People who have taken peds boards...

[pedsMD217]

How did your prep average correlate to your Boards score?

If you could give us your running PREP average, as well as whether you passed or failed (maybe even include if you did so by a lot, a little, etc) you would have my eternal gratitude (it'll let me know if I need to hit the panic button or not...).

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[rotatores]

How did your prep average correlate to your Boards score?

If you could give us your running PREP average, as well as whether you passed or failed (maybe even include if you did so by a lot, a little, etc) you would have my eternal gratitude (it'll let me know if I need to hit the panic button or not...).

Thanks!

I wanna say I was about 70%... or maybe it was 65%... Can't really remember. I scored above average with plenty of room to spare. Oddly enough...I felt like the real deal was a lot harder than PREP. Good luck!

 

[Stitch]

I wanna say I was about 70%... or maybe it was 65%... Can't really remember. I scored above average with plenty of room to spare.

This sounds about right for me too. I was generally around 68% doing the past 3 years of PREP questions. The one thing I keep telling people is to read the WHOLE explanation of the answer in PREP. They often change a few key words and the answer will be something else as a result. Learning to recognize those questions is very useful.

 

[JMMH]

I definitely was in the 60's, want to say 65-68% depending on the year. I did the three prior years of PREP and passed the real thing comfortably. I didn't really pay attention to the score or percentile, just that I passed!

I agree you want to make sure you read the answer explanation to every question, no matter if you got it wrong or not. It often will give you a differential in the answer that will help, as you might not get the exact question but one asking about a similar disease in the real thing. The topic that sticks out in my head 2 years later are the renal diseases and knowing which has high and low complement, etc.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Yes, the high 60s to low 70s is about right.

I studied the previous 4 years of PREP and did it during fellowship of 80 hours/week and was able to get higher than the mean.

However, I was surprised at how different the actual board was from the PREP questions. In the actual board, there are few questions that will be a paragraph of clinical data. More often there is short, 1 to 2 sentence questions with best answers. Just to let you know if you were basing your time to finish after the PREP questions.

 

[Cuthbert]

I hope these responses are true. I thought the 2010 prep was easy in comparison to 08 and 09. I was at 82% at the end of that. Hopefully that just means that I'm ready at this point, but we'll see... I was upper 70's on 2008 and 2009.

Laughing your way says to shoot for an 85% on PREP! I'm hoping that a score like that would just give you a good cushion.

I've also heard that PREP is much easier than the real deal. Must say that I'm freaking a little at this point (my usual pre-board routine).

 

[DorothyInOz]

: "I definitely was in the 60's, want to say 65-68% depending on the year. I did the three prior years of PREP and passed the real thing comfortably. I didn't really pay attention to the score or percentile, just that I passed!"

Well maybe this makes me feel better. I postponed boards until this year - because just wasn't ready last year. This summer I answered Prep questions 2006 (65%), 2007 (68%), 2008 (64%) 2009 (74%) (and reviewed the critiques). Did not feel confident, so I read the Cleveland Clinic Intensive Peds Review and then ALSO watched the 2010 MedStudy Videos (45+ hrs). I just took the 2010 Prep questions in testing mode and got 66%!!! One week to boards - and I was feeling that I should just resign myself to fail. Are the Prep Questions just above and beyond hard?

 

[KidDr]

Agree with others who've commented on how different the actual boards are from PREP. I still think PREP is the best way to prepare (doing the questions, and more importantly, reading through and understanding the explanations in detail).

Anyways, I don't remember my exact PREP percentages, but I'm guessing that I did at least 10% better on the actual test than on PREP. The theme here seems to be that if you're hitting around 65% on PREP, you should do okay.

 

[JMMH]

: "I definitely was in the 60's, want to say 65-68% depending on the year. I did the three prior years of PREP and passed the real thing comfortably. I didn't really pay attention to the score or percentile, just that I passed!"

Well maybe this makes me feel better. I postponed boards until this year - because just wasn't ready last year. This summer I answered Prep questions 2006 (65%), 2007 (68%), 2008 (64%) 2009 (74%) (and reviewed the critiques). Did not feel confident, so I read the Cleveland Clinic Intensive Peds Review and then ALSO watched the 2010 MedStudy Videos (45+ hrs). I just took the 2010 Prep questions in testing mode and got 66%!!! One week to boards - and I was feeling that I should just resign myself to fail. Are the Prep Questions just above and beyond hard?

