Customer Reviews

First Aid for the Pediatric Boards (FIRST AID Specialty Boards)

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My experience with First-Aid books has generally been very positive. I've used the series during my studies for all my USMLE steps, and they've been very helful.

First Aid for the Pediatric Boards will not disappoint. It is well written, with a logical structure and a concise nature. However, in an effort to maintain conciseness, I feel some pertinent information has been left out.

This book is best used by people who study over a long period - and then you will have an opportunity to write your notes along the margins (which are, by the way, nice and spacious). This will turn this book into the perfect read for the two weeks prior to the exam.

If you use this book as your sole studying source, you might pass - but only if you memorize the book entirely. Your volume of information will be hovering along the "just-enough" level and you will not afford losing a single question.

Good luck to all of us!

I have mixed feelings about First AID for the Pediatric Boards. I used both this book and Laughing Your Way . . . There are helpful tables in First AID that are not found in other books; however, there is a lot of extraneous information more useful for a third year medical student on the pediatric wards than someone taking their pediatric board exam (i.e. how to describe a cardiac murmur). I found more helpful information in Laughing Your Way . . . , but would recommend First AID if you have the time after reading other material.

I purchased this early on in residency with the aim of writing a lot of notes in the margins to complement my studying, supplemented by PREP content specs. However, roughly six months before I took the boards, I realised the depth of knowledge required - or more accurately put, the esoterica of pediatric knowledge tested on the boards - was not sufficiently addressed by First Aid. Instead, I doled out more money and got MedStudy. While First Aid was a good way to start preparing for the boards, in the end I believe MedStudy got me to _pass_ the boards. I also reviewed all my in-training exams and did all the PREP questions. The trick to passing the boards, which I honestly believe is a test of various obscure bits of facts and not a real measure of how intelligent, competent or compassionate a pediatrician you'll become, is to have a sense of the esoterica they like to test. Yes, MedStudy is expensive and it's not for everyone, but it's cheaper than taking the boards again.

I used this book for the 2009 boards (which I luckily passed) as a "notebook" because this book has all outlines and assumes you already know everything, so I had to supplement with other reviewers. if you're like me who like taking notes and using a master "notebook", then this book can help you. But again, do not use it alone. It lacks a lot of topics and important stuff!

Laughing your way is more helpful, at least for me it was...I guess it depends on how you like to study. If you like outline forms or bullet type notes, get this. I found it BORING though..But i guess studying for the boards is on par with getting a whiff of pea soup or trying to get vernix off your stethoscope...
Anyway, I'll admit it was high yield as far as information, but just painful to use...I'd have to sit down and turn off the TV to use it....Laughing your way is high yield, but easy enough to do while taking a crap.
There! Here's my review.
If you go to the library to study, buy this. If you highlight and take side notes, buy this...

If you like to read while you crap or watch TV while you study or go to the cafe and socialize while you study, DO NOT get this. If you went out drinking post call, used the fact that you are a single, male doctor who loves kids in order to get dates with women much hotter than you otherwise could or if you did well on your inservice, you don't need this book. If this last paragraph describes you, get Laughing your way...