PM&R News   •   July 28, 2019

The second half tip-off has officially come.  Your first half of PM&R Board studying probably started sometime late in the spring, and now you are realizing that it is time to ramp it up a little. You are now done with PM&R residency and either starting your new attending job or a fellowship (congrats!). As exciting as this time if for you, I remember how stressful it can be. Learning the new ropes and taking on the tremendous pressure of Staff or Fellow life is tremendously overwhelming on its own.

Balancing a newborn and a new sports medicine fellowship requiring a lot of clinic and game coverage, was truly a challenge. I had to figure out the most efficient means of making sure I new 4 years worth of PM&R material, and cover that gaps that I was not exposed to much in residency. My ideas worked out well, but we also pulled tips from past subscribers who also passed. Now we are sharing them with you!

PM&R Board Review Study Tips

1. Be consistent. You have to come up with a plan. You can’t just study when you have time and learn whatever you feel like learning. It’s tempting to just learn the topics that you like well. While that makes studying fun, you have to study the topics that you are less interested in. You also have to make a schedule and stick with it. Missing a workout is one thing. Missing study sessions will cause you to miss questions and possibly fail your exam.
2. Know orthotics and prosthetics. Understanding orthotics and prosthetics is what makes PM&R special. The PM&R Board exam will always have a fair share of questions on this topic. No other specialty understands this like we do. Therefore, there will definitely be questions on the topic. The Cuccurullo chapters on this were quite dense to me. I recommend using our PM&R QBank questions and glancing over/reading the references.
3. Do questions during your down time. One of the goals of the PM&R QBank was to make studying convenient. Because you can access our PM&R QBank from your phone, you can study virtually anytime and anywhere. Do a few questions when you wake up. Knock out one or two brushing your teeth. Do a few when you park for work. Answer a couple between patients. Do 25 questions during lunch. Do a few before you leave the unit. Do some while taking a bath. And knock out a few before you go to sleep. If you add this to your study sessions, you will increase your exposure and set yourself up better for passing the PM&R Board exam.
4. Read through Cuccurullo. We are big fans of this review book. Pick one of our PM&R QBanks and do before you read the chapter. Then, do one after to see if you retained what you read.
5. Get healthy, stay healthy. Now is the time to make sure you are exercising and eating healthy. Studying takes a toll on your body. Between prolonged sitting and just the mere mental energy used, you want to make sure that your body is as healthy as possible. We are fans of workouts on exercisemenu.com (my personal workout site) the Daily Burn, and the Mediterranean Diet.
6. Meditate. This time of your life is the crazy beginning to an awesome career in PM&R. Because it can be stressful, you have to make sure you stay grounded. Read and meditate on your favorite scripture, quote, poem, etc. Learn to just turn off and sit for a few minutes and just focus on your breathing. This will refresh you and allow you to go longer.
7. Be responsible with coffee and alcohol. In the coming weeks, you have to be consistent with your coffee exposure and make sure you drink coffee now like you would on the day of your PM&R Board exam. If you are not planning on drinking coffee, you may want to begin weaning it out of your system soon. Alcohol probably isn’t the best thing to consume at this point if you want a brain that will fire all cylinders come test date.
8. Make things relevant. When studying, try to think of a particular case that you had to help you remember what you are learning. For example, if you are studying ALS, try to recall all that you learned from your experience with patients. Another method is to pretend that you are seeing a patient while you are studying and tell them everything you know about ALS. Things you can’t explain, such as the reason for needling the tongue, you should review.
9. Study with a friend. This just simply makes studying more pleasant. In addition, you may save time by asking a friend to explain a particular topic, like repetitive nerve stimulation. On the flip side, if they ask you questions and you know the answer, it will give you confidence. If you don’t, then you and your partner can look it up together and discuss.
10. Don’t panic! It’s just another board exam. You’ve been this far and made it through the others. If you fail, it really isn’t a big deal at the end of the day. If you are an awesome person and physician, you will get a good job. Yes, it’s expensive to take it again, but you will be able to afford it a year from now. And to help, we have a “full pass guarantee” where you will have free access until you pass the PM&R Board exam. Just treat each question like a patient is asking you, and that will help you choose the most common sense answer.

I hope these tips help you pass the exam! Please let us know if there is anything else we can offer to help you pass the PM&R Board exam! We love boasting about our 96% pass rate!