What's new
What's new in August 2026
Everything we shipped to BoardPal in August 2026.
Aug 15 to 21 · 25 updates
21Aug · Fri
Clearer answers where you asked for them
Improved- Improved
Three OB-emergency flashcards now carry full explanations. more ▾less ▴
Three flashcards on the Labor Complications & OB Emergencies deck now carry full explanations instead of one-liners, after one of you asked for the why behind the answers: the cord prolapse card walks through the overt, occult and funic types and why the bladder is filled with saline, and the shoulder dystocia pair now explains what McRoberts actually does and how suprapubic pressure frees the stuck shoulder.
- Improved
A jurisprudence rationale now explains every wrong option properly. more ▾less ▴
A jurisprudence question on foreign nurses sitting the local board exam has a rewritten rationale: it now explains, against the Nursing Act itself, why each wrong option fails — including why an oath of allegiance is not what the law asks of an examinee.
- Improved
The PH Health System sheet now names both nurse-to-population figures. more ▾less ▴
The PH Health System cram sheet's ratio panel now names both public health nurse figures you may have met in review — 1 to 20,000 from the rural health unit planning table, and 1 to 10,000 from other references and DOH workforce statements — and tells you which to anchor on when an item is about the RHU team. If you had highlights on the earlier version, they are safe: one tap on the History icon brings them back exactly where you drew them.
- Improved
A near-duplicate question pair was rewritten apart. more ▾less ▴
Two practice questions that had drifted into near-copies of each other were pulled apart — one was rewritten so each now tests its own point, after one of you spotted the repeat.
A new Neuro B cram sheet: Parkinson's, MS, myasthenia and GBS
New- New
New: a Neuro B cram sheet on Parkinson's, MS, myasthenia and GBS, on your NP4 shelf. more ▾less ▴
The second neuro cram sheet is now on your Resources shelf under NP4: Neuro B — Parkinson's, MS, Myasthenia & GBS, seventeen illustrated pages on the degenerative and autoimmune disorders. It opens with a labeled neuron, because that one drawing organizes the whole topic: multiple sclerosis attacks the myelin in the brain and cord, Guillain-Barré strips the myelin on the peripheral nerves, myasthenia gravis blocks the receptor at the very end, and ALS takes the motor neuron itself. From there each disease gets its nursing: Parkinson's with the TRAP signs drawn on a patient and the levodopa timing rules, myasthenia against Guillain-Barré side by side so the descending and ascending weakness stop blurring together, the myasthenic and cholinergic crises, a plasmapheresis setup drawn piece by piece, multiple sclerosis with its triggers and exacerbation care, and Alzheimer's with the communication and safety nursing. Bell's palsy and trigeminal neuralgia are here in full, as promised on the Neuro A sheet, with the same man's face drawn twice so you can see exactly why a spared forehead points away from stroke. Where the classic exam answer and current practice have drifted apart, the sheet shows both and tells you which one the board expects. The Philippine section covers X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism of Panay, our dementia numbers, and the senior-citizen benefits under RA 9994.
A new Diabetes Mellitus and Endocrine Emergencies cram sheet
New- New
New: a Diabetes and endocrine emergencies cram sheet, on your NP4 shelf. more ▾less ▴
A Diabetes Mellitus & Endocrine Emergencies cram sheet is now on your Resources shelf under NP4, after one of you pointed out that the endocrine sheet's only diabetes was diabetes insipidus — a fair catch, and this fills the gap properly. Fourteen illustrated pages on the disease the boards love most: the types and how they present, the insulin curves with onset, peak and duration, the mixing, storage and injection-site rules with the rotation zones drawn on a body, hypoglycemia against hyperglycemia as two labeled patients you can compare sign by sign, and DKA against HHS laid out as a fork so you can tell the two emergencies apart under pressure. It carries the sick-day rules, the Somogyi and dawn phenomena, foot care with the monofilament check, the long-term complications mapped on a body, and it closes with a summary table of the other endocrine emergencies — thyroid storm, myxedema coma and Addisonian crisis. Where the classic exam answer and newer guidance disagree, the sheet shows both and tells you which one to write on the board exam. There is a Philippine section with our own diabetes numbers, Diabetes Awareness Week, and an honest row on ampalaya.
