What's new
Updates and improvements
Everything we've shipped to BoardPal, newest first.
Sep 15 to 21 · 11 new features
21Sep · Mon
START triage diagram fixed, plus fixes from your reports
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A new flashcard asks you to recall the three classic features of endometriosis. more ▾less ▴
The Reproductive Systems & Menstrual Cycle flashcard deck has a new card that asks you to recall the classic triad of endometriosis: progressive secondary dysmenorrhea, deep dyspareunia and infertility. The deck already asked you to name the condition from the triad; a student suggested practising it the other way round as well.
A way straight back to your practice set from a cram sheet
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Open a cram sheet from a practice question or flashcard and a Back to practice button takes you straight back to your set. more ▾less ▴
After you answer a practice question, the Read the cram sheet button under the explanation takes you to the sheet for that topic. Until now the sheet had no way back to your questions, so it could feel like your set was gone. Now, when you arrive that way, a gold Back to practice button floats at the bottom left of the sheet. Tap it and you return to the same set, right at your next unanswered question, with every answer you already gave still saved. The same goes for flashcards: open a cram sheet from under a card and you get a Back to flashcards button. If you open a sheet from the Resources page as usual, nothing changes.
Exam-aware flashcards, focus mode and resizable tapes
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A Focus button on flashcards and practice hides the menu and heading, and enlarges flashcard text. more ▾less ▴
Focus mode for flashcards and practice questions. Tap the new Focus button (the arrows icon beside Scratch pad) and the menu bar and the page heading disappear, so only your card or your question is on screen. On flashcards the text also gets much larger, which makes it readable from further away, for example with a tablet propped up on a desk. On a computer or an Android device it also switches the browser to full screen. Tap Exit focus to bring everything back. It stays on while you keep going through sets in the same tab, and it never follows you to other pages. From a student studying on a tablet.
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19Sep · Sat
Choose how many questions when you add a practice topic
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Pick 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100 questions, or type your own number, when you add a practice topic to your plan. more ▾less ▴
When you tap the + on a day of your study plan and add a practice topic, you can now pick the size of that session: tap 10, 20, 30, 50 or 100, or type any number from 5 to 100 in the Other box. It used to be 20 every time. The sheet also shows how many questions the topic has, and a size bigger than that is switched off, so the plan never asks for questions that are not there. Sessions you already added stay as they are. From a student who wanted longer sets on the topics they most need to practice.
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158 new practice questions across 58 topics, finishing our sweep for points the bank did not yet test. more ▾less ▴
158 new practice questions are live across 58 topics: 43 on psychiatric and high-acuity nursing, 42 on medical-surgical care, 31 on neurologic and endocrine conditions, 22 on maternal and child health, and 20 on community health, nursing law and research. Each one asks about a point no question in the bank tested yet, was checked against a published source, and was read by independent reviewers before it went in. This finishes the sweep: every gap we found in our review of what the review centers drill now has a question.
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A new question on choosing a walking aid after a stroke, written after we checked two sources that seemed to disagree. more ▾less ▴
One more question, on choosing a walking aid for a client with one-sided weakness after a stroke. Two of our reference lists seemed to disagree about it, so we went back to the published sources before writing anything: they turned out to be answering different questions. The question asks you for the reason behind the choice, not just the name of the device.
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Nine more practice questions on points such as Macewen sign, the two-rescuer infant CPR ratio and a rash on allopurinol. more ▾less ▴
Nine more practice questions, on points we had first set aside as too detailed and then decided belong in the bank: bleeding as the first check after a circumcision, Macewen sign in hydrocephalus, the calming effect of methylphenidate in ADHD, where the hands go when a woman in late pregnancy is choking, the CPR ratio for two rescuers and an infant, remotivation therapy, the Johari window, pain relief in ulcerative colitis, and what to do about a rash on allopurinol. Each was checked against a published source and read by independent reviewers before it went in.
