99 Days to Board Exams: Day 99

In 99 days I will take the first part of a two-part psychiatry board exam. I have been preparing for four and a half years now to practice psychiatry. I already work as a psychiatrist. So what are the benefits to certification? For one, there is the recognition that a "board" of mutually self-qualified individuals endorses my fund of knowledge and skill, which confers some additional prestige and generates additional patient and employer confidence...

On the other hand, the testing is several days long, requires flight and accommodations (you pay) at a specific center, is extremely costly (~$3500), and requires lots of tedious preparation. Much of the tedium is related to small details that are quickly forgotten and have very little relevance to day-to-day practice.

I do, of course, see the need for some sort of self-governance for professions like medicine which helps protect the public from quacks and weirdos. However, the very complexity and cost of the whole examination process suggests that perhaps the "board" has become a too big and powerful bureaucratic machine...

At any rate, I am reaching out for support. I have over a thousand pages of reading and thousands of practice examination questions to go over in the next 99 days. On top of working two jobs, caring for children and remodeling the house. It feels pretty daunting. It's hard to even open the review textbook (I'm on page 284 of 1391!!!!). That's probably why I'm writing now... avoidance.

On that note, time to get back to work. One of my resolutions is to post something interesting daily that I come across in my studying for the next... 99 days.