The same fairness sweep reached the mock boards
Improved- Improved
23 mock-board questions repaired; recorded answers and scores untouched. more ▾less ▴
23 questions that also appear in the mock boards got the same repair as the morning's practice batch: measured against real answer patterns, rewritten so the credited answer is reachable on nursing knowledge rather than wording, and double-reviewed before going live. No answer keys or scores moved. If you review a mock you already took, a repaired question shows its improved wording — your recorded answer and score stay exactly as they were.
53 practice questions repaired after a bank-wide fairness sweep
Improved- Improved
53 practice questions rewritten so strong students stop losing points to wording. more ▾less ▴
We measured every practice question against how students actually answer it, and flagged the ones where a wrong choice was out-drawing the credited answer three-to-one or worse among equally prepared students — the sign of a question testing wording rather than nursing. 53 of them were rewritten overnight: the credited answer now carries its full reasoning in its own words, and the tempting rival stays tempting for the right reasons but is genuinely wrong. Every rewrite went through two independent reviews before going live, and no answer keys moved.
- Improved
Legitimately hard questions were left untouched. more ▾less ▴
The same sweep confirmed that genuinely difficult questions are pulling their weight: where the data showed stronger students getting an item right, it was left exactly as it was. Hard stayed hard — only unfair got fixed.
- Improved
20Aug · Thu
Smoother pen strokes on iPad
Fixed- Fixed
iPad pen strokes no longer come out broken and chunky. more ▾less ▴
Writing on a cram sheet with an Apple Pencil (or a finger) on iPad could come out broken and chunky — some iPads slip stale copies of earlier pen positions into the touch stream, and the ink faithfully recorded every phantom jump. New strokes now filter those out as you write, and strokes you already saved are cleaned up automatically when they draw — nothing you wrote is lost.
Practice sets up to 100 questions, Vault runs up to 200
NewImproved- New
Practice sets up to 100 questions; Vault runs up to 200. more ▾less ▴
You can now build a practice set of up to 100 questions — the presets offer 100 alongside 10, 20, 30 and 50, and the custom box accepts any number up to 100. A timed exam-mode set of 100 gets the full board-pacing budget of two hours, the same as one NP on the real exam. The Vault goes further: because it reviews one question at a time with the rationale after each answer, a single Vault run can now serve up to 200, so a big review pile clears in far fewer sittings. This one came from student requests — keep them coming.
- Improved
Two reported questions repaired; no answer keys moved. more ▾less ▴
Two more reported questions were repaired this week. A leprosy treatment question was reworded so the warning sign a patient must report is described fairly instead of being easy to gloss over, and a newborn-screening law question now offers four genuinely different laws to weigh — before, every choice named the same law. No answer keys moved on either.
Your highlights survive sheet updates — and the reader now says so
NewImproved- New
The reader now points you to your saved marks after a sheet update. more ▾less ▴
When a cram sheet you have highlighted gets updated to a new edition, the reader now tells you up front that your earlier marks are safe, with a one-tap button that opens the previous edition exactly as you left it. Your highlights and notes always stay attached to the exact version of the pages you drew them on, so a sheet update never erases anything. Three of you asked about this in a single day — thank you for flagging it.
- Improved
Fifteen question reports answered; five items reworded or clarified. more ▾less ▴
All fifteen question reports from this week's batch were answered, and five led to a change. A leprosy question that read backwards to well-prepared readers now says plainly that a patient who has begun treatment may keep living at home. A crisis-intervention response no longer sounds cold next to its closest rival. A chemotherapy home-care instruction now says to limit outings instead of sounding like an invitation to go out. A rationale about barangay health records was rewritten in plain language, and the blood-sugar average question now teaches the actual conversion formula. No answer keys moved on any of them.
- Fixed
18Aug · Tue
A new Respiratory cram sheet: upper airway, asthma and COPD
New- New
New: a Respiratory cram sheet on the upper airway, asthma and COPD, on your NP3 shelf. more ▾less ▴
A Respiratory A cram sheet covering the upper airway, asthma and COPD is now on your Resources shelf under NP3 — the second half of the same student request that brought the Neuro A sheet the day before. Sixteen illustrated pages, anatomy first: a labeled cross section of the upper airway and a bronchial tree that shows why an aspirated object so often ends up in the right main bronchus. The upper-airway section walks through epistaxis and the lean-forward-and-pinch rule, sinusitis, sore throats and their rheumatic sequelae, peritonsillar abscess, laryngitis, and laryngeal cancer with laryngectomy care. Asthma gets a healthy bronchus drawn beside a constricted one, the stepwise treatment ladder, status asthmaticus, and the peak-flow zones with the inhaler-and-spacer and peak-flow techniques drawn step by step. COPD is set out chronic bronchitis against emphysema with the two classic patient pictures drawn side by side, plus the oxygen caution every board expects you to know. The oxygen delivery devices — nasal cannula, simple mask, non-rebreather and Venturi — are each drawn on a patient with the flow rates and the nursing that goes with them, and the sheet rounds out with tracheostomy care and chest physiotherapy.
