Sat for the GI boards after fellowship and passed on the first attempt. My score landed around the 65th percentile — not impressive, but a pass is a pass. Started studying seriously about 16 weeks out, which in hindsight was the right call given how wide the content scope is.
Hepatology and IBD were the heaviest sections for me. Hepatology in particular has a lot of nuanced management questions where you're choosing between two clinically reasonable options. I spent about 30% of my total study time just on liver disease content, which felt excessive until I saw how many questions hit that area on the actual exam.
Motility was the section I found hardest to make myself study properly. Manometry interpretation questions require a level of familiarity that doesn't come from passive reading — you need to work through real tracings. Found a question bank with motility case images and that helped more than any textbook chapter.
Did two full-length practice exams in the final four weeks and used the results to guide my last push. If you're averaging below 60% on practice tests six weeks out, adjust your timeline now. Don't go in hoping the curve saves you.
The pancreas section had more management algorithm questions than I expected — not just anatomy, but actual decision frameworks around acute pancreatitis severity and drainage timing. Worth going through the ACG guidelines carefully.
Motility always hits people harder than they expect. The key is getting exposure to actual manometry tracings early — don't wait until the last few weeks to start interpreting them.
16 weeks was my timeline too. I know people who did it in 10 and passed, but they were mostly academic fellows with lighter clinical loads. If you're doing full clinical time, give yourself more runway.
Hepatology being 30% of your prep sounds about right. On my exam it felt like liver questions were everywhere. Anyone who glosses over that content is going to feel it in their score.
Just hit 74% on my latest mock so I'm finally feeling like things are clicking. I've been at it for about six weeks now and the first month was rough — honestly wasn't sure I'd be ready in time. Found some solid free material through free etcp security in cloud environments that helped me nail down the concepts I kept second-guessing.
Planning to sit in about three weeks if the scores hold up. Your point about starting early really lands — I didn't give myself nearly enough runway at first and it showed. Good luck to everyone else still grinding through it.