To work or not to work before boards?

[finalpsychyear]

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This is my dilemma. Im a 4th year psychiatry resident who is a bit confused on what to do after i graduate next year. My plan is to do Private practice in another state close to family. I had planned to delay working until after i move post boards so that will be 3 months of expenses which luckily i have saved the $ to get by on rent and normal expenses.

I don't really feel i need this much time for boards but since I dont want to move before I take the boards someone mentioned that I should consider getting a CPEP job and doing 1-2 shifts per week ( 8 hour shift pays 1200) but that will cost me 1k for a license, which i will use only for a few months + 500 for part time malpractice which then i'll have to get both again once i move states.

Did most of you start working asap after graduation and did boards? Would you suggest just focusing on boards and enjoying life in those 3 months post residency vs boards +cpep gig? Someone even told me to screw the boards and do it a year or two down the line. Thoughts from all appreciated.

 

[wolfvgang22]

You only need like two weeks tops to study for the board exam if you are serious about it. I used my one week vacation during PGY5 to prepare after casually watching videos for a while.

Don't stress out. If you don't have to rush, don't. The pass rate is high.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Most of my grads have started their jobs and taken the boards the first year out.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

It's all really up to you and your finances/values. It sounds like the not starting work until after boards is really more about getting more down time between residency and work than studying for boards time. One thing to note is that you might actually be done with the bulk of work for residency before you're technically done -- PGY4s kind of disappear as you get more into June -- so that's something to factor into how much down time you might need. Any reason why you don't want to move before boards? That way you could get a license in your new state and do some moonlighting type of work beforehand if you feel like earning money is something you'd like to do. If you can swing taking off a few months, though, that's OK, too. I'd recommend taking boards your first year out just because it's nice to get it out of the way.

 

[finalpsychyear]

Hey thanks for your response. Not moving because have a Girlfriend up here who I'd like to see where we are at by end of next september and see how that plays out so thats one reason I don't want to move by end of june 2016.

Also, like you said june is going to be a joke month and i dont need more than 6 wks of dedicated study and thats prolly overkill anyways but im use to doing that for all step exams and this one is so damn expensive. This CPEP job pays 150 an hour for 8 hrs shift seeing something like 10pts on average per shift. But with 1099 that 1200 per shift turns into net of about 600 and with license and malpractice its going to take 3 shifts before i even break even to start the gig.

Then again i'll have to get a new license 3 months later in another state unless new york has reciprocity with Ohio. I guess thats why im hesistant. From an experience end and not being stagnant 1 shift a week at minimum seems like a win-win situation. Plus i can always quit after breaking even if it really blows. Is this average pay for 1099 for a CPEP for BE/BC attending?