A per-question timer, and a plan that shows its coverage
NewImproved- New
An optional per-question timer paces your practice sets. more ▾less ▴
You can now switch on a per-question timer when you build a practice set — pick one minute, a minute and a half, or two per question, in either mode. It counts down fresh on every question, pauses while you read a rationale, and restarts on the next one. When it runs out it simply turns red and shows how far over you went; nothing is ever submitted for you. This one came from a student suggestion — keep them coming.
- Improved
Plan tasks now show their exam section and subtopics. more ▾less ▴
Your study plan now tells you what each day's assignment actually covers. Tap any task on the schedule or in Today's Plan and the popup shows its exam section, like NP1 · Community Health Nursing, plus the specific subtopics inside that topic — so you know exactly what to study before you start. Also from a student suggestion.
Corrections from your question reports
ImprovedFixed- Improved
Reported questions reworded so the ask is unmistakable. more ▾less ▴
All five question reports in the latest batch led to a change. A sepsis question had two steps that read as though they contradicted each other, and it now spells out that drawing the blood cultures takes only minutes and never holds up the antibiotic. A labor question now names the exact point in labor it is asking about instead of hinting at it. A prostate screening question now asks what it wants in one plain line. None of the answers moved on any of them, only the wording.
- Improved
The contraction stress test flashcard now leads with its answer. more ▾less ▴
The contraction stress test flashcard now opens with the answer before it explains what a positive and a negative result mean, and it carries a new reminder that the nonstress test runs the opposite way, where the reassuring result is the reactive one.
- Fixed
The immunization sheet's Fully Immunized Child panel is corrected. more ▾less ▴
The Immunization, Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition cram sheet listed pentavalent and hepatitis B in the Fully Immunized Child panel as though they were separate sets of injections. Page six now explains that the three hepatitis B doses are the ones already carried inside pentavalent, that the birth dose is counted on its own, and that PCV and IPV do not enter the count at all. It also notes that the current Department of Health and World Health Organization definition counts two measles doses where older lists count one. If you had highlights on the earlier version, they are safe behind the history icon in the reader.
Browse your mock review one situation at a time
Improved- Improved
Mock answer reviews now fold into one row per situation. more ▾less ▴
Reviewing a finished mock section is no longer one long scroll. Each situation is now its own tap-to-open row showing its score, like Situation 7 · 4/5, so you can skim all twenty cases on one screen and open just the ones you want to study. This came straight from a student suggestion — keep them coming.
Three small clarity updates, straight from your questions
Improved- Improved
The results screen now says your review is saved in History. more ▾less ▴
The results screen at the end of a practice set now says plainly that your review is saved. You can leave to check your schedule and reopen every answer and rationale later from History, so nothing is lost when you step away.
- Improved
The schedule now explains why sessions get smaller near your exam. more ▾less ▴
When your study plan sits close to your exam, it sizes each topic's question session to your remaining days so every topic still fits before exam day. The schedule page now explains this out loud, so smaller daily sets no longer look like the question bank is running low.
- Improved
A dashboard shortcut brings back the diagnostic for a retake. more ▾less ▴
After you take the diagnostic exam, the dashboard now keeps a small Recheck your baseline shortcut. On full access you can retake the diagnostic anytime for a fresh check across all five subjects, and the shortcut shows when you last took it and your score.
