Neurology Boards and Penn Questions

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Hi

I am taking the neurology boards this Sept. Wanted to see what 2-3 resources would be most useful. Neuroprep? Old Rite? Does anyone know of Penn practice board questions and how useful they are?

Thanks

This topic has discussed extensively in the past.

First of all, it depends on your background in Neurology. If you had good scores on RITEs, this would be almost the same or maybe a little bit less confusing.

In my humble opinion...,

Penn Board review Audio-Video lecture-series are excellent, especially for clinical neurology. The questions and answers take a lot of time.

For Neuro-anatomy, Osler is the best.

Old RITE answers plus old pathology and radiology slide are a must.

And there are several good review books out there too, like Ultimate Neurology, 2nd edition and Neurology Board Review: An Illustrated Study Guide by N. Mowzoon (Apr. 2007).

I never used these newer books, First Aid for the Neurology Boards (2010) and McGraw-Hill Specialty Board Review Neurology, by N. Souayah (2010, 2nd edition) so I cannot talk about them.

I recommend the search function.

Borsody was a good book for me. Don't buy too much...the test really isn't that hard.

I cannot stress this enough, a book called "Laughing your way to passing the Neurology Boards" was invaluable and a lifesaver for me!!

I took the following strategy:

1) Laughing your way to passing the Neurology Boards, read it until it fell apart!!

2) Colen Flash Review: Okay, these flash cards were printed by a neurosurgeon and some of the information is just inaccurate but I will say this, the NEUROPATHOLOGY cards were a lifesaver!! Best neuropath review I ever had!!! In fact, I reviewed them during my neuropathology rotation as a resident and the department bought their own set as they loved them!! Back in those days, you could just by the neuropathology cards only, not sure if that is still the case?

3) Old RITE. Now, I took notes on high yield stuff and kind of made my own flash cards on this information. I also integrated frequently appearing RITE stuff into the margins of my "Laughing" book mentioned above so I really only had to pick up one book per day. Time consuming? Yes? Worth it? You bet!!!

5) There is a paperback book by Laurie Loevner that is ABOVE excellent for reviewing!! I have an old edition and the book is actually designed to help a radiologist pass their Neurorads CAQ, so there are some cases that are difficult. But again, here is what I did, I simply went through the index of cases and categorized them by subjects: movement, stroke, epilepsy, etc. As I made up the lists, I highlighted ones that I had seen on old RITES and threw out the advanced one. Again, time consuming but soo much worth it!!!

4) www.neuroprep.com: Study this one late. Once you log in and see how many questions you answer correctly, you feel a little at ease, have your confidence boosted, and realize how prepared you are!

The "real" test is much easier than the RITE. That doesn't mean that you should relax, just don't be anxious if you did average on the RITE exams. I never did well on the RITE exams and I had no problems passing my "real" test. I was pretty much the only guy in my residency program that did not score above 90th percentile, thus, my faculty pretty much treated me like an moron and offered absolutely no guidance. It took me four years to discover the resources I am sharing with you today; however, they were worth it!!

If you think that you do not have time to do this, you do, trust me!!!


POST TEST OBSERVATION (PLEASE READ THIS!!!)

After I walked away from that test, I picked up the Continuum Behavioral Neurology Edition and discovered that the journal contained an excellent review of nearly ALL of the behavioral neuroanatomy that appeared on my test!!! This is high yield and a significant portion of the test so I HIGHLY encourage you to find this edition of the Continuum!!

Lastly, whenever I received my scores, I realized that I did pretty good on everything except the neurophysiology stuff. That is electrophysiology, don't be too unfamiliar with repetitive stims, nerve conduction studies, EMGs, etc. The EEGs are classic high yield stuff, but in my opinion, the EMG/NCS stuff is probaby what killed my score!!

I'm a review book/materials fiend and love to read these things for fun (!) even now.

I recommend finding one or two solid books and simply knowing them thoroughly rather than inefficiently skimming through six or seven sources sporadically.

