WSU Department of Internal Medicine Board Review

1
Preparing for the Board Exam

• Frederick L. Locke, M.D.
• Chief Medical Resident
• Detroit Receiving Hospital

2
Preparing for the Board Exam

• Timing
• Focus
• Practice
• Materials

3
Timing

• Begin NOW
• Organize your time
• Make a schedule revise it as you go
• Peak in all subjects at the time of the exam
• Leave time for Family, Friends, and Leisure

4
Focus

• Make the exam a priority
• Choose your materials wisely
• Dedicate yourself to the material
• Gain a sense of completeness and
  comprehensiveness with your study
• Assess your weaknesses

5
Practice

• Repetition breeds consistency and accuracy
• Review your material multiple times
• Constantly quiz yourself
• Do questions but always explore the foils.
• Questions, questions, questions
• Consider collecting and reviewing high yield or
  difficult but important material just prior to
  the test

6
Materials

• Take into consideration the cost, availability,
  and content of all material before you jump into
  a commitment
• How do you learn best?
• How much time does it require to learn?
• Do not collect more material then you need or can
  handle
• Feel free to mix and match for different subjects
  or give up on a resource if it is not working

7
Materials

• Print Material
• MKSAP 13th edition 190-239 (new)
• MedStudy 11th edition 295-395 (new)
• Mayo Clinic Board Review 99 (new)
• Cleveland Clinic Board Review 99 (new)

8
Materials

• Audio Material
• MKSAP Audio Companion CDs

• Video Material
• MedStudy Board Review (CD 2004, VHS 2002)
• Emory Board Review (DVD 2004)

9
Materials - Board Review Courses

• Brigham and Women Intensive Review
• Boston, Massachusetts
• 995
• 7 days, 12 hours a day
• Very Intense review of Internal Medicine
• Not always geared toward board content
• Comprehensive review
• Unique practice test sessions for each subject
• Questions / self assessment test of about 100 Q

10
Materials - Board Review Courses

• Conrad Fischer
• New York, New York
• 895
• Two Sessions, one is daily, 10 hours for 5 days,
  another is 7 days on evenings and a weekend
• Geared toward Board Questions
• Clinical Vignettes
• Highly Recommended
• Practice book with questions that often appeared
  on board

11
Materials - Board Review Courses

• MedStudy Board Review
• Aspen Colorado
• 995
• 9 days with 3 hour mid-day breaks
• Comes with separate notes, but essentially covers
  what is in MedStudy books
• Same as the DVDs
• Often points out what is likely to be on boards

12
Materials - Board Review Courses

• Emory Board Review
• Atlanta, Georgia
• 40 hours
• Didactic lectures
• Over 70 lecturers, some geared toward board exam,
  others not
• Same as DVDs
• Interspersed test question sessions, some
  original some stolen from MKSAP

13
Materials - Board Review Courses

• Dhallas Unique Review Course
• Secaucus, New Jersey
• 950
• 5 days, 9 hours per day, offered in June and July
• Dictation style, high yield facts
• Very board relevant
• Comes with questions that are very high yield
• Highly recommended

14
Materials - Board Review Courses

• ACP Board Review
• Illinois, San Antonio, Virginia, New Jersey
• 795-995
• 4-6 day course with lectures style review
• Some lecturers better then others

15
Materials - Board Review Courses

• Boot Camp
• Philadelphia, St. Louis, Las Vegas
• 750
• Family Practice geared board review
• Do Not Do This Course

16
Materials - Questions

• ACP Prep for Boards 2 (CD-ROM or Print)
• 520 board style questions
• MKSAP 13 (CD-ROM or Print)
• 1000 board style questions
• MedStudy 11
• gt1000 true/false, multiple choice, and recall
  questions
• MedStudy Board Style QA 3
• 555 clinical vignette / board style questions
• ACP Medscape Board Review
• gt1000 board style questions