You seem to have done a lot more in preparation than I did, so I imagine you will be ready for that test!

The PREP questions are definitely longer question stems than the real thing, so hopefully time will not be an issue as most questions were 1-2 sentences and picking the best response.

For the last few days I basically focused on PREP questions and read the margins of "Laughing your way through the boards" that discusses tricky questions and why you want to choose one answer (wrong) when you should be choosing something else. I remember there were at least 2-3 questions on the real thing that were almost identical to the question in the book.

Good luck for those in the home stretch! I studied more in the last month than I had in the preceding three months.

 

[babel]

How many Q's are there per year for PREP? I'm just applying to residency now but given that I'm done with shelf exams I find I'm not doing much studying, and I've always preferred doing Q's - just wondering if it would be worth the investment.

 

[DorothyInOz]

How many Q's are there per year for PREP? I'm just applying to residency now but given that I'm done with shelf exams I find I'm not doing much studying, and I've always preferred doing Q's - just wondering if it would be worth the investment.

Prep modules have 250 questions each. Most people recommend reviewing 4 to 5 years worth (4 to 5 modules of 250 Qs each). The questions are very hard. My post above mentions that I mostly scored in the middle to high 60 percent level. I also used MedStudy questions. These usually come in modules of 600 questions for about the same price as the Prep modules.

 

[babel]

Prep modules have 250 questions each. Most people recommend reviewing 4 to 5 years worth (4 to 5 modules of 250 Qs each). The questions are very hard. My post above mentions that I mostly scored in the middle to high 60 percent level. I also used MedStudy questions. These usually come in modules of 600 questions for about the same price as the Prep modules.

Thanks for the info! Any opinions on Prep vs. MedStudy, given that MedStudy looks cheaper per Q - difficulty, format, software interface?

 

[Stitch]

Thanks for the info! Any opinions on Prep vs. MedStudy, given that MedStudy looks cheaper per Q - difficulty, format, software interface?

I would hold off until you match and find out what your program is going to offer/provide you with educationwise. You'll be getting an AAP number, which allows you to access the last 3 years of PREP questions (and answers with explanations) on line. Some programs will give you the written module as well. My program provides the medstudy books as well (which are well worth the investment, so I'd consider getting them even if you had to pay yourself). So save your money for now; you've got plenty of time!

 

[DorothyInOz]

So after being sooooooo nervous about failing, I passed with a comfortable cushion. But others from my residency program were not so lucky: 3 failed and 2 failed a 2nd time. I definitely thought the exam was damn hard. Glad I survived.

 

[pedidoc999]

I read this thread before I took the boards last year and breathed a sigh of relief that I was scoring between 64%- 72% on my PREP tests.....and then I failed the exam. I guess it's not true for everyone. Be careful, folks.

 

[DorothyInOz]

I agree that there is no "magic" percentage number for Prep Questions. And one of my colleagues who failed the Boards seemed to have prepared well, in that she reviewed MedStudy books, UCLA Peds Video Conference DVD's, and Prep Questions and she still failed.
One thing that may have made a difference for me, is that I have a very flexible job. I started in April with Prep Questions, but then I took one whole week off in August to study and one week in September to study. Studied minimum of 50 hours each those weeks, but relaxed in the evenings. I read the Cleveland Clinic Board Review book and did all the questions, by September I had finished 5 years of Prep Questions and reviewed critiques. Then in September I watched MedStudy Video Conference DVD's and did MedStudy Questions (but only in high yield areas).

And I then took 5 days off prior to date of Board exam, mostly to relax and then only reviewed rote memorization items such as vaccinations, developmental milestones, some infectious disease facts. I still thought the Board exam was very tough, especially the afternoon session when my brain was tired. Again, glad and grateful I survived.

 

[Giggii]

Hello
I am new to this website but I am looking to purchase PREP CD from 2000 to 2010. or the PREP CD ROM 2010(all the yrs PIP etc) If anyone have it, can email me at [email protected]
thanks

 

[LinaLike]

anyone selling PREP Q? please pm me.