I'm 10 weeks out from my GI boards and trying to triage my study time more aggressively. I passed internal medicine boards 3 years ago so I'm not starting from zero, but GI is a different depth of knowledge. Currently doing 3 hours a day and scoring around 62% on GI-specific practice questions. That needs to get to at least 70% before I feel comfortable booking.
IBD and liver disease feel like they dominate the practice question banks, which makes me think they're heavily weighted on the real exam. I'm solid on IBD pathophysiology and treatment algorithms but weaker on hepatology, especially portal hypertension complications and TIPS indications. I've been spending 45 minutes every morning specifically on hepatology and it's slowly improving.
The endoscopy questions worry me because so much of that knowledge is visual. Text-based questions about endoscopy indications I can handle, but I've heard there are image-based questions that catch people off guard. How many image questions should I realistically expect, and is there a good resource for reviewing endoscopic images systematically?
10 weeks at 3 hours a day is plenty. I passed with 7 weeks at similar hours. Make the last 2 weeks almost entirely timed full-length practice exams — stamina matters more on this exam than most people expect going in.
Don't underestimate the motility section. It's commonly underprepped and the questions are straightforward if you've covered it. Achalasia manometry patterns and gastroparesis management both showed up on mine.
Hepatology is absolutely high-yield. I'd put it at 25-30% of my exam touching liver disease in some form. NAFLD/MASH staging, HCC screening criteria, and SBP prophylaxis indications were all directly tested.
Image questions were about 15-18% of my exam. The GI Leap question bank has a solid image section and the ACG case studies online are free and worth going through. You don't need to recognize rare findings — Barrett's patterns, UC endoscopy, and varices come up repeatedly.