...Not sure you need to take off any extra time to study though.
This is the bottom line.
Not only is it foolish to not start getting paid and getting work experience, it's also usually not possible.
In the beginning, work to learn, not so much to earn (that'll come soon). You need to get in the work environment and learn how to deal with boss/admins, time management, pt communication, your style, practice mgmt, etc. That stuff is learned once you start real practice (this is reason #819 why fellowship is relatively dumb for most ppl).
You guys are coming out $200k, 300k, sometimes $400k+ in debt.
The
interest alone on that is $1k or even over $2k per month.
(and at 7% non-bankruptable, they're happy to have you make minimum pays or defer/forbearance!)
We have too many DPMs sadly just treading water or even going backward on student loans... still owing more than they borrowed 5, 10+ years after graduation.
Even if you got a golden ticket on tuition somehow, that money can be rolling your way and compounding interest for retirement, your own office, whatever.
How long do you want to "have to" work? Age 75? 70? 65?... or 50 or 55?
I can tell you that your energy and motivation simply won't be as high as you get older.
There will be other things you want to do besides bend over to cut toenails and scrape wounds.
You have to create time to review and learn formats for these tests despite work. They're not going away. Once you pass qual, it takes time for cert case collection. Once you pass cert, you have online questions quarterly for maintain of cert. You will always have CME and hospital applications and other things you don't want to do on evenings and weekends. Learn to budget your time. These things have to be priority.
For ABFAS, for me, that meant watching less football or less hiking or not going fishing or whatever. I would basically just go to the library, read, take a gym break, go back until the library closed. Not a fun Saturday or Sunday for a few weekends, but it's important to pass.
...Also all the guys replying here are Uncs and took the test ages ago...
Maybe, maybe not.
I can say that I've passed ABFAS qual more times than any DPM.
I passed all 4 parts (2 didactic + 2 cbps) coming out of residency.
Then, they made up the "new" CBPS format, and I (and many other candidates) had to pass those two parts again.
I was from the time where re-qual was allowed, so I passed all 4 parts again... 10 total.
(note that some people have
taken it more than that as they keep failing and failing like the ABPM replacement board of directors lady who was whining at the 'summitt' about failing ABFAS qual 7 times...
...but I've studied + passed it same/more - 10 parts passed and re-passed - than anyone normal... only way to do more is possibly a test developer who takes it a ton for research.)
A bit of the test changes, but it's the same anatomy and pathology and procedure concepts and just different implants (fair bit of change, mostly the same) and meds (those have actually changed very little in the 20yrs I've been studying it). They're not tricking you... but the test is hard. Board exams are like most core textbooks: they mostly testing the classic proven stuff. Boards are NOT on the cutting edge for new/unproven procedures... that's for CME meetings, some journals.
I will say with 1000% certaintly that ABFAS (or probably any test)
does NOT get easier as you get further from residency and reading/academic environment. I failed one of the Abfas cbps sections on my attempt at re-qual... studied a bit more, did BoardWizards, passed it next offering. It is all stuff you've learned in school, in residency, on your own... but always need to review (and benefit from that review). Depending on residency hospital and attendings, you will probably have some pathology/procedures you didn't see much of and need to brush up on.
The blaming the residency/training is hogwash, though... all schools and residencies have the same journals, books, subscriptions available. My program was fairly good, but you still need a ton solo reading. Mine was heavy on elective bread-n-butter, adequate on RRA elecive, adequate wound/DM slop, and a bit light on trauma, no TARs. But those things are all in every book, and you get plenty of the surgical principles and OR reps. We had probably a third of our academics attending/director run (XR rounds, research)... but two thirds were set up and run by chiefs or even juniors (journal club, quizzing juniors, quizzing students, board prep). Make your own luck.
