I took the GI boards in November of 2021 and passed.
Walking out of the exam, I felt I studied well and was 100% sure I was going to pass. After I finished the test, I initially felt relief that it was done, but that turned into fear by the time I got home. I was terrified that I failed because I remembered a bunch of questions that I got wrong from a combination of remembering stupid mistakes and looking up answers and realizing I got those questions wrong. I was convinced I got at least 40-50 questions wrong (possibly more because I felt I was able to narrow the majority of the questions down to 2 answers, and then I would take an educated guess to chose the right answer). It felt like none of the questions came from the resources I used. I was 100% sure I failed and was already figuring out ways to study again.
To my surprise (and disappointment), there really hasn't been a lot of recent posting regarding the best resources. So I told myself that if I passed, I would write my experience.
I used Steinberg GI videos and Mayo Clinic Review videos. After the exam, I felt neither of the videos contained the material needed to answer the questions, but I felt the Mayo Clinic Review videos was the better of the two.
I bought the Steinberg GI course when I was a 3rd year fellow. From previous fellows, this was thought to be the gold standard board review course. I didn't really find the course that helpful, in the sense I didn't really think I got many questions right because of this course. The course is a great course for practicing attendings as a way to keep fresh on the most up to date knowledge and that is because a lot of the course is based on experts in the field and what they do in practice (which does not always correlate with the guidelines). In addition, some of the videos was just a review of recent studies/publications and was not really going over guidelines/board specific information. Therefore, if I had to study for this again, I would not use the Steinberg videos.
About 3 weeks before my exam, I panicked because I realized Steinberg was not that great, and I bought the Mayo Clinic Review Course. I thought this course was great because it goes over information in a way that I thought was more board pertinent and it felt like it was pulling information from guidelines.
In the end, I watched all of the Mayo Clinic Review course and re-watched the videos for topics that I felt weak in. Although I didn't feel like the Steinberg video course was helpful, I did end up watching all of them and re-watching the videos for topics that I felt weak in.
In terms of questions banks, I did DDSEP 9. I pretty much repeated the questions multiples times until my exam. There is a lot of information in the answer explanation. I tried to read the explanations as much as possible, but for the most part I would skim the explanation and try to pick up the key points.
I did the 2021 ACG Self-Assessment, which I thought was great.
I was told Acing the GI Board Exam was good. I ended up just reading the "Here's the point" comments in the book, which were the high-yield points in the chapters.
I didn't read the DDSEP books, so I cannot really comment on that.
I didn't do the Steinberg question bank, so I cannot really comment on that.
If I had to study for this again, I would use DDSEP 9 and the most recent ACG self-assessments as my question bank, Mayo Clinic Review videos as a my board review course, and I would read Acing the GI Board Exam, using these resources as many times as possible before the exam date.
Walking out of the exam, I felt I studied well and was 100% sure I was going to pass. After I finished the test, I initially felt relief that it was done, but that turned into fear by the time I got home. I was terrified that I failed because I remembered a bunch of questions that I got wrong from a combination of remembering stupid mistakes and looking up answers and realizing I got those questions wrong. I was convinced I got at least 40-50 questions wrong (possibly more because I felt I was able to narrow the majority of the questions down to 2 answers, and then I would take an educated guess to chose the right answer). It felt like none of the questions came from the resources I used. I was 100% sure I failed and was already figuring out ways to study again.
To my surprise (and disappointment), there really hasn't been a lot of recent posting regarding the best resources. So I told myself that if I passed, I would write my experience.
I used Steinberg GI videos and Mayo Clinic Review videos. After the exam, I felt neither of the videos contained the material needed to answer the questions, but I felt the Mayo Clinic Review videos was the better of the two.
I bought the Steinberg GI course when I was a 3rd year fellow. From previous fellows, this was thought to be the gold standard board review course. I didn't really find the course that helpful, in the sense I didn't really think I got many questions right because of this course. The course is a great course for practicing attendings as a way to keep fresh on the most up to date knowledge and that is because a lot of the course is based on experts in the field and what they do in practice (which does not always correlate with the guidelines). In addition, some of the videos was just a review of recent studies/publications and was not really going over guidelines/board specific information. Therefore, if I had to study for this again, I would not use the Steinberg videos.
About 3 weeks before my exam, I panicked because I realized Steinberg was not that great, and I bought the Mayo Clinic Review Course. I thought this course was great because it goes over information in a way that I thought was more board pertinent and it felt like it was pulling information from guidelines.
In the end, I watched all of the Mayo Clinic Review course and re-watched the videos for topics that I felt weak in. Although I didn't feel like the Steinberg video course was helpful, I did end up watching all of them and re-watching the videos for topics that I felt weak in.
In terms of questions banks, I did DDSEP 9. I pretty much repeated the questions multiples times until my exam. There is a lot of information in the answer explanation. I tried to read the explanations as much as possible, but for the most part I would skim the explanation and try to pick up the key points.
I did the 2021 ACG Self-Assessment, which I thought was great.
I was told Acing the GI Board Exam was good. I ended up just reading the "Here's the point" comments in the book, which were the high-yield points in the chapters.
I didn't read the DDSEP books, so I cannot really comment on that.
I didn't do the Steinberg question bank, so I cannot really comment on that.
If I had to study for this again, I would use DDSEP 9 and the most recent ACG self-assessments as my question bank, Mayo Clinic Review videos as a my board review course, and I would read Acing the GI Board Exam, using these resources as many times as possible before the exam date.
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