Laughing Your Way to Passing the Pediatric Boards: The Seriously Funny Study Guide Study Guide Edition

I used this book as my primary study tool to pass the recent 2014 General Pediatric Board Certifying Exam on my first attempt. Though not lightweight at nearly 1,000 pages it provided a singular resource to glean exam pearls and commonly tested information to be successful on exam day. Let's be honest, there is a heck of a lot of material to cover. This book in no way is utterly comprehensive, but this is where it excels...it's simplicity. The boards are mostly about pattern recognition (like medicine) and keying in on buzzwords and commonly tested material. This is where LYW earns its keep.I reviewed this book thoroughly -- I made it bleed highlighter. After review of a particular system I would try to answer PREP questions related to that system. I then reviewed my highlighting quickly in the few days prior to taking the boards. I would say LYW paired with PREP provided a potent and efficient combination tool to overcoming the most monumental exam in a pediatrician's career. Sure, you can spend months and months wading through minutiae and worrying yourself to death with too many separate resources. But why? My advice is pick 2-3 key resources and know them cold.I agree with many others that the mnemonics provided in this book are mostly forgettable and were not very helpful for me. However, there were many that I had never heard before and quite liked. Everyone's mileage may vary on this point, but I applaud the author for making an attempt to simplify desert sand dry material into something more memorable. I noted a few mistakes like other reviewers, but the majority of the information is solid.I am extremely grateful to have passed the boards on my first attempt. After making my way through premed curriculum, the MCAT, getting into a medical school, completing medical school, getting into a residency, passing all 3 general medical boards, and graduating from an ACGME accredited residency program I think we all hope to do the same. I truly feel for those that are not successful in passing and this is why I'm writing this review.I am glad this book exists and that I can forget about the whole thing...at least for another 10 years, that is. ;-)

First of all, I hope most of us agree that MOC is nothing but meaningless ritual that is somehow being tied to quality of the physician. Nothing could be farther than the truth. Having said that, I took my Peds recert last month and passed easily with a very high score. Of note, I am a sub-specialist and have not practiced General Peds in 15 years but according to ABP, I am a high quality pediatrician and all hospitals/insurance companies believe that. I only read this book a couple of times and did 1 year of PREP questions. Total time spent (50 hrs). This book pretty much outlines most of the archaic trick questions board has been asking on exams for decades with little relevance to clinical practice. Once you go through this book, you can spot them from a mile away on exams. On the negative side the book is a little too big and thick and some details are wrong. If in doubt consult a text book. Good luck to everyone.

I'm glad I have this as an outline, but you can't rely on it as a single tool. A LOT of stuff is flat out wrong, either because it is outdated or there were typos. Like the Hep B vaccine schedule is wrong - vaccine schedules are a pretty basic topic, pretty ridiculous to have this be wrong. So I've been having to reference the CDC website, Harriet Lane, Med Study, and even those old Case File books we used in med school to get information. Also if you are trying to get a clearer picture on a topic that has never made much sense, you'll have to read it elsewhere. Between the size of the book and the fact that you end up needing 7 other books and a computer to check stuff, you really can't study anywhere but at home.If you are using this to study, be aware that you have to read every word. Some things that they point out will show up in the prep questions. It's a good balance to PREP, since that is so overly detailed.I think if the information was all correct, regardless of the size of the book and it's simplicity, I'd be really happy with it. But I find I am not sure I trust it.

Not a horrible choice for a last minute review book. Easy to read through and does cover a lot of pertinent material.This book does contain A LOT of errors, mostly in the form of a "not" or something along those lines missing so definitely don't use this book as a first time study guide to LEARN the material, only to review because otherwise there are a few key points that you may learn incorrectly unless you actually already know it and catch the error. Also there are no visuals other than the occasional table (no pictures, only descriptions of signs/symptoms) so you'll definitely need another reference item (whether it's just Google Images) to makes sure you get everything you need.And the jokes are pretty lame so in all honesty the text contributed to "laughing your way" through the review process just ends up being extra text you have to read through and kinda dismiss at the end of the page so I wouldn't expect any real "entertainment" out of reading through this book.No regrets getting it but be aware of the downsides.

Using this book as supplemental study material during residency. Includes important basic information. I like using it so far. The information in this book is very concise. The layout of the pages is very spaced out. Not crowded with paragraphs of information. This book is not good for in depth reading on a subject, but is great as board review.Please click below if you found this review helpful.