Did you Fail the Pediatric Boards in 2023 ?   Look before you Leap into 2024 Leap Year Action !

Did you Fail the Pediatric Boards in 2023 ? Look before you Leap into 2024 Leap Year Action !

Posted by Stu Silverstein, MD, FAAP on Jan 16th 2024

Did you Fail the Pediatric Boards in 2023 ? 

Instead of fretting you need to dust off and get back at it. However you have to have a new approach and will show you how right now . 


If At First You Don't Succeed, Try Something Different To Finally Pass the Boards!

If you took the General Pediatric Board Exam this past October the results are in. Congratulations to all of you who passed the boards, especially those of you who didn’t pass the first time around. You got it right this tijme which is no small accomplishment. The failure rate for those taking the boards a 2nd time is 80%. We especially want to thank those of you, who have contacted us directly to let us know that our material.


For those of you who got the very disappointing news that you failed the pediatric boards, you are not alone. Many came before you and were successful in passing the 2nd time ( or even 3rd or 4th) . 

Take a Break!

For those of you who did not pass, now is the time to be kind to yourself. You can get back on the horse tomorrow. You need to clear your head and clean the slate. You are going to have to work smarter and over the next few weeks, we will help you begin that process. The holiday season and all that stress is over and 2023 is in the past   and 2024  is here ! 

  

Leap into the New Year /2024 

. You can turn over a new “leap” in 2024. In fact the year 2024 is a LEAP year. You get an extra day to prepare and that day is Thursday  February 29th 2024 

take a break

 Bring in the New for 2024

By taking a break you will automatically process what you did and come can come up with new solutions. We would like to make some suggestions so that you can automatically begin thinking about the weeds you need to remove from the garden so you can plant some new seeds. 


Failed the Pediatric Boards


Learning how you learn!

You should begin by really asking yourself how you learn best. You clearly were successful in medical school or you would not be taking the Pediatric Boards in the first place. Think back to those days! How did you learn best? Did you learn best in a lecture hall? Did you learn best by reading clearly written texts that employed infographics? Did you learn best by taking sample questions and reading the explanations? Did you learn better in a group setting?

Are you the type of person who needs to filter out all distractions or do you prefer to study surrounded by other people? Thinking about this will help you when you turn over your new leap in 2024.

Textbooks are as wasteful as Texting.

Nelsons Pediatric Textbook is great as a clinical reference but memorizing it from cover to cover won’t help you on the boards. I am not even sure if it will help you clinically. While clinical skills are not the same as exam taking skills they both require pattern recognition. This is not something you will develop reading Nelsons Pediatrics. The same goes for Rudolph’s Pediatric Textbook. Reading that book cover to cover will be as helpful as watching Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer over and over. In fact, the latter might be more helpful. At least you will get to feel like a kid again and reset your brain for your preparing to pass the exam in October 2023.

I can honestly tell you that I do know how you feel. I also had to take the exam again and it felt demoralizing and humiliating. I also had to dust off the snow and take a new approach. I needed a guiding light to glide my new slate and I realized Rudolph the textbook or Rudolph the reindeer weren’t going to get me to the other side. I knew I had to develop my own path to success and I did it.