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Advice When Waiting for Your Medical Board Exam Results

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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

The Hospitalist Lifestyle: A Cause for Early Burnout?

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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

The Willie Sutton Board Review Strategy

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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… READ MORE

Treatments in Specific Pediatric Patient Populations

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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

Ace Your Boards: Tips and Tricks Before, During, and After the Test

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Let’s face it; the “Board Exam” is a one-day test. However, it is so much more than a one-day experience. 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 the board exam. Here are some strategies to implement before, during, and after your exam to have your best possible testing experience: Before the Board… READ MORE

Treatment Algorithms in Family Medicine Board Exams

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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

Board Exam Prep: Picking The Best Module

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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 included 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… READ MORE

VIDEO: Why the Knowledge / Exam Performance Gap? (Part 1 of 5)

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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

Five Tips to Fit Board Studying Into the Busy Physician’s Life

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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 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 twenty-four… READ MORE

Recognizing Zebras in Family Medicine Clinical Vignettes

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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

Dark Alley’s and the Internet When Studying for Your Boards

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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.… READ MORE

Treatment Interventions In Gastroenterology Board Exams

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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

How Stress Can Ruin Your Board Scores

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Stress can you ruin your board scores. It sounds like a cliché but actually it is true! Stress leads to fight, flight, or freeze scenarios. When our autonomic nervous systems are out of balance, we can go into overdrive or we can freeze up completely depending upon whether the adrenergic nervous system or the parasympathetic nervous system is over-activated. Neither one of these is helpful for a good outcome in your test scores. Acute stress and chronic stress can both… READ MORE

Finding The Sweet Spot On What To Study

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It turns out, there are several different types of “sweet spots” you should know about when you are picking what to study for your board exams. Some of them have to do with the types of material that the board focuses on, and some that the board avoids. Others have to do with the timeliness of the material, both in terms out how recent it is and how relevant it is to current practice. Brand new material tends to be… READ MORE

Treatments in Specific Populations – Family Medicine

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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

Sleep and Memory Incorporation for Board Exams

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Sleep is important for a lot of reasons. One critical function of sleep is memory incorporation. This is when memories go from short-term storage into long-term incorporation. Obviously, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to study all day and then lose everything that you put in your brain because your sleep is inefficient or disrupted. Here are some things that can help your sleep to be more complete, deeper, and more effective. Number 1: Know your sleep number –… READ MORE

Recognizing Zebras In Gastroenterology Clinical Vignettes

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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

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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

5 Hacks To Get Your Studying Back On Track

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It’s easy to get derailed and have your 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 studying in the “power zone”. Paradoxically, the best study plans involve time away from study. That’s because things that… READ MORE

Oncology Treatments in Specific Patient Populations

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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

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