About the Examination

The ABPN psychiatry test is a marathon day-long computerized multiple-choice exam offered in one case a year with two dates in September. You can utilize as early on as Nov only the deadline is February (current dates hither) through the "folio" website. You won't schedule the actual exam until scheduling is opened, usually around 2 months before the exam dates. Results accept around 8-ten weeks. In 2016, scores were released on November 30 (so 10 weeks).

Eligibility (run across the info document):

  • Graduate from a legit medical school
  • Have a full medical license
  • Stop residency (or be a senior on track to cease it before taking the test)
  • Consummate iii Clinical Skills Evaluations (CSE)

Costs:

  • $700 application fee when you lot register to tell them you're ready
  • $1685 examination fee when you schedule the exam with Pearson VUE.

Yous have 7 years after finishing your ACGME residency to pass the ABPN to get lath certified. So you have plenty of tries if things go south (subsequent tries "but" cost the $1685 exam fee).

Exam & Content

Y'all get l minutes of intermission time that you tin take between sections. Whatsoever breaks y'all accept past the 50 minutes are permitted, but they then eat into your bodily exam fourth dimension, which is 8.5 hours.

viii sections are split between Part A+B or Role C questions:

  • 110 questions in Part A (Basic Concepts in Psychiatry)
  • 110 questions in Part B (Neurology and Neurosciences)
  • 230 questions in Role C (Clinical Psychiatry).

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So 8 sections of 50-65 questions each for a total of 450 questions over 510 minutes. Near 20% is neurology/neuroscience. Tack on a 5-minute intro and 5-infinitesimal post-test survey and 50 minutes break time, and the whole day can take up to 9.5 hours. iv sections are vignette based and 4 sections are pure stand-alone questions (from the format and scoring document):

Stand-alone questions are ane-all-time-respond multiple-option questions that are non associated with any other questions. Part A and Office B questions are all stand-alone questions. For vignette questions, there are typically two to 10 multiple-choice questions linked to a common case that may be presented in a video clip, which may vary in length from one to four minutes, an audio clip, or in a text vignette.

The ABPN does provide one sample video vignette to whet your ambition.

Historically, each Part was graded separately and needed to be passed. At present the test is graded in aggregate; it'due south no longer possible to fail a single section and thus fail the exam. In 2016, a 71% correct overall was the passing threshold.

And everything is now DSM-V (from the policy document):

Starting in 2017, all specifications and content of all ABPN computer-delivered examinations volition exist based solely on DSM-v. No DSM-IV-TM classifications and diagnostic criteria will be applicable.

Board Books

  • Psychiatry Test Training and Review Transmission("Kenny and Spiegel") is the favorite overall. It was updated to DSM-V in 2016 and includes 1100 questions (6 tests of 150 questions + 160 instance vignette questions). The book does come with online qbank-mode admission, which is cool and can give you topic-performance feedback as well every bit admission to 8 video vignettes.
  • Massachusetts Full general Hospital Psychiatry Update & Lath Training, which is a review book coupled with ~400 questions. Succinct material coverage simply not updated to DSV-5 nevertheless.
  • Kaplan & Sadock's Study Guide and Self-Exam Review in Psychiatry, also non updated to DSM-V yet.

Question Banks

Board Vitals

The virtually popular question bank for the ABPN is Board Vitals (which also has question banks for other specialties as well). This resource is definitely not error-free, and some users feel that information technology contains besides much esoterica, but it's still widely used. It'south $139 for a month. Using the lawmaking BW10at checkout also gets you lot 10% off (buying after clicking that link gives me a referral; if yous don't desire me to go anything, and then just use the coupon code without clicking the link).

Overall, questions represent the board fashion pretty well, and the product is a practiced size (1639 questions). BV was completely updated to DSM-V in 2017. A lot of the "neuro" questions are actually psychiatry, so the neuro coverage is less than you'd guess from when yous first log in. As an exclusively web-based production, there is no off-line admission. You also need to striking the "evidence explanation" push to see the explanation for a question, which gets tiring after a while.

There is likewise a new optional 250 question bundle (actually 257) based on video vignettes available as an add together-on (another $139/month), which is pricey but basically the only a la bill of fare source for this question format currently.

TrueLearn

A new player is TrueLearn, which has products for both the PRITE and the ABPN ($25 off with that link). Questions overall feel harder and have a more basic science/med school type feel than those found in the other resources. The interface is a piffling more cluttered, simply the software is overall solid: you tin cross out answer choices and there's also a "bottom line" summary statement, which is helpful.

Ultimately, TrueLearn is a reasonable second online question source after Lath Vitals but overall probably not quite as loftier-yield yet. Overall, a couple of question sources are probable to be sufficient, and so later on Kenny & Spiegel and Board Vitals +/- more neuro review depending on your background, about test-takers are probably done question-wise.

Beat the Boards

Is a $one,097 online lecture form with a ~1000 questions and ~50 vignettes. We reached out to them to provide access for this review and were totally ignored. This is really expensive and ultimately unnecessary to pass.

Book round-out:

  • Kaufman's Clinical Neurology for Psychiatrists may exist also long to read cover to cover during a limited mail-work lath review, but it also contains 2000 questions (extras are online) to assist round out your neurology review.
  • Psychiatry Board Review: Pearls of Wisdom is a modify of footstep written in a concise Q&A format which was useful as an adjunct, only it's at present a fleck out of date and was neither equally consistent nor as thorough every bit the other review books. It does contain a lot of high yield facts organized in a quick-read way but is crying out for a DSM-V update.
  • Unlike for Pace 1, Start Aid for the Psychiatry Boards isn't the strongest source for psychiatry review and can be ignored. It purportedly does a passable chore for neurology but remains a safe pass unless you lot only need to accept some other book.

Thank you to my awesome married woman (the esteemed psychiatrist) for help in writing this mail service.