How To Prepare For The ABFAS And ABPM Board Qualification Exams
When one begins preparing for the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (ABFAS) or American Board of Podiatric Medicine (ABPM) board qualification exams, it can be overwhelming. The vast amount of books, journals and information available makes it challenging to come up with a study plan. After taking both exams this spring, I hope to highlight some resources that I found useful.
Your preparation begins your first year of residency through the many didactic programs in place. Everything from case conferences, academic presentations and journal clubs to McGlamry review sessions and cadaver labs can be useful in passing these boards. Looking back as a third-year resident, coming into each didactic session prepared and having reviewed the material to be discussed will allow you to make the most out of these experiences.
Begin reading current journals and texts. If you get into the habit of reading and outlining a chapter from McGlamry’s Comprehensive Textbook of Foot and Ankle Surgery or Mann’s Surgery of the Foot and Ankle to prepare for surgical cases as a first-year resident, you will have made an excellent study guide for boards. The Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Foot and Ankle International are excellent publications for current research and case studies. Getting into the habit of daily reading and taking notes will pay tremendous dividends when it comes time to sit down to study for both parts of boards.
Boards by the Numbers (available at https://www.certifiable.com) is an online ABFAS study guide and question bank available for purchase. The study guides review the high points of different topics and give you a better idea of what to focus on. I often used these study guides and further supplemented some of them with my own notes. When you finish each study guide, the question bank allows you to test yourself on what you’ve learned and identify weaknesses. Additionally, Board Vitals (available at https://www.boardvitals.com/) has a plethora of questions for ABFAS foot, ABFAS rearfoot and ABPM exams. Each question comes with an explanation of the answer and cites the resources used for the question. The ABPM qualification exam heavily tests biomechanics so it is important to review this topic independently.
My biggest criticism of Boards by the Numbers and Boards Vitals is the level of difficulty of the practice questions did not reflect that of the ABFAS exam. I found the practice questions to be much easier and/or straightforward in comparison to the exam. Thus, I would recommend using these only to supplement your studies.
Both the ABFAS and the ABPM exams have practice questions available online. The ABPM has an app with dozens of questions on a variety of topics. Reviewing these can point out strengths and weakness in preparing for this test. The ABFAS has several practice questions and tests, as well as a practice computer-based patient simulation. In addition, the computer-based patient simulation practice test also has an in-depth answer sheet. I found it very useful to review this prior to taking the exam to guide my test taking strategy.
Don’t doubt your own study methods. When the time comes to prepare for these exams, remember how you studied best throughout school and all your previous board exams, and implement these methods.
