Jack Krasuski, MD, Author at The Pass Machine

A Perfectionism That Will Kill Your Exam Performance

August 12, 2022 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Board Exam Tags: exam performance challenges, How to Prepare For Your Board Exam, medical board preparation, perfectionism

This week we completed our 5-Day Psychiatry Board Prep Course in Chicagoland. (It was great to see and speak with so many colleagues there.) At the course I received several questions from our attendees about what turns out to be a single problem described in different ways. The problem is a manifestation of one type of perfectionism. It arises as a feeling of a strong need to get complete and/or definitive information about a case described in an exam case… READ MORE

The World’s Biggest USMLE Step 2CK QBank Now Available

June 4, 2021 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, USMLE Tags: USMLE

Our QBank team has been hard at work over the last several months developing, compiling, and vetting our new USMLE Step 2 CK QBank for medical students. It’s not just any old QBank, though – it’s the world’s largest medical education QBank for the USMLE Step 2 CK exam. It includes 4,200+ multiple-choice questions written specifically for the USMLE Step 2. Because of the quality of these exam-reflective MCQs with explanations, we guarantee that users of The Pass Machine USMLE… READ MORE

Advice When Waiting for Your Medical Board Exam Results

November 8, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts Tags: american physician institute, board exam prep, jack krasuski, the pass machine, waiting for board exam results, waiting for test results

We’ve had tens of thousands of physicians take our board prep courses and this is what I learned about the weeks waiting for exam results: there is a weak relationship between how you think you did on the exam and whether you passed. Hundreds of times, exam-takers have emailed me feeling terrible about how “horribly” they did, only to find out that they passed. It’s normal to leave an exam feeling uncertain or discouraged. This occurs because: Often the biggest… READ MORE

Treatments in Specific Patient Populations for Cardiology

October 18, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Cardiology Tags: cardiology board prep, cardiology board test prep, cardiology boards, cardiology practice board exams

The majority of the questions on cardiology medical board exams are focused on treatment since the reason patients see a cardiologist is to obtain appropriate treatment. The aspects of treatment tested by the specialty board exams include: Details of particular treatment options Treatment interventions by disease variant and in specific patient populations Treatment algorithms This post aims to understand how to choose the correct treatment for a specific patient population or disease form. The writer of the cardiovascular disease board… READ MORE

The Hospitalist Lifestyle: A Cause for Early Burnout?

October 9, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts Tags: doctor burnout, early burnout, hospitalist burnout, hospitalist lifestyle, physician burnout, the pass machine

As we move away from the traditional internist and continue to separate the inpatient realm from the outpatient, hospitalist scheduling remains controversial. Through my own job searches, I have seen many scheduling models. Seven on, seven off remains common, but many groups are moving away from this in favor of more lifestyle-friendly schedules. Working seven consecutive days can be exhausting and may lead to early burnout. It also leaves little time for family, exercise, or hobbies outside of work during… READ MORE

Treatments in Specific Pediatric Patient Populations

September 12, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Pediatrics Tags: patient populations, pediatric board prep, pediatric patients, peds board exam, peds board prep, peds boards, peds qbank, proper sleeping habits, the pass machine

Medical board exams include questions in several different areas. A large percentage of these questions are focused on treatment interventions as an appropriate treatment that a physician is expected to provide to the patients. Three main aspects of treatment are generally tested on the specialty board exams. These include: Features of specific treatment interventions Treatments provided to specific patient populations and to patients with specific disease variants Treatment algorithms The purpose of this post is to help understand the importance… READ MORE

Treatment Algorithms in Family Medicine Board Exams

August 16, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts Tags: family medicine, family medicine board tips, family medicine exam prep, family medicine treatment algorithms, the pass machine, treatment algorithms

Family medicine board exams mainly test the clinical knowledge of the test-taker. Therefore, a number of questions in these exams are based on assessing your knowledge regarding various treatment interventions. Three significant aspects of treatment interventions may be tested: Treatment algorithms Treatment interventions in specific patient populations and in different variants of the disease Details of particular treatment interventions Treatment algorithms are the primary focus of this blog post. A rank ordering of treatment options, starting off with first-line treatment… READ MORE

VIDEO: Why the Knowledge / Exam Performance Gap?

July 26, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts Tags: board exam, jack krasuski, knowledge gap, test knowledge gap, the pass machine

Below is a transcription of the video (it has been edited for clarity): Many physicians who do poorly on their boards feel frustrated by underperforming on their exam in relation to their medical knowledge and confused by not knowing how to fix this performance gap. Here I explore the first of five contributors to medical board exam underperformance and provide solutions. Poor Focus on Exam Question Due to Anxiety One cause of poor board exam performance is a lack of… READ MORE

Recognizing Zebras in Family Medicine Clinical Vignettes

The medical boards present multiple-choice questions that are fair and clinically relevant with pride. Simply meaning, they are not trying to trick you. Most of the case vignettes present a patient with a common form of the condition or disease, as these common forms are the ones assessed and treated by most physicians. On the other hand, as clinicians, we should be able to recognize rare disorders. Hence, the question is, how do you figure out if the question is… READ MORE

Treatment Interventions In Gastroenterology Board Exams

June 13, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD 1 Comment Categories: All Posts, Gastroenterology Tags: beat the gastroenterology boards, gastroenterology board exam, gastroenterology exam prep, gastroenterology treatment interventions, the pass machine, treatment interventions

Board exams assess your knowledge regarding the details of myriads of treatment interventions that are used to treat diverse medical conditions. You are expected to have a knowledge of the details of each of these specific treatment interventions, in addition to knowing the situations in which to give preference to one particular intervention over another. Therefore, it is important to know how much knowledge of the details regarding a particular treatment intervention you should have. There are certain treatment interventions… READ MORE