The Osler series has outrageously helpful neuroantomy lessons, but is weaker on other topics and to be honest the anatomy is really too much for the boards. It makes for outstanding driving audio though - if you're a geek like me.

The Martin Samuels Review (there are now two of them out specifically geared to neuro residents) is alot of fun to watch. Very informative. Martin Samuels himself is a fantastic lecturer who makes even the driest of topics seem interesting and fairly straightforward (even the neurology of acid-base disorders!). I have the earlier set of discs and will probably pick up the newer one in a year or two once the price descends some more (they are prohibitively expensive and I would not overtly recommend them to most people for this reason).

I used www.neuroprep.com, and found it reasonably helpful (mostly due to the electronic q-bank format's practicality rather than the quality of material).

Borsody and Mowzoon are both good review books. Mowzoon is much denser and more thorough. I repeatedly heard residents and fellows say that "if you know that Mayo Clinic book you'll do great" and it was true. Borsody is slimmer but less thorough.

The Cohen Neurosurgery flash cards are actually cool, and I loved the radiology and pathology pictures. But they are pricey for what you get and are honestly geared to neurosurgeons. They also have some peculiarly abstract and erroneous instances.

The old RITES are helpful only for studying for new RITES as a rule, but the radiology and pathology pictures are indeed helpful.

In the end, you've studied for three years for this test during residency, and THAT is the knowledge base that is truly going to pull you through this exam. You'll see what I mean after taking the test. Remember, the great majority of people do just fine on this.

For most people, I'd say relax, study with one (or two) good books, and move on. You'll be fine. If you've struggled horribly with the RITE, then I would be extremely aggressive in studying for as long as possible with one (or two) good books, and move on.

Originally Posted by danielmd06

I'm a review book/materials fiend and love to read these things for fun (!) even now.

I recommend finding one or two solid books and simply knowing them thoroughly rather than inefficiently skimming through six or seven sources sporadically.

The Osler series has outrageously helpful neuroantomy lessons, but is weaker on other topics and to be honest the anatomy is really too much for the boards. It makes for outstanding driving audio though - if you're a geek like me.

The Martin Samuels Review (there are now two of them out specifically geared to neuro residents) is alot of fun to watch. Very informative. Martin Samuels himself is a fantastic lecturer who makes even the driest of topics seem interesting and fairly straightforward (even the neurology of acid-base disorders!). I have the earlier set of discs and will probably pick up the newer one in a year or two once the price descends some more (they are prohibitively expensive and I would not overtly recommend them to most people for this reason).

I used www.neuroprep.com, and found it reasonably helpful (mostly due to the electronic q-bank format's practicality rather than the quality of material).

Borsody and Mowzoon are both good review books. Mowzoon is much denser and more thorough. I repeatedly heard residents and fellows say that "if you know that Mayo Clinic book you'll do great" and it was true. Borsody is slimmer but less thorough.

The Cohen Neurosurgery flash cards are actually cool, and I loved the radiology and pathology pictures. But they are pricey for what you get and are honestly geared to neurosurgeons. They also have some peculiarly abstract and erroneous instances.

The old RITES are helpful only for studying for new RITES as a rule, but the radiology and pathology pictures are indeed helpful.

In the end, you've studied for three years for this test during residency, and THAT is the knowledge base that is truly going to pull you through this exam. You'll see what I mean after taking the test. Remember, the great majority of people do just fine on this.

For most people, I'd say relax, study with one (or two) good books, and move on. You'll be fine. If you've struggled horribly with the RITE, then I would be extremely aggressive in studying for as long as possible with one (or two) good books, and move on.

You're not the only one that reviews this stuff for "fun". I find it a good way to stay on your toes. Lets face it, the smartest neurologist in the world is probably the one that is ready to sit down and take his/her board exam as they have been meticulously studying neurology. If you can stay on your toes afterwards, that is great. I found that reviewing at least one chapter per week of the review book that I mention above really helps to keep me on my toes.