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Category Archives for "Study Schedule & Tips"Articles included in this category help you map out a plan of attack for study for your particular board exam.
PBR’s 2018 Pediatric Board Review Course – A Complete SYSTEM
PBR's NEW 2018 Pediatric Board Review EXPERIENCE is HERE!
“Test Day” can be a terribly stressful and anxiety provoking time for the pediatric board exam. The key to avoiding that stress and anxiety is to have a solid foundation and to make the experience almost mechanical. The only way to do that is to become so familiar with your pediatric board review course that you know it inside and out.
PBR's 2018 pediatric board review course is a complete SYSTEM, including an online, offline, personal, and community-driven EXPERIENCE. As physicians, we're trained to tackle hundreds to thousands of pages in order to learn “everything.” But this is the WRONG approach to studying for the boards. We're also taught to read questions from the top, cover the answers and take a “top down” approach on vignette style board questions. This, too, is HORRIBLE advice.
PBR helps you streamline your approach and gives you a proven method to pass your pediatric board exam. Through Pediatrics Board Review, you will:
- Learn more than enough pediatric content in order to get a score that is ABOVE the national average
- Understand the reasons to AVOID pediatric “board review questions” as a source of learning
- Understand why you should use pediatric board review questions as PRACTICE questions (hint: it's called test-taking strategy)
- Learn about test-taking strategies that allow you to answer board questions quickly and accurately even when you're not fully knowledgeable about a topic
- Discover a schedule and streamlined approach to preparing for the boards that will liberate you from the confusion and overwhelm that you're currently experiencing
The PBR Certification SystemTM Includes…
- The Clarity Expander: Understand the proper mindset, the tools, the study strategies, and the right study resources needed to prepare for a very difficult exam. For example, did you know that the AAP PREP questions are NOT the best study questions? Or that “information overwhelm” from using too many resources is one of the top 3 reasons that good pediatricians fail the boards? Or that you should NOT try to study every single topic laid out in the American Board of Pediatrics content outline? Or that you should NOT tailor your studies to address low scores from your score report (if you failed last year)?
- The Retention Maximizer: Maximize your chances of content retention through common sense explanations, innovative “DOUBLE TAKE” topics which are repeated throughout the Core Study Guide, PBR “PEARLS” of knowledge that are guaranteed to show up on the exam, “story-based” mnemonics, and concise yet comprehensive content.
- The Repetition Amplifier: Utilize multimodality studying through online videos, downloadable MP3s, mobile access, an online picture atlas, and other creative techniques that allow you to review the same core material multiple times. Technology has changed everything, and you must allow it to enhance your efficiency and your interest in the material. We even have a tool that allows you to review 25 hours of video content in just 12 hours.
- The Strategic Approach: Learn Test-Taking Strategies that allow you to systematically approach, dissect, and answer board-style questions on standardized exams. There ARE rules that you can learn to help you “beat the board game” and pass your exam. There is also a structured approach to processing every single board-style question that you come across in order to make the experience error-free and robotic.
- The Network Experience: Do NOT study in isolation. Utilize the support of hundreds of pediatricians in the PBR Facebook CREW to help you quickly answer your board review questions. Work with Team PBR to create a study schedule specifically designed for you. Attend live webinars with content experts and OUTSOURCE your questions to us so that you can focus on your studying. You SHOULD NOT have to do this alone, and the PBR community is here to support you.
Through videos like the one below, you will begin to quickly understand why PBR is not a “traditional” pediatric board review company. We're focused on helping physicians in ways that have never been done before. In the video below, I share with you the arrival of the NEW 2018 Edition of the PBR Core Study Guide, the NEW 2018 Edition of the Question & Answer books, two NEW Test-Taking Strategies Course, and some other exciting news!
Click the PLAY Button Button Below Now & Watch
The PBR 12-MONTH ALL ACCESS PASS (our most popular bundle) is now available to EVERYONE!
“How Will the 2018 Pediatrics Board Review EXPERIENCE Help Me?”
HERE'S WHAT YOUR TYPICAL BOARD REVIEW EXPERIENCE IS LIKE
As a pediatrician, when you work with a traditional board review company, you will most likely get a hardcopy study guide, perhaps a pediatric board review DVD course, and you may attend a live board review course. Then, you will likely decide that you would also like to buy resources from yet ANOTHER company so that you have it as a reference, or so that you don't miss out on additional topics/content. And if you're really ambitious, you might even keep a copy of Nelson's closeby so that you can go through it once prior to the boards.
You will usually make an effort to study as much you can, from as many resources as you can. You do so in isolation because of competing demands on your time (work, spouse, kids, social obligations, sleep), and you have a difficult time coming up with a good study schedule that you can actually stick to.
You might get through a handful of practice questions, but Click Here And Continue Reading…
Passing the Pediatric Board Exam – Maximizing CRUNCH Time
When it comes to passing the pediatric board exam, all logic and reason can get thrown out the window during “crunch time.”
