fact checking the questions that I could remember.
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I'm now starting to freak out. :oops:
 
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GoldfishPharmD said:
I'm done!! Had about 1.5 hours to spare. I only use the break to go to the bathroom. I honestly didn't think it was bad. The questions on the exam were much easier than the practice questions on ACCP. I thought the first half was easier than the second half. I agree above. Most of my questions were stats, cardiology, and HIV/ID related. Even though I feel okay, I'm still nervous of course. The wait is going to be killer.
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I took the exam and also thought the first half of exam was easier than the second half.

A lot of people who passed tell me they also thought they failed so Im sure you guys did way better than you thought.

Good luck everyone!

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The mock exam actually didn't help me, but causing more confusion and worries. I suggest people to study ACCP lectures and do the practice questions only. I actually didn't study anything except focusing on 4 major core topics: Stat, HIV and Infectious Disease, Cardiology and Regulatory. The rest was so random. Also, know your lab reference well...There were a lot of case studies and without knowing normal lab range, you won't be able to tell what went wrong with patient to correct it.
 
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Blah. I've been checking the answers to the questions I remembered. Most I got right. A couple I had the right answer and went back and changed them. Hate when that happens. :confused:
 
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At first I felt pretty good but then I started to go through the study material. I found a lot of answers I got right but seeing some I missed that I thought I got right. Felt like maybe I rushed too much on the second half. Sigh. I don't want to take this test again and the wait is going to kill me.
 
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