When to take the boards

[yaah]

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I am trying to decide when to take the boards. I don't know whether I should bite the bullet and get it done as early as possible (this coming spring), delay it a little (fall) or wait until end of fellowship. I feel like, obviously, that I would have more time to study if I took it later, but I would also rather get it out of the way so I can focus on the fellowship.

I suppose how you respond would depend on what kind of person you are, but what do you all plan (or planned) to do?

I am not concerned much at all about the AP boards, I have had great AP training and that is where most of my reading, study, and interest has been concentrated anyway. It's CP. And I also don't really want to break them up and take them separately, since that costs a lot more.

 

[garfield]

Take it as soon as possible, no doubt about it. I wish I could've taken it at the end of fourth year but I was one of the unlucky ones who had to do a fifth year & had to wait. It'll be fresher in your head & the delay of a few months is not worth it since there will always be distractions such as your fellowship.

 

[2121115]

From what I understand the studying for the boards involves a point of marginal returns where studying more just doesn't make you any more likely to pass the test. You'd really only have to intensely study for CP so I'd say jut go ahead and knock it out early. You don't want to messing around with boards during your fellowship.

 

[LADoc00]

this very much depends on how your program is structured. Some programs are 2AP+2CP and it may have been more than 2 years since the last time you saw glass. Most are blended which is far better(as in 2 months CP/2 months AP). Some fellowships have lots of coast time at the end to study. Many employers wont look at you if you havent passed AP/CP so it might make your job search in your fellowship year tough.

Breaking them up is the best way to ensuring passage no question there.

Overall, I WAY overstudied for each board exam I took but it is far better than understudying.

PS-I wasnt aware boards are offered in Spring..June if I remember right which is Summer and Fall for the Spec exams.

Can you split AP and CP into Summer/Fall of the same year? That would be ideal IMO.

 

[yaah]

PS-I wasnt aware boards are offered in Spring..June if I remember right which is Summer and Fall for the Spec exams.

Can you split AP and CP into Summer/Fall of the same year? That would be ideal IMO.

They moved up the time the boards starts - so yes, for a lot of people it is still in June but for many it can be in May (boards assigns you a date, I believe).

I would consider splitting them more but it costs more money that way, plus you'd be constantly studying for a long period of time. I think I will end up going with taking both at the same time.

 

[Acremonium]

Definitely get it over with. I had thought I would have to wait until fall of my fellowship year, but managed to sneak the exam into the end of my residency. It's the best decision I ever made. Waiting will not make you more prepared. Some of my studying probably helped, but a lot of it was just a salve to my nerves and didn't really help at all in the exam. For me, the beginning of fellowship was not an ideal time to take the test. I had way more responsibility in fellowship than at the end of my residency for studying. I agree with LADoc that splitting them is ideal for maximal studying, but probably not necessary. I am an ok test taker and I passed both the first time.

Good luck.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I plan to take them at the end of my 4th year, under the assumption that I'll be able to get the schedule I want (CP-AP-AP-CP). Our program does AP and CP in year-long blocks, so I just have to hope that I can get CP as my 4th year so I can put in some serious study time. I definitely want to have them done by the time I start ___ fellowship in year 5.

As an aside, I heard that they increase the difficulty of the exam if you take them in isolation (taking only CP or only AP). Anyone know if this is true?

 

[djmd]

I plan to take them at the end of my 4th year, under the assumption that I'll be able to get the schedule I want (CP-AP-AP-CP). Our program does AP and CP in year-long blocks, so I just have to hope that I can get CP as my 4th year so I can put in some serious study time. I definitely want to have them done by the time I start ___ fellowship in year 5.

As an aside, I heard that they increase the difficulty of the exam if you take them in isolation (taking only CP or only AP). Anyone know if this is true?

I think this theory dates back to the days of the board's scoring being on a curve (way back before 2006). The theory was that if you took CP with people who only cared about CP it would be harder to make the cut.

Having taken Boards I'm not sure how much someone being CP only would really help them on Boards.
And I don't know that they do that now (if they ever did), people who were CP test only definitely did show up day 2, so they were taking the same test as the rest of us...

 

[yaah]

I think that's a myth - there aren't separate exam dates for people taking only one of them, as far as I know. The other question I am grappling with is whether to take a board review course.

For AP, I am less concerned so I probably won't. For CP, I might, but in order to do it I might have to skip a wedding (although that might be a benefit also, to be honest).

 

[deschutes]

With some of the talk that was going on about doing Osler early in residency vs. at the end as boards review, I had considered it. Thing is, I'm pretty sure I am not an auditory learner - an hour of didactics is about all I can take in the course of a day. So I decided against it.

I suspect I'll end up taking a bunch of vacation to study. Thing is though, it's nice to attend a course and have it count as conference time instead of personal time off...

 

[beary]

I would say just take them at the end of this year too. Especially since I know you and have no doubt you could pass them both tomorrow. 🙂