In this article, I want to share some resources and tips to help you calm the nerves, help you focus on maximizing your chances at passing the pediatric boards and most of all… ensure that at the end of the test-taking process you have absolutely NO REGRETS!
What Should I Do When It's “Crunch Time?”
Well, let’s answer all the following questions:
- Should I Be Doing A Ton Of PREP Questions?
- What Are The Best Pediatric Board Review Books For Me To Study?
- What’s the BIGGEST “Bang For The Buck” At CRUNCH TIME?
- What’s the ONE THING I Can Do to LEARN MORE EFFECTIVELY?
- What Should I Do If I Have Questions About A Topic That’s Confusing Me?
- Is Passing the Pediatric Board Exam Realistic for Me?
Should I Be Doing A Ton Of PREP Questions?
I answer this question in detail in a Pediatrics Board Review article titled, “How Many AAP PREP Questions Should I Do?”
In summary, the idea behind using ANY sort of board questions should be for PRACTICE. It is NOT to learn board-relevant content. For that, you should be focusing on a single, primary study resource (called the PBR).
This means that you don’t aim to learn new content from those questions. Your aim should be to practice your test-taking SKILLS. When I refer to “test taking skills,” I mean…
- Are you falling for traps?
- Are you reading the English within the actual question carefully?
- Are you extracting the appropriate information from the clinical vignette?
- Are you keeping a steady pace, and able to LET GO of a question when it is one that is…
- Taking you forever to think through?
- About a topic that you KNOW you are weak in?
- Is SUPER long?
Passing the board exam requires a blend of strong board-relevant clinical knowledge, plus test-taking skills. Many physicians do not realize this and they continue to fail over and over again. They assume that board questions are like miniature patients, but they are not! Click Here And Continue Reading…
Need a Step-By-Step Pediatric Board Study Schedule?
Trust me… You DO Need A Schedule!
In the article titled “Need a Pediatric Board Study Plan?” I talk about how important it is to commit enough time to your studies.
I often get asked questions like…
“Can you provide a general pediatric board study schedule?”
“I'm in practice, can you provide me with a pediatric board study plan that works for me?”
“Can you provide a pediatric board study schedule for those of us in fellowship?”
For first-time test takers who usually score ABOVE the national mean on their board exams, I recommend a MINIMUM of 2-300+ hours, and a MINIMUM of 3 rounds of reading all of the “core” Pediatrics Board Review material.
Please remember, though, a schedule is only as valuable as your DETERMINATION to follow it. In this article, I breakdown those 300 hours into a manageable, concrete schedule that you can use to guide your studies. Click Here And Continue Reading…
Passing the Pediatric Boards – The 3 MUST HAVE Ingredients
The 3 MUST HAVE Ingredients for Board Success
Passing the the pediatric boards is challenging, but it's far from magic. In this article I'm going to introduce you to the 3 main areas you must focus on to pass the boards. If you don't, then even as a good pediatrician you will be at high risk for failing the boards.
By the end, you will have a much better handle on the general framework within which you will need to focus your energy. I predict that it's going to be quite liberating for you!
Let's start with a few stories…
Each year after the pediatric board results are released, I ask PBR members for feedback. “How was it for you?” The replies vary considerably, but there are specific overwhelming emotions which come through time and time again;
Relief
“a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I feel lighter and free.”
– “Dr. Wiseman”
Celebration
“My family and I celebrated all day long. We cried tears of happiness knowing the endless hours of studying are over AND payed off!”
– “Shy Doc”
Gratitude Click Here And Continue Reading…
2013 Pediatrics Board Review Corrections and Clarifications
50-70 Pages of FREE High-Yield Content Now Available!
In 2012, the Pediatrics Board Review Corrections & Clarifications Guide was only about 25 pages. The guide contained corrections that I found and that others found in the 2nd edition of the Pediatrics Board Review Core Study Guide. The guide provided a TON of value and helped many people correctly answer questions they would have otherwise gotten wrong! I think there's still value in reviewing it today because these guides give me the freedom to write freely about pretty much anything related to topics, studying for the boards, etc.
Want the 2012 guide? Just click LIKE below and then download it (Sorry! As of Sept. 2014, the LIKE software no longer works… so I'm now just giving it away! Just click on the image to download the guide. It would be GREAT if you could visit https://www.facebook.com/PedsBoardReview and give it a LIKE).
A Board of Pediatrics Overview
ABP Exam Overviews
The American Board of Pediatrics overview article was very well received by both pediatricians planning on taking the initial certification exam, as well as those preparing for the pediatric recertification exam. If you’re taking the recertification exam, you should definitely read the article and watch the video since it shows how you can get access to 200 free questions written by the ABP.
In this article, I’ll share a general overview of the structure of the initial certification and recertification exams, and I’ll also share a ton of resources available to you within Click Here And Continue Reading…