- New
17Aug · Mon
A new Neuro cram sheet: assessment, ICP, stroke and seizures
New- New
New: a 24-page Neuro cram sheet on ICP, stroke and seizures, on your NP4 shelf. more ▾less ▴
A Neuro A cram sheet is now on your Resources shelf under NP4, after one of you asked for neuro and respi sheets — this is the neuro half, and at twenty-four illustrated pages it is one of the biggest sheets on the shelf. It starts with the brain itself: the lobes and what each one does, the meninges layer by layer, and the cranial nerves taught the way you actually test them at the bedside. Then the big four. Increased intracranial pressure gets the early-versus-late signs, a face drawn with the drooping lid and blown pupil in the same eye so you see why that combination matters, a herniation diagram, and an external ventricular drain drawn with the leveling geometry that questions love to test. Stroke gets ischemic against hemorrhagic drawn side by side, the BE-FAST signs on a body, and the clot-buster time windows. Seizures get the type names old and new, the during-and-after nursing, and status epilepticus. The sheet also carries the Glasgow Coma Scale, decorticate against decerebrate posturing drawn properly rigid, and a compact meningitis, encephalitis and brain-abscess section. Where the classic exam answer and current guidance have moved apart, both are shown with a note on which one the board expects. The Philippine section covers our stroke numbers, the PhilHealth stroke packages, the carbamazepine gene warning that specifically names Filipinos, and epilepsy in the community.
Clearer explanations on the final 68 practice questions
ImprovedFixed- Improved
The final 68 questions now explain their answers the clearer way. more ▾less ▴
The clearer-explanations project has reached its finish line. The last sixty-eight questions on the list now open with what is right in plain words, give the rule that decides questions like them, then walk through why every other option loses. With this batch, every practice question that at least a hundred and fifty of you have answered explains itself the clearer way. This one covers rabies and tetanus care, polio, measles, chickenpox, scabies and impetigo, tuberculosis, dengue and malaria, the immunization schedule, health statistics, primary health care, referrals, family nursing, and nursing law and ethics.
- Fixed
A few factual slips in explanations were corrected against the sources. more ▾less ▴
While closing the batch we also corrected a handful of factual slips in explanations, checked against the sources themselves: the tetanus toxin's site of action now matches the references, the dog-bite observation period is correctly credited to DOH guidance as fourteen days, dog-vaccination coverage is stated as seventy percent or more, and the TB screening explanations now follow the National TB Program's own rule that any cardinal sign lasting two weeks makes someone a presumptive TB case.
- New
16Aug · Sun
A new Sensory cram sheet for the eyes and the ears
New- New
New: a Sensory cram sheet for the eyes and ears, on your NP4 shelf. more ▾less ▴
A Sensory cram sheet covering the eyes and the ears is now on your Resources shelf under NP4, after one of you asked for it. Seventeen illustrated pages, built around the two things that make this topic hard to hold in your head. First the anatomy, with labeled cross sections of the eye and of the ear so the cornea, the drainage angle, the macula and the optic nerve, and the eardrum, the ossicles and the cochlea, all have a place you can point to. Then what the patient actually sees: one street scene drawn six times, once through a healthy eye and then through a cataract, through open angle glaucoma, during an angle closure attack, through macular degeneration and through a retinal detachment. The rest follows the exam. Glaucoma is set out open angle against angle closure with the drainage angle drawn both ways, and every class of eye drop carries the warning that matters for the rest of the body. Cataract carries the surgery and the after care rules, retinal detachment carries the gas bubble positioning, and macular degeneration is laid out dry against wet. For the ear there are the Weber and Rinne tuning fork tests with the placements drawn and the results explained, conductive against sensorineural hearing loss, the ear drop technique with the up and back for adults and down and back for children under three, otitis, otosclerosis and stapedectomy, and Meniere's disease. There is a Philippine section with the newborn hearing screening and kindergarten vision screening laws and where cataract sits in our own blindness numbers, and it closes with a read the scenario, name the first action table.
Changing your plan's dates no longer gets stuck
Fixed- Fixed
The plan-dates editor no longer gets stuck when your start date has passed. more ▾less ▴
Changing your plan's dates could leave the save button stuck if your original start date had already passed. The editor now starts from today automatically, and when your exam is too close for a full rebuild it says so plainly instead of leaving you guessing.
Clearer explanations on the next 50 practice questions
Improved- Improved
50 more questions now explain their answers the clearer way. more ▾less ▴
Fifty more practice questions now explain their answers the clearer way: each explanation opens with what is right in plain words, gives the rule that decides questions like it, then walks through why every other option loses. This batch covers rabies and tetanus care, polio and meningitis, typhoid, diphtheria and cholera, dengue and malaria, shingles and chickenpox, head lice, nursing law and ethics, and a few postpartum and insulin questions.
