Child And Adolescent Psychiatry For The Specialty Board Review (Continuing Education in Psychiatry and Psychology Series)

Rating:
Summary: helped to some extent
Review: I don't know about other candidates, but I do better with these national exams by doing sample questions from study guides or theoretically similar exams, like the Child PRITE, to filter out from the morass of information what's relevant for the purpose of the exam. So I was excited to find this book; since the subspecialty has such a small captive audience, I thought its existence bordered on a minor miracle. Hats off to Dr Hendren for writing it. Now that I've gotten through the actual Board exam, though, I'm not sure *what* I might have studied to feel really prepared for it... Still, Hendren's book at least provided a place to jump off from. For the most part, it identified the major topics and issues that seemed to be in the exam. It didn't appear to quite capture the types of questions asked. I think one drawback to the study guide was that it was entirely textbook-based; since the field and what we know is changing so rapidly, I wasn't sure whether some of the textbook answers he cited were still considered correct. Others who'd taken the exam before had suggested reading abstracts from the last five years of the Orange Journal, though even this appeared to have only partial value. Still, when put together with this guide - and I suppose for the very diligent or compulsive, a standard text on top of it, and don't forget any old Child PRITEs you can dig up - at least it's better than nothing. A primer on statistical methods geared toward clinical trials might also be helpful. One last comment about the book: there were some editing errors that added a bit of confusion, answers that did not match up with explanations. I hope the 3rd edition, if there is one, will correct them, in addition to updating our knowledge regarding prognostication and epidemiology. Good luck on the exam!

Rating:
Summary: actually helped a lot!
Review: I just took the child board exam and this question-and-answer book actually helped a lot. The exam takes three days: half of one for the written exam, a 75 minute preschool/school age oral exam, and a 60 minute live adolescent oral exam. This book helps the most with the written exam. The questions are similar to the type on the real exam. Hendren provides questions in either multiple choice or K-type format, with some matching questions. These are followed by answers and brief explanations. The explanations are usually helpful, but there are some that are confusing or skimpy. I actually got frustrated with a few of them. The material is a little dated (little on atypicals and a lot on tricyclics). But overall you will learn a lot and be in full "question mode" during the exam. There are a couple sections at the end of the book to help prepare for the oral exams. The preschool/school age one is more pertinent, because there is a written vignette on the actual exam. Overall, this book is well worth the investment!

Rating:
Summary: actually helped a lot!
Review: I just took the child board exam and this question-and-answer book actually helped a lot. The exam takes three days: half of one for the written exam, a 75 minute preschool/school age oral exam, and a 60 minute live adolescent oral exam. This book helps the most with the written exam. The questions are similar to the type on the real exam. Hendren provides questions in either multiple choice or K-type format, with some matching questions. These are followed by answers and brief explanations. The explanations are usually helpful, but there are some that are confusing or skimpy. I actually got frustrated with a few of them. The material is a little dated (little on atypicals and a lot on tricyclics). But overall you will learn a lot and be in full "question mode" during the exam. There are a couple sections at the end of the book to help prepare for the oral exams. The preschool/school age one is more pertinent, because there is a written vignette on the actual exam. Overall, this book is well worth the investment!