Monday, January 6, 2014

Board Wars

Let the Board Wars begin LOL.  Although I won't take my board exams for another 6 months I've already started to study for them.  I'm not doing anything major, as it may be pointless to cover a large chunk of material so early; however, doing practice questions has really helped to review old material AND show how much I don't remember LOL (the spotlight is all on me).  Nonetheless, I think doing small bits now will help when I go into hardcore study mode later.

Classes have technically started back.  I say technically because we have a snow day today! Otherwise I would have just been getting out of an ethics lecture (this should be interesting).  No, really, this should be interesting.  We'll be discussing our ever changing laws as they pertain to medicine and patient care, as well as, what will be expected of us as healthcare providers (eg. what's malpractice, negligence, confidentiality, etc).  There seems to be so many gray areas when it comes to medicine.  I mean, everyone is not the same and so they shouldn't be treated/cared for as such.  However, it's important to know what's crossing a line.  When does personalized care become unfair in terms of what should be provided to all people?  These are questions that will be answered in this course or at least I hope they'll be answered.

Later in the term we will be taking Respiratory (oh buddy [insert scary faced emoji here]), in addition to, OMM (osteopathic manipulation), and Patient Care.  So, my boards prep will be very minimal.  I won't have 8+ additional hours to dedicate to this material (unless I don't plan to sleep or have a life...which I DO lol).  But, I do know which areas I need the most work in and therefore, I'll devote my early prep to those areas while doing more questions.

I have yet to pick a boards prep course that caters to my style of learning.  I'm thinking of doing a board prep program that is offered through my school.   However, I'm unsure if that will be the most beneficial for me.  It'll be better than nothing, right?  Actually, I think it will be way better than I think.  It will just require me to do a lot more work than programs, such as Kaplan, that already have materials printed and ready for you.  If I decide to do this program I'll talk more about it later.

Are you currently preparing for board exams? If so, how are you going about it?  If not, when do you plan to start?  If you've already taken your boards what advice do you have? 

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for linking up with medical mondays! Just have to say cheers to the DOs! My husband is one and just finishing up his fellowship this year-so the long journey really does end. I remember all of his studying for boards! Good luck finding a study method that is a perfect fit for you.

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    1. Thank you! I'm still on the hunt for a study method. But at this point I think I just need to pick something and let go of the thought that there's a PERFECT program floating around. The truth of the matter is that I'll have to put in work no matter what.

      And for sure yay for the DO's in the world!!! We do great things ;) Congratulations to your husband on making it to the finish line. I sure can't wait to be there.

      Thanks for stopping by my blog!

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  2. Stopping by from MM! Thanks for linking this post up with us. Good luck on your board study prep and yeah for DO's!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by and for the congrats! I'm really hoping that boards go well, but I have to take a pause from studying to make it through this last semester. LOL

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  3. Studying six months ahead is a good start. The best tools for boards for me was usmle world, that was the bible, golyan pathology also helps. I used the audio but a lot of people used the book. First Aid and Usmle world, then you should be solid to pass but of course everyone wants to smash step 1 so adding golyan(Don't know if that is the right spelling) should help. as for prep course, my school had Kaplan come over for a review. I am more of a study on my own person though so I don't know if that helped

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    1. Unfortunately my "studying" for boards had to come to a stop. We are taking respiratory at the moment and that class is a beast of its own LOL. I put studying in parenthesis because I am in a way still studying as respiratory is included.

      Thanks for the helpful tips. I'll definitely look into Golyan Patho. Do you know if it is comparable to Pathoma? I'm also thinking about getting Doctors In Training.

      Thanks for checking out my blog! Hope to see you back :)

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  4. Boards! How exciting and terrifying, but the fact that you are getting an early jump on the studying process will pay off for you. Best of luck as you tackle and succeed on your boards!

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