Internal Medicine Boards with TrueLearn
As we progress through our medical training to become physicians, the resources dwindle but the tests/examinations still persist. What I mean by that is there seems to be ample resources tackling different methods of learning as a medical student, but you go into residency and fellowship - the choices are mostly textbooks and question banks. For that reason, it is important to find a quality question bank that also helps you retain information and optimize your studying efficiency. Let me show you how TrueLearn helped me increase my ITE (In-Training Exam) scores significantly, and made me feel more prepared for the real thing.
For internal medicine, the standard platform that is provided by all residents across the nation is MSKAP by ACP (Medical Knowledge Self-Assessment Program by the American College of Physicians), which provides a strong foundational knowledge. Often though, it is rarely the only resource that is utilized to study for the internal medicine boards.
The recommendation is to supplement MSKAP with an additional question bank to have more variety in breadth of topics and angles of material tested. MSKAP questions have limitations such as not providing enough explanation, minimal citations, and not enough repetition of high yield topics. There are many question banks out there but TrueLearn's IM Prep SmartBank has to be the best in terms of quality and affordability, and here’s why:
The Price:
Many question banks are overcharging you for the amount of questions and features available. TrueLearn has a very fair price and includes varying duration such as 30d, 90d, 180d, and 365d so you can customize utilizing it in tandem with MSKAP or closer to the test date. This price gets you access to over 1,800+ ABIM-style practice questions.
The Set Up:
Truelearn’s interface is very straightforward and easy to use. They have a mobile app and a desktop version to access your question bank wherever you go. I find that it is very intuitive to see what topics I want to cover, how many questions to do, and even gauge the difficulty of those questions when I am making a custom test (Figure 1).
There is a search function which is super useful for reviewing and marking my incorrect answers.
There are thousands of learners who have utilized TrueLearn as their platform each year and this allows TrueLearn to have a large database of statistics when it comes to tracking your scores and national averages. With that being said, you can hide your performance on TrueLearn if this is too much of a distraction.
Figure 1
A comprehensive list of all the available questions TrueLearn IM Smartbank has, covering topics seen in the ABIM Board Certification & ACP IM-ITE Exams
The Study Flow:
You can test your skills in timed, untimed, or tutor mode. I absolutely love Truelearn’s explanations – they include rich visuals and detailed answer explanations to reinforce the questions’ learning objectives.
A unique tool that helps with spaced repetition learning is the notes section which allows you to easily click “Copy Text as Note”, which makes a card of summarizing the main topic tested. I then add my own notes if necessary and am able to refer back to these flashcards on the sidebar (Figure 2). This saves so much time instead of individually typing out or copying/pasting these points when you are studying.
An important feature is linking citations so that as the learner, we are able to read more about this topic and also verify the information that is being tested. TrueLearn questions are made by content experts and also grounded in evidence based medicine and practice guidelines (Figure 3).
Figure 2. Demonstrating each question will have a key point that can be easily made into a flashcard with one click.
Figure 3. Citations of clinical trials, published research, and reliable sources for which the question/answer was made based on.
TrueLearn has a simple interface reflecting testing simulation.
I have used TrueLearn through Step 1, Step 2, Comlex 3, and now the internal medicine boards. There is no one I trust more than TrueLearn to help me prepare for an exam that will determine if I get my internal medicine certification and become a fully-licensed physician.
If you are interested in trying out TrueLearn, use my referral link https://truelearn.referralrock.com/l/shanonology/
(Code: shanonology) For $25 off 90-Day or Longer Residency Licensure, COMLEX, and USMLE SmartBanks
