Pre-reg open book exam help?

[jzd4rma]

Hi Help exam is on the 24th june 2011, ive started to prepare for my pre-reg exam since january ive read through the BNF couple of times but some very specialised area are hard to digest, so need to over that. But despite reading the BNF i still find the open book exam quite hard to do, can anyone offer me some guidance or advice, because i've heard tabbing is good but what really frustrates me is the fact that in the open book exam they ask the most ridiculously obscure question which despite reading a BNF are quite hard to find and i wonder how im going to cope in the actual exam aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh help getting very stressed now!

[hibernia]

ive read through the BNF couple of times but some very specialised area are hard to digest,

The BNF isn't really a book you read, it is a reference book, one you refer to.
You have to practice using it to get specific information, the answer to a specific question, rather than trying to memorise every detail in it.

You still have loads of time so break it down in small chunks, practice every day, using a variety of examples rather than trying to cover one chapter at a time which can end up causing overload.

[Nik]

The BNF isn't really a book you read, it is a reference book, one you refer to.

Exactly - it's not published to be read as a novel from start to end but should be used as a reference guide. If you refer to it often enough throughout the year you won't need to look up the answer in the BNF for each exam question.

[jzd4rma]

I know this is going to sound quite dense guys so practice questions to help me get used to deriving the answer right i shall do that! Anyways if i get stuck i can always come back here for more advice. Cheers guys!

[Nik]

One thing I would recommend not just for yourself but for all pre-regs is the BNF 60 e-update on the CPPE website. Register if you haven't done so, because there is so much free stuff on the site that you can do as a pre-reg which will help not only for evidence and competencies but also for general learning. There are two versions of the update, a community and hospital version and its straightforward. Not only does it test knowledge but it's also useful for learning how to navigate your way around the BNF to find the relevant bits of info.

[montblanc]

Hi Help exam is on the 24th june 2011, ive started to prepare for my pre-reg exam since january ive read through the BNF couple of times but some very specialised area are hard to digest, so need to over that. But despite reading the BNF i still find the open book exam quite hard to do, can anyone offer me some guidance or advice, because i've heard tabbing is good but what really frustrates me is the fact that in the open book exam they ask the most ridiculously obscure question which despite reading a BNF are quite hard to find and i wonder how im going to cope in the actual exam aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh help getting very stressed now!

I agree with you. The open book is an absolute nightmere. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting and failing the september 2010 prereg exam in london. Compared to previous years where over 90% of people who sat the exam passed, in the september 2010 exam only 65% passed the exam. Its a disgrace. i got overall 68%. Passed the closed book paper and the calcs section, but got 65% in the open book paper. I had to guess about 25 questions. Their wasnt a single question i could answer from the top of my head without having to look it up. Even though i went through the bnf several times and knew it pretty well. Most questions involved flicking through several sections of the bnf franticly to find the answer. People who sat the june 2010 exam said that the open book was straight forward and most answers people could answer without looking them up. Honestly its the luck of the draw. My advice is to go through past papers under exam condition and sit with a friend and ask each other to find random things in the bnf as quickly as you can. Its all about time management. Make sure the index is tabbed well. Do it like a phone book with letters cut out. I didnt go through past papers under exam condition, so i struggled in the main exam because i was very slow. Only thing im extremely angry about is that i need to do everything again, which is not fair. They should allow people to sit only the part of the exam that they failed. This would be fair. drug tarrif is easy to tab and mep is straight forward aswell.

[jzd4rma]

Hey Nik thanks for the advice i have e-mailed them today but i also have to phone them being a pre-reg they dont give much unless you bug them!

[jzd4rma]

I agree with you. The open book is an absolute nightmere. I had the unfortunate experience of sitting and failing the september 2010 prereg exam in london. Compared to previous years where over 90% of people who sat the exam passed, in the september 2010 exam only 65% passed the exam. Its a disgrace. i got overall 68%. Passed the closed book paper and the calcs section, but got 65% in the open book paper. I had to guess about 25 questions. Their wasnt a single question i could answer from the top of my head without having to look it up. Even though i went through the bnf several times and knew it pretty well. Most questions involved flicking through several sections of the bnf franticly to find the answer. People who sat the june 2010 exam said that the open book was straight forward and most answers people could answer without looking them up. Honestly its the luck of the draw. My advice is to go through past papers under exam condition and sit with a friend and ask each other to find random things in the bnf as quickly as you can. Its all about time management. Make sure the index is tabbed well. Do it like a phone book with letters cut out. I didnt go through past papers under exam condition, so i struggled in the main exam because i was very slow. Only thing im extremely angry about is that i need to do everything again, which is not fair. They should allow people to sit only the part of the exam that they failed. This would be fair. drug tarrif is easy to tab and mep is straight forward aswell.

I'am sorry to hear about your predicament it terrifies me everyone tells me not to worry so much but i am desperate to pass the first time, I hope to god i do! thank you for your kind advice my strategy is to use MCQ books to test my speed and then practice exam paper under strict condition i guess thats the only way i could succeed while we are on the question of tabbing can you tell me how you tabbed the MEP and Drug tarrif because i think i need to make a start on that now ASAP!

[montblanc]

Im sure you`ll pass first time. In the drug tarrif i just tabbed all the indivual chapters. e.g drugs for zero discount, fees, appliances, incontinance, stoma, border line, charge, dental, nurses, blacklist, SLS. Thats all you need for drug tariff. For MEP - Make sure you tab all the individual sections aswell - e.g controlled drugs, poisons, clinical governance etc. I just made an extra contents page in my mep listing the most important parts so i could find them quickly. The bnf has changed from when i did it. Appendix 2-6 has been moved to contain them under each relavant drug. I think this is a really bad idea, because it makes each chapter look massive now and all the information is not in one place anymore, its scattered about now. How are you will calcs? the more quickly you can do them, the more time you will have for the open book. do all the bnf questions first, then all the mep, then all the drug traiff. Saves alot of time. The time will absolutely fly by in the exam! good luck.

[jzd4rma]

Im sure you`ll pass first time. In the drug tarrif i just tabbed all the indivual chapters. e.g drugs for zero discount, fees, appliances, incontinance, stoma, border line, charge, dental, nurses, blacklist, SLS. Thats all you need for drug tariff. For MEP - Make sure you tab all the individual sections aswell - e.g controlled drugs, poisons, clinical governance etc. I just made an extra contents page in my mep listing the most important parts so i could find them quickly. The bnf has changed from when i did it. Appendix 2-6 has been moved to contain them under each relavant drug. I think this is a really bad idea, because it makes each chapter look massive now and all the information is not in one place anymore, its scattered about now. How are you will calcs? the more quickly you can do them, the more time you will have for the open book. do all the bnf questions first, then all the mep, then all the drug traiff. Saves alot of time. The time will absolutely fly by in the exam! good luck.

Yeah i think im ok with calculation, fortunately the uni i went to had a big emphasis in calculation we had to pass an exam at 70% to on pharmaceutical calculation to pass the 4th year. Yeah i think what im doing now is tabbing BNF, basically ive split the individual topics within each section so i can find them fast because i know the information is so much even when i read it it goes over my head! But my plan is to have a rough mental map of where most stuff is laid out in the BNF because if i rely on the index i waste valuable time looking up and the tabs splitting the diff topics (e.g. diuretics and CCB) makes it easier to flick through! I shall try the exam question under exam condition from now!

And i do agree with you what were those idiots thinking when they took out Appendix 2-6 it makes it doubly worse the open paper because you have to flick through five section to determine C/I for breast feeding, renal impairment and etc.

Good luck with your exam too!