This post is about board prep that starts with very little time remaining before an exam. Now, this may be irrelevant to you right now. Perhaps it will be relevant in the future, or it may be relevant to one of your colleagues. If so, please forward this post to them.
Reason # 1: There is No Downside to Getting a Board Review Course
I know I’m biased in favor of board exam review courses. After all, I started The Pass Machine Courses and continue to present lectures at several of these courses. Despite my bias, I think I can convince you of the wisdom of getting a board prep course even when – perhaps especially when – time to the exam is short.
At least when it comes to The Pass Machine courses, they all have a better than money back pass guarantee. This means that when an exam candidate purchases a board prep course and does not pass their exam, they receive 1) 100% of their tuition, 2) plus a $100, 3) plus a new free subscription renewal.
And this guarantee holds no matter what, even when the course is purchased with two weeks or two days to go prior to the exam. So, we’ve more than eliminated the financial risk.
Reason #2: Getting a Board Review Course is All Upside
Of course, if you get a board prep course with limited time before the exam, you will, by definition, have limited time to devote to your studies. And that amount depends on how much time existing job and family and other obligations will take up.
Even given this, there are likely to be opportunities to temporarily pare back on your non-board prep obligations, at least until after the exam. For example, you can tell your kids that for the next week or two you will be less available to them. This might even turn into an opportunity for them to become more independent. For example, maybe it’s time they made their own cereal or scrambled their own eggs. Maybe they can even learn to use the washer and dryer – but now I’m just talking crazy. And, in terms of work, perhaps taking some personal days is an option or having a colleague cover call for you as you reciprocate by covering their calls after your exam is another possibility.
But even if you have no option to free up additional time, for the time remaining before the exam you can hunker down and get some real studying done. When you know its temporary, you can put up with a lot.
Do Not Beat Yourself Up Over Not Starting Earlier
Of course, you can spend a lot of time telling yourself, “Oh, I wish I started sooner,” or “I’m overwhelmed,” or “I’ll never get through all this material.”
First, take a deep breath. Beating yourself up over not doing something in the past is counterproductive. You can’t go back and change those facts. It happened. You wish you had acted differently and planned better. But you didn’t and you now can’t undo it. The more time you spend relitigating these past decisions and actions, the less time you have to do the only thing that now has a chance of making a difference and that is studying! And studying as effectively and efficiently as possible.
A second reason to not beat yourself up for the past is that you are the only “resource” you have. When you’re beating yourself up, you’re beating up the person who is now trying to take a board exam and needs all the time and attention available to prepare for it. Your great hope to pass the exam is you. So, don’t make it any harder on yourself.
Next, accept the fact that you may indeed not get through all the exam material. If it’s any consolation, most exam candidates wish they studied more and started earlier too.
Your focus should not be on everything you WON’T have time to study but should instead be on all the material you WILL have time to study. You’re starting from your current baseline and for every minute you spend preparing, you’re incrementally increasing your chances of passing the exam (and reducing your chances of failing it).
Why take this more positive approach? Because it is more likely to keep you focused and motivated and, ultimately, more likely to lead to more and better preparation. Focus and motivation maintained through a proactive, optimistic stance should not be minimized.
How To Use the Remaining Time Before an Exam
Next, focus on the big topics on your exam. Check your exam blueprint – it’s available from the board website. Some topics may account for 13% of all the exam questions while other topics may account for 1-2%. And, often, these “small” topics are not at all small in terms of the amount and complexity of the knowledge you need to learn but instead are small in terms of the number of exam questions related to them. Some topics you’ll just have to let go. And that’s ok.
Next, choose a study method that is both effective and efficient. I’m not saying that no other board prep approaches other than The Pass Machine courses are effective. What I am saying is that The Pass Machine Courses are both effective and efficient, and highly so. To be effective means increasing your chances of passing your exam. And efficient means focusing only on the content that is high-yield while excluding any content that is irrelevant to exam prep.
Let me give you an example of a study method that is effective but highly inefficient. It is reading a textbook. That textbook likely includes the great majority of the content tested on your exam but that textbook, often coming in at 1000-2000 pages, includes mostly irrelevant information, content that is not on the test nor, in many cases, even testable. So, effectiveness without efficiency is a poor choice, especially if you have very limited time.
Other features of The Pass Machine Courses that make them efficient include both audio-visual and audio only lectures. Not only are the lectures designed to present only high-yield information, but they can be listened to as you drive, do chores, or workout. Also, all courses from The Pass Machine include practice tests or question Banks. Again, not only is a QBank an efficient way to learn exam-relevant information, but it can be snuck into many other activities. You can do a practice exam question or two or three here and some additional ones there. For example, as you eat your sandwich or salad for lunch, you can read and answer board-reflective questions and then review your answers choices, (whether they are correct) and read the detailed explanations. You can sneak in a few more questions when a patient is running late or take a few minutes before you leave the office. It all adds up, incrementally and inexorably.
If you’re reading this, it probably means you’re in a hurry to start your studies and get as much done as possible. So, I’ll end here.
Here’s a link to the Better-Than-Money-Back guaranteed, high-yield, and efficient The Pass Machine home page that lists all our courses. They’re all on sale right now.
All the best on your exam. May the force be with you!
Jack Krasuski, MD
877-225-8384
drjack@americanphysician.com
American Physician
