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!
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.”
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!”
The MOCA-Peds exam is the default option to meet your Part 3 requirement within each five-year MOC cycle. Pediatricians have found MOCA-Peds preferable to the ponderous and stressful standard proctored exam. MOCA-Peds (Maintenance of Certification Assessment – Pediatrics) may seem like an easier option, however, you’ll still need to study with efficiency. PBR can prepare you in an easy and painless way. We give you brief, targeted summaries of the exact topics you will see on the exam.
It’s not hard as long as you have the right resources. To become familiar with the content, we recommend the MOCA-PBR Study Guide & Test Companion. Remember, you’ll have access to the open-book and open-computer resources of your choosing. Be sure to use the right resources for you.
After you’ve reviewed the steps, you will undoubtedly have more questions. Our Reminders can help.
The topics change every year, but they are released in advance. You can typically locate them by clicking here. Trying to research every topic can be grueling as a full-time physician, which is why we recommend that you use a structured study guide to help you prepare.
We recommend the MOCA-PBR Study Guide & Test Companion. PBR reviews the new topics and creates a new, high-quality study guide every single year. It's created with efficiency in mind so you can easily find the answers you're looking for.
Go through your complete study guide at least once toward the beginning of the year. This will give you a solid foundation for the questions that you will encounter over the four quarterly exams.
The MOCA-Peds exam is open-book and open-computer. Keep your study resources handy!
Study Pro-Tip: If this year’s list of topics includes migraines, when you come across a patient with a headache, you can keep migraines at the top of your differential. This kind of test-taking strategy is considered key in passing the MOCA-Peds exams.
A quick scan of the MOCA-Peds topics will give you a tremendous edge. By reviewing just the topic names, you will remind yourself of the types of diseases and disorders that you are going to be tested on.
Having your online study guide available during your questions will help you quickly find the answers. If you are using the MOCA-PBR Study Guide & Test Companion, the topic summaries are usually only 1-3 pages, and our online search function allows you to quickly find the answers to your questions. If you can’t find the answer in the study guide, use the clickable reference links located at the bottom of each topic summary.
You get a total of 5 minutes per question, and you can use any available resource to help you during the test. Our MOCA-PBR online edition allows you to quickly search for and find the answers to your questions. However, if you cannot find the answer through our study guide and reference links, keep other resources (e.g., UpToDate and Pediatrics In Review) open in additional tabs.
Be sure to take notes on any MOCA-Peds questions you missed or skipped. Plan to review those notes immediately before you take the next quarter’s questions because they are likely to be presented again if you missed a question or had low confidence in your answer.
Get ready to do it all again! You’ll need to complete MOCA-Peds for each MOC 5-year cycle, and you’ll need to study efficiently and strategically.
The proctored MOC is a 4-hour exam offered to board-certified pediatricians to fulfill Part 3 of MOC by the American Board of Pediatrics. The MOCA-Peds Assessment is an at-home, self-paced, open book option with approximately 20 questions per quarter which satisfies the same requirements.
There is good news with MOCA-Peds! The ABP provides Learning Objectives and Featured Readings in advance. This “sneak peek” offers a huge advantage—you now have the ability to study the exact diseases and disorders that you will be tested on through MOCA-Peds.
If you fail a MOCA-Peds quarterly assessment, nothing happens right away. Certification is maintained by passing at least 12 quarterly assessments within the first 4 years of your 5-year cycle. If you do not pass at least 12 quarters by the end of your fourth year, then you must pass the proctored exam by the end of the 5-year cycle.
Failure to meet your recertification requirements is a big deal, and will result in loss of your status as a board-certified physician and possibly the loss of your job. Many hospitals and clinics will only employ board-certified pediatricians.
Please don’t be discouraged—there is a clear-cut road to PASSING. With these high-yield tips and the MOCA-PBR Study Guide & Test Companion, you can PASS the exams easily!
The American Board of Pediatrics provides approximately 40 Learning Objectives and up to 5 Featured Readings. Learning Objectives are the areas of pediatrics that you will need to read, study, and absorb. Featured Readings are typically medical journal articles or guidelines that you will also need to read. Learning Objectives and Featured Readings are usually published on the ABP website in the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Some examples of prior MOCA-Peds Learning Objectives include:
At Pediatrics Board Review, we know MOCA-Peds. We created the first-ever MOCA-Peds study guide, and we have pioneered newer, faster, and more effective study strategies to help pediatricians just like you.
Our job is to help you study efficiently and worry less. In fact, we believe so strongly in our proven track record to help our members pass that we put a Money Back First-Time Pass Guarantee on it.
Ready to go for that clear-cut PASS? Then what are you waiting for?
Getting to the pediatric boards is a major step in your career. Congratulations!
You’ve, no doubt, thought of exam preparation and winced. Think of it this way: the exam is the performance (or the game) and the exam prep is the rehearsal or scrimmage – authentic practice.
Pediatrics Board Review is here to make sure you are prepared and confident in your abilities to pass the boards.
Passing the pediatric boards is hard. We know that. We’re not just an exam prep company. Pediatrics Board Review was created by a pediatrician who failed the pediatric boards and then did so well that the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) asked him to write questions for them. So, we know what it’s like to go through these exams. We have the knowledge base and continuing education to help you pass.
