Your Last Stop before the Boards For the third consecutive edition of MKSAP, we bring you Board Basics, the only publication that compiles the essential facts and strategies for passing the Internal Medicine Certification and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Exam into one book and digital application. (You can access the app at http://mksap.acponline.org/16/apps.) We are confident that this volume will meet your needs. A total of 84% of surveyed Board Basics 2 users told us that Board Basics 2 effectively helped them prepare for the Certification or MOC exams. As many as 97% found this resource to be user-friendly and three quarters said they would recommend it to a colleague.
How to Use Board Basics 3 The goal of this enhancement to MKSAP 16 is to prepare you for the Boards after you have completed a systematic review of MKSAP 16 and its more than 1200 multiplechoice questions. Once again, we have combed through volumes to produce a concise compilation of only the information that you will most likely see in the exam. Our intention has not been to create a concise guide to patient care but to develop an exam preparation tool to help you quickly recognize the most likely answers on a multiplechoice exam. Drug dosages are not included since they are rarely, if ever, tested. You will also see many sections where information has been omitted because the omitted material is difficult to test or is otherwise unlikely to appear on the exam. Broad differential diagnoses are not provided for most problems. Instead, Board Basics focuses on the entities that have the highest probability of appearing on the exam as the “correct answers.” Critical points that appear on the exam are often presented here in isolation, stripped of context that is not relevant to answering a multiple-choice question. If you review these points shortly before your exam, you will have the best chance of remembering what you need to know to do well. Knowing that most Board questions are prefaced with the words “most likely,” we have tried to be very directive, skipping important steps in the patient evaluation. When you see the words “select” or “choose,” think in terms of selecting or choosing a particular answer, not an intervention in the practice of medicine. Remember that board Basics is not a patient care resource.
Content Organization Abbreviations, spelled out in a convenient list at the back of the book, are used frequently to increase reading efficiency.
Content is organized by topic and in consistent categories, such as Prevention, Screening, Diagnosis, and Therapy. Special components have been designed to enhance learning and recall. Look for: • Don’t Be Tricked: Incorrect answers that may masquerade as correct choices. • Test Yourself: Abbreviated case histories and answers found in Board exam questions. • Study Tables: Key concepts to prepare you for specific types of questions. • Yellow highlighting: We applied our own “marker” to call your attention to important phrases.
Why This Text Makes Sense For Board Basics 3, MKSAP 16 authors reviewed the latest literature and produced a concise syllabus and 1200-plus Board-like multiple-choice questions. Next, the content was turned over to 13 carefully selected chief residents, fellows, instructors, and professors of medicine who have expertise in Board preparation and the subspecialties of internal medicine. These physicians strained the essential points from MKSAP 16 and added their insights to update the content of Board Basics. Board Basics 3 editors also added information requested by readers of the second edition. Insights gleaned from ACP’s Internal Medicine In-Training Examination were also added. Board Basics includes core information to supplement MKSAP 16, information that is likely testable material for board examinations. Joining me in this effort were Associate Editors Edward R. Bollard, MD, DDS, FACP, of the Penn State College of Medicine, and Joyce E. Wipf, MD, FACP, of the University of Washington. Patrick Alguire, MD, FACP, Senior Vice President of the Medical Education Division of the American College of Physicians and Editor-in-Chief of MKSAP 16, pulled all of the content together, eliminating overlap and excessive material to focus the text as sharply as possible. The end product is what you have in your hands—the best Board prep tool that you will find anywhere. We hope you enjoy it and benefit from your study. Best wishes on your exam.
Douglas S. Paauw, MD, MACP Editor Board Basics
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