Prepping for a Pediatric Board Exam? Get a comprehensive Pediatric Board Review Course from The Pass Machine to get your board prep on track.
The pediatric board exam is hard and is statistically getting more and more difficult based on the declining pass rate in recent years. The American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) General Certifying Examination is offered only once a year. So, if you don’t pass, this exam and preparing for it will preoccupy your mind for nearly a… Click to Read More
How to Get the Most from Group Study for Board Exams
Preparing for board exams can be done alone or with a partner or study group. (From now on, I’ll write ‘group’ when referring to a group or single partner.) Studying in a group has several pros and cons, which I cover in this article. Depending on the learner, either the pros or the cons of group study can predominate. Thus, group study is not for everyone. For those for whom group study is a net positive, it can be the… Click to Read More
The Willie Sutton Board Review Strategy
Many of you know the quotation from Willie Sutton when asked why he robbed banks he replied: “Because that’s where the money is.” When seeing patients or studying for the board exam, it is equally true that time IS money. So you need to go where the money is!
So, what conclusions does that lead to in terms of what are reasonable study aids you can use to focus your time efficiently? Courses and practice exams from American Physician Institute… Click to Read More
Board Study Strategies and How You Learn
The prospect of taking a board examination can be one of the most daunting endeavors in medical education. Regardless of your level of training, the time, money, effort, and stress related to board examinations intermittently become the primary focus of your life. Some individuals appear to be “great test takers” and can breeze through these exams with ease. On the other hand, some might appear to be “horrible test takers” because they struggle at every attempt. For most of us,… Click to Read More
Ace the Board Exams: Tips and Tricks for Before, During, and After Board Exams
Let’s face it; the board exam is a one-day test. However, it is so much more than a one-day experience for medical students. No matter what your specialty, preparation for your board exam begins months to years before the test day. The experience of that day will live with you for months to years, even after you finish board exams.
Here are some strategies to implement during your medical education, before, during, and after the exam to have the best… Click to Read More
Board Exam Prep: Picking The Best Module
Okay, I can’t resist. Since I used to be a Magician – “Pick a module, any module, don’t let me see which one.”
If you are right out of training and your residency includes Obstetrics and a lot of hospital rotations, you might actually be able to pass any module you choose. But if you have been in practice for a while, and your interests have narrowed, then your knowledge base has probably narrowed as well. If this is the… Click to Read More
Board Prep: Five Tips to Fit Studying Into the Busy Physician’s Life
As a physician, you have a lot on your plate—a full clinic, a pile of dictations, an office meeting you are leading, followed by overnight call and a paper that you have been meaning to write for a few months. Whew! Where are you to find time to study for your boards? Well, medicine is a balancing act, and you will need to recreate that harmony to fit board studying into your busy physician’s life.
Embrace Multitasking
We all have… Click to Read More
How to Recognize “Zebras” on the American Board of Family Medicine Exam
Prepping for your Family Medicine Board Exam? Get a comprehensive Family Medicine Board Review Course from The Pass Machine to get your board prep on track.
The Family Medicine 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.… Click to Read More
Dark Alley’s and the Internet When Studying for Your Boards
No, I’m not talking about the “dark web” or anything controversial. I’m talking about something that is much more subtle and potentially devastating to your board review strategies – the allure of more interesting things you will encounter while looking up answers you need.
I treat looking up a fact I need while studying for the boards like going into a dark alley. I increase my alertness, look around for what I came for, grab it, and get out quick.… Click to Read More
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Assessed My Knowledge for the Boards
Studying for a board exam can seem like a daunting task; the amount of knowledge for the boards can be overwhelming. Finding time to fit studying into our busy lives is a struggle. Our natural inclination may be to just power through all of the topics as best as we can. How do you start the process, and where do you focus?
Taking the time to assess our knowledge gaps and approach to questions is a critical first step. It… Click to Read More
Pump Iron for Your Board Exam
I think you should pump iron for your board exam – both literally and figuratively.
A board exam is unlike almost anything else we encounter in our busy daily work as physicians. It requires several hours of extended, high performance to interface with the material presented, interpret it, and come up with the answers they are looking for.
To succeed in an environment like this, I suggest it is highly relevant to practice up to this level of intensity of… Click to Read More
5 Hacks to Get Your Board Exam Studying on Track
It’s easy to get derailed and have your board exam study session go into a tailspin. When you are not having fun, every diversion can turn into a time trap. One thing you can do is invest your passion into learning new material or being totally up to date on your areas of interest. Here are five more hacks you can use to keep your board exam studying in the “power zone.”
Paradoxically, the best study plans involve time away… Click to Read More
Levels of 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 in preparing for your board exams.
KNOW IT
This lowest level of question relies almost exclusively… Click to Read More
The Best Way to Lock in What You Study for the Board Exams
There are countless ways to study for the board exams, and you may already know what works best for you. But if you find that you study materials and then do not really remember them when you need them, you might want to try this program.
The first priority when you study for the board exams is to have accurate targeting of the material you want to learn. When I work with individuals, I look at their board scores and… Click to Read More
Decrease Study Time…Increase Impact
Whether preparing for an exam related to maintenance of certification, a primary exam of certification, or some other type of important exam, you undoubtedly have many reading materials at your disposal. In these scenarios, our effort is likely devoted to reading and re-reading material again and again. Unfortunately, though, scientific literature actually indicates that this sort of process of learning is not optimal, and may actually take a fair bit more time than a much simpler process—trying to recall the… Click to Read More
VIDEO: 5 Tips to Minimize Procrastinating on Your Board Exam Studies
Welcome. It’s Dr. Jack and I have 5 tips for you on how to minimize procrastinating on your board exam studies.
Tip 1: De-Emotionalize the Job You Have to Do
My first tip is based on a thought experiment. I’d like you to take a minute to imagine that you have a clone of yourself, and your clone is identical to you. They have the same bright smile and winning personality that you do. There is only a single… Click to Read More
