There are three pillars for passing the pediatric board exams. They are content, technique, and commitment. Strength in each of these three key areas is crucial for success.
Content is the fund of pediatric knowledge you develop as you prepare for the pediatric boards. You may think that this is a time when you need to gather all the resources, read countless books, and spend agonizing hours flipping from one cross-reference to another. But the truth is, when taking this exam, less is more. Turning to other textbooks, medical journals, and notes can be disastrous. What you need is a single source that is comprehensive, focused on board-relevant information, and allows for repetition in order to guarantee reinforcement of the concepts.
Using PBR's proven content will get you across the finish line. The reason is congruency. Our digital resources mirror our hardcopy resources precisely. Audio, video, online, and hardcopy resources in congruency allow for an easy preparation process as you weave in and out of different resources. This allows for greater repetition and greater repetition results in greater reinforcement. By using the tried and tested Pediatrics Board Review initial certification exam resources, you’re guaranteed a pass.
“Content is king.” Whether you are coming to PBR as a first-timer, or have failed previously, getting the right content in hand is the single most important aspect of passing.
Technique refers to how you process both individual board-style questions and how you approach the entire exam. Board-style questions are vastly different than living and breathing people. These questions are NOT miniature patients. The medical board exam is a standardized, artificial environment complete with its own set of rules and strategies to navigate.
The thing is, there are rules to the “board game.” Think of each question as a silent puzzle and there are strategic rules in place to help you solve it. This has to do with understanding the various styles of pediatric board exam questions, how to navigate those different styles of questions, and how to process the answer choices in a way that leaves only the answer that the question writers want. Once you are able to do this well, you can start to answer certain questions even without remembering all of the clinical medicine that you studied!
Also, PBR has noticed something significantly different with our members who are International Medical Graduates. Standardized tests, such as the board exam, are different from the board exams with oral and essay questions that they may have been used to in other countries.
A good example of this is the time expectation. 75 seconds is the recommended length of time per question. What do you do when the time remaining on a block of questions is only two or three minutes and you’re still not done? Do you continue to process the questions in order? If you cannot pace yourself at approximately 75 seconds per question, that could prevent you from completing your exam block. What if you knew the answers to those last five questions, but time ran out? So if you are an International Medical Graduate who has struggled with American standardized exams, know that you are not alone, and we can help.
Helping you understand how to decipher what the question writers are asking of you, how to systematically process answer choices and how to manage your time on the exam, are just a few of the many strategies we teach in PBR’s Test Taking Strategies and Coaching courses.
Commitment is a huge reason why pediatricians fail the board exams. It takes a lot of effort and time to prepare yourself for the test. We recommend that low-risk, first-time test takers should study a minimum of 300 hours. For moderate and high-risk test takers, that number increases to 500. Regardless of which study plan you will need to follow, the commitment needed to take on 300-500 hours of board preparation is an absolute must for success.
PBR takes a deep dive into what is required to develop the study habits that you’ll need to get to where you want to be. This is done in our Live Test-Taking Strategies & Deep Study Course. PBR’s lectures around the concept of “Deep Study” are so impactful in multiple areas of life that they are often described as life-changing. There is no easy path toward passing your pediatric boards. But we will help you achieve this career milestone. It may mean studying every day, sacrificing time with your family, less time at your job, and maybe even passing up short-term opportunities in pursuit of the long-term goal. If you set these expectations for yourself you’ll be ahead of the game.
You can do it. We can help you.
What is your risk level for failing the pediatric boards? It’s a worthwhile question, right? Even though everyone needs to study and get ready for the exams, a high-risk candidate will need to put in additional effort. We can help you get there, and we can even help you identify whether you’re high-risk or low-risk.
A high-risk physician or resident may include someone who:
A low-risk physician or resident may include someone who:
Yes. As we mentioned in the commitment pillar, a minimum of 300 hours is recommended for low-risk pediatricians and 500 hours of board preparation is recommended for moderate to high-risk pediatricians. Your risk profile should also help you select the right resources to maximize your chances of passing the pediatric boards.
For low-risk test-takers, the minimum set of resources we recommend would be included in the All Access Pass. This includes 100% of our Initial Certification exam educational resources. The All Access Pass primarily focuses on providing concise, board-relevant content presented to you through multiple modalities. This bundle gives you everything you need to take on the Content pillar we discussed above.
But, the most common bundle for test takers of the Initial Certification exam is the No Brainer Bundle. It includes resources to support all 3 of the key pillars needed to pass the pediatric boards. It includes PBR’s:
PBR’s No Brainer bundle is the best pediatric study package on the market, and it costs less than the price of a traditional video board review course.
We’ve helped thousands of pediatricians get through the initial certification exam, including those who have failed many times before. PBR offers focused, easy-to-use resources that will get you across that finish line. In fact, we back it up with a Money-Back First-Time Pass Guarantee. And of the thousands who have utilized our resources, less than 0.5% of pediatricians have asked for their money back.
We’ve helped them, and we can help you.
Are you ready to take on the pediatric board exams?