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18Sep · Fri
Start this deck over is now really on every deck page
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21 new practice questions across labor and delivery, laboratory values, medication safety, mental health and pregnancy. more ▾less ▴
21 new practice questions are live: 5 on labor and delivery, 3 each on laboratory values, medication safety and mental health nursing, 4 across communicable and non-communicable disease, and 3 on pregnancy. Each one asks about a point the bank did not cover yet, was checked against a published source, and was read by two independent reviewers before it went in.
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102 more new practice questions across 38 topics, led by health assessment, prioritization, psychiatric nursing and cardiac care. more ▾less ▴
102 more new practice questions are live, spread across 38 topics. The biggest additions are health assessment and vital signs, prioritizing care, schizophrenia and other psychoses, growth and development theories, acute coronary syndrome, and leadership and management, with smaller sets on diabetes, maternal and child health programs, family planning, communicable disease, nutrition and pediatrics. These fill points our own bank had never tested. Every one was checked against a published source, read by independent reviewers, and rechecked after each edit. A few candidates were dropped along the way because a question already covered the same point, and one was left out because we could not verify it well enough to key an answer.
Skip any task on your study plan
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Tap any plan task and choose Skip. It fades, stops counting, and one tap puts it back. more ▾less ▴
Tap any task on your Schedule page or on Home's Today's Plan and choose Skip this task. It stays on the calendar, faded, and stops counting toward your progress, the slipped-tasks nudge, the day's estimated time, and your study reminder. Tap it again to put it back. Skipped tasks stay skipped when your plan rebuilds after a change of dates, sections, daily time or focus, and a skipped topic still comes back later as a short Revisit set. Mock board days and the daily flashcards can be skipped too. From a student following a review center schedule alongside BoardPal.
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17Sep · Thu
Start a mock board over, and clear your Vault in one tap
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Start a half-finished mock board over, with your study plan following. more ▾less ▴
Stopped a mock board part-way and want a clean run? Open the board and tap Start this board over, just under its sections. The sections you already submitted are set aside, all five come back fresh with a full clock, and if the board is on your study plan, both of its days return to the plan. Because you have already seen part of that paper, the new run counts as a retake, so it does not enter the leaderboard as a first attempt. One of you asked for this after rebuilding her plan for a later exam date and finding her old half-finished board carried into it.
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Clear your whole Vault in one tap. more ▾less ▴
The Vault now has a Clear my Vault link at the bottom of its start card. It empties the whole pile in one go, the same as tapping I've got this on every question, and anything you miss again comes straight back. Your history, streak, and topic scores are untouched.
46 new practice questions on high-yield points the bank was missing
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46 new practice questions on high-yield points the bank was missing. more ▾less ▴
46 new practice questions cover points review materials drill that no question in the bank asked yet. They span perioperative care, cancers, adrenal and ADH disorders, dementia, elimination, circulation, breathing patterns, anxiety, other psychiatric disorders and crisis intervention. Each was checked against a medical source and read by two independent reviewers before it went live.
Three more practice questions on points the bank had stopped asking
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3 new practice questions: dialysis, HIV testing, and the Anti-Rape Law. more ▾less ▴
Three new practice questions bring back points that left the bank with the retired questions: why peritoneal dialysis suits a client whose blood pressure drops during hemodialysis, what follows a reactive HIV screening test, and which law made rape a crime against persons. Each was checked against a primary source and read by two independent reviewers before it went live.
Practice bank trimmed to what the boards actually test
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41 new high-yield practice questions across ten topics. more ▾less ▴
41 new practice questions cover high-yield points the bank never asked, across ten topics: laboratory values, nursing laws, universal health care, disaster nursing, health records, labor complications, electrolytes, acid-base balance, raised intracranial pressure, and shock. Each was checked against a primary source and read by two independent reviewers before it went live.
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16Sep · Wed
Practice your bookmarked questions as a set
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Tap Practice on a Bookmarks folder to answer its questions as a set. more ▾less ▴
Open any subject folder in Resources > Bookmarks and tap Practice to answer that folder's bookmarked questions as a practice set, with the explanation after each answer. Your answers count the same as any other practice: your stats update and a miss goes to your Vault. A set holds up to your newest 100 bookmarks in the folder. Mock board items stay readable in Bookmarks but are left out of the set, because they need their case. On a free account the set uses your free questions for the day.
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