Treatment Algorithms on Oncology Board Exams

May 30, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Oncology Tags: oncology, treatment algorithms, treatment algorithms oncology

When preparing for medical oncology board exams, it is important to remember that they are primarily testing your clinical knowledge. Therefore, expect to find many questions that will assess your knowledge about treatment modalities and which interventions are the most appropriate for each case. You can be tested on the details regarding a specific intervention, the most suitable treatment in particular populations and disease variants, and on treatment algorithms. This post will be focusing on treatment algorithms. Treatment algorithms refer… READ MORE

Treatments in Specific Populations – Family Medicine

May 17, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Family Medicine Tags: family medicine, family medicine board prep, preparing for the family medicine boards, the pass machine, treatments in specific populations

A large percentage of questions on the board exams are based on treatment interventions, as an appropriate treatment is what a patient seeks from a physician. Three major facets of treatment are tested on board exams: Treatment algorithms Treatments for specific variants of disease and patients belonging to specific populations Details regarding particular treatment interventions This post focuses on selecting the appropriate treatment intervention based on a patient’s specific variant of the disease or the patient’s specific population. Board exams… READ MORE

Recognizing Zebras In Gastroenterology Clinical Vignettes

May 2, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Gastroenterology Tags: clinical vignettes, gastroenterology board exam course, gastroenterology board exams, gastroenterology board prep, gastroenterology clinical vignettes, gastroenterology exam prep, the pass machine

The board exams pride themselves on not presenting questions that may trick you. In other words, the questions are fair and clinically relevant. This means that the majority of the questions will be related to a common form of a medical disorder. After all, these are the conditions that most of the physicians spend their days assessing and treating. However, it is also important for the clinician to identify the rare disorder. Hence, the question is, how to differentiate whether… READ MORE

VIDEO: What To Do If You Fail Your Board Exam

April 11, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD 5 Comments Categories: All Posts, Board Exam Tags: board exam failure, Coping Strategies for Failing a Board Exam, coping with failing my boards, coping with failure, dr jack krasuski, how to cope with failing a board exam, i failed my board exam, jack krasuski, the pass machine, what to do when i fail

I’m here to talk about a difficult topic with you today. What do you do if you fail your board exam? Below is a transcript of the video: Well, the first thing you should do is to take some time to come to terms with what has happened. When you first open up that envelope and you see that you failed the exam, it will hit you like a ton of bricks. You don’t need to do anything. You… READ MORE

Levels of Board Exam Questions

March 28, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts Tags: board exam, board exam prep, board exam questions, board exam study tips, how to study for my boards, sample board exam questions

One way I’ve found categorizing board exam questions helpful is to view them in a hierarchy of three levels, each one building on the previous one and requiring a more use of one’s clinical judgment. My three levels are: Know It → Recognize It → Decide It Now let me explain and I promise this will be practically helpful and, I believe, comforting even. KNOW IT This lowest level of question relies almost exclusively on recalling some specific piece of… READ MORE

Oncology Treatments in Specific Patient Populations

March 20, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, Oncology Tags: how to prepare for my oncology board exam, oncology, oncology board exam test prep, oncology board prep, oncology cme, oncology practice questions, patient populations oncology, the pass machine, tips for oncology board exam

There is a high percentage of questions based on treatment in medical board exams because the reason patients see physicians is to seek appropriate treatment. Three aspects of treatment are tested by specialty board exams: Details of specific treatment modalities Treatments by disease variant and in particular patient population Treatment algorithms The focus of this post is on choosing the appropriate treatment for a particular population that the patient belongs to, or the disease variant. The writers of the board… READ MORE

Recognizing Zebras in Cardiology Clinical Vignettes

February 26, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD 1 Comment Categories: All Posts, Cardiology Tags: board exam prep for cardiologists, cardiology board test prep, cardiology boards, cardiology clinical vignettes, cardiovascular board exams, cardiovascular board test prep, clinical vignette cardiology, practice cardiology clinical vignettes, the pass machine

Every multiple-choice exam question is presented to you on the exam only after being vetted to be clinically relevant and fair. (Note that there are a certain percentage – maybe 10-15% – of MCQs included in exams that are under assessment and not counted in results until they pass muster. This does lead exam candidates to sometimes scratch their heads when reading poorly written questions. These questions will likely be revised or retired.) Simply put, the boards are not trying… READ MORE

Treatment Interventions In General Surgery Board Exams

February 22, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, General Surgery Tags: board exams, general surgery, general surgery board exams, general surgery board prep, how to prepare for the general surgery board exams, surgery exam prep, surgical treatment board exams, the pass machine, treatment interventions

The knowledge of the test-taker regarding the details of numerous treatment interventions gets tested on the board exams. It is important to know the situations in which to select a specific treatment intervention. In addition to this, you should also have knowledge of the details of particular treatment interventions. Therefore, the question is: “how much knowledge should one have regarding the details of various treatment interventions for the purposes of board exams?” There are certain treatment interventions that are delivered… READ MORE

Treatment Algorithms in General Surgery Board Exams

February 8, 2019 by Jack Krasuski, MD Leave a Comment Categories: All Posts, General Surgery Tags: general surgery board prep, how to prepare for the general surgery board exams, treatment algorithms, treatment algorithms in general surgery

Clinical knowledge is primarily tested in medical board exams. Commonly asked questions assess the knowledge regarding treatment interventions. The following three different aspects of treatment can be tested: Specific treatment intervention details Treatments by disease variants and in specific populations Treatment algorithm This post is focused on treatment algorithms. Treatment algorithms are described as an ordering of treatment interventions in ranks starting with first-line treatments followed by second-line, third-line, and fourth-line treatment interventions, eventually ending at the last-line treatment intervention.… READ MORE