Clearer explanations on another 50 practice questions
Improved- Improved
50 more questions now explain their answers the clearer way. more ▾less ▴
Another fifty practice questions now explain their answers the clearer way: each explanation opens with what is right in plain words, gives the rule that decides questions like it, then walks through why every other option loses. This batch covers measles, chickenpox and other childhood rashes, impetigo, dengue and malaria, filariasis, rabies and tetanus, cholera, hepatitis A, isolation precautions, and a few labor and newborn questions.
- New
15Aug · Sat
Clearer explanations on 50 more practice questions
Improved- Improved
50 more questions now explain their answers the clearer way. more ▾less ▴
Fifty more practice questions now explain their answers the clearer way: each explanation opens by saying what is right in plain words, gives the rule that decides questions like it, then walks through why every other option loses. This batch covers mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria, skin conditions, tuberculosis, labor and delivery, and two mental health questions.
Clearer explanations on 100 more practice questions
Improved- Improved
100 more questions now explain their answers the clearer way. more ▾less ▴
One hundred more practice questions now explain their answers the clearer way: each explanation opens by saying what is right in plain words, gives the rule that decides questions like it, then walks through why every other option loses. This batch covers tuberculosis and mosquito-borne diseases, two big mental health blocks, critical care, and several labor and delivery questions.
Snappier saves and a lighter What's New
Improved- Improved
Answers and flashcard grades now save a little quicker. more ▾less ▴
Answering a practice question, grading a flashcard, and the mock board's background autosaves now skip an extra server round trip on every tap, so each save lands a little quicker, especially on mobile data.
- Improved
What's New opens faster: newest updates first, the rest one tap away. more ▾less ▴
This What's New page now shows the newest batch of updates first with the rest of the month one tap away, instead of loading everything at once. It opens noticeably faster on a phone. Nothing is gone: older updates are right below, and past months keep their own pages.
Tick off cram sheets as you finish them
New- New
New: mark cram sheets as finished and track them like a checklist. more ▾less ▴
You can now mark any cram sheet or note as finished, so your Resources shelf doubles as a checklist. Tap the small circle on a sheet's cover to tick it off, or use the Mark as finished button that appears when you reach the last page in the reader. Finished sheets show a check on their card, the shelf counts how many you have finished, and each filter chip shows your progress per subject, like 4 of 7 for NP1. One of you asked for exactly this, and it was a good idea. Ticks are yours to manage: nothing is marked automatically, and you can untick anytime.
Flashcards now shuffle every session
Improved- Improved
Flashcards now shuffle each session, so you learn the card, not the order. more ▾less ▴
Your flashcards now come up in a fresh random order every session, the same way practice questions already do. This covers both ways of studying them: opening a single deck, and your daily all topics review. Before, cards were always served in the same fixed order, so after a few rounds it was easy to start remembering which card comes next instead of the material itself. One of you told us she had memorised the order and already knew which card was coming, which is exactly the problem this fixes. Due cards still come before brand new ones, the new cards you are given are still chosen the same way, starting with your weak spots, and your ratings and review schedule are untouched.
Study up to 6 hours a day, and clearer daily-time controls
NewImprovedFixed- New
New: size your study plan up to 6 hours a day. more ▾less ▴
Your study plan can now be sized to 5 or 6 hours a day. The daily-time picker on your Schedule page used to stop at 4 hours, and some of you in your final stretch before the exam asked for longer days. Pick the new option from Daily time on your Schedule page and your remaining days rebuild to use it — everything you have finished carries over, and your current plan stays restorable.
- Improved
The daily-time picker now says when longer days will not add more. more ▾less ▴
The daily-time picker now tells you honestly when longer days would not help: if your plan already schedules every topic at its full depth, it says so and points the extra hours at free practice, your Vault, and mock board retakes instead of quietly building the same calendar. The plan setup form gives the same heads-up before you build.
- Improved
Schedule controls are easier to spot and open. more ▾less ▴
The Dates, Daily time, and Rest days controls on your Schedule page now look like the buttons they are, and when your timeline is tight, the notice's add daily time link opens the picker for you instead of telling you where to find it.
- Fixed
Fixed: Change dates no longer resets your daily-time choice. more ▾less ▴
On the free plan preview, tapping Change dates no longer resets your chosen daily study time back to Best for me.
- Improved