Neurology shelf

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I'm thinking of doing:
1. Case files Neurology (not neuroscience)
2. UWorld questions
3. MAYBE MKSAP neuro

Anything else? Should I replace something on the above list with pre-test or crash course? Mine is only a four-week rotation so I can't do that much.

Originally Posted by PediatricsRocks

I'm thinking of doing:
1. Case files Neurology (not neuroscience)
2. UWorld questions
3. MAYBE MKSAP neuro

Anything else? Should I replace something on the above list with pre-test or crash course? Mine is only a four-week rotation so I can't do that much.

Case files, pretest, and +/- blueprints if you want something to actually read. I did it in 4 weeks and it worked well.

Originally Posted by pediperson

Case files, pretest, and +/- blueprints if you want something to actually read. I did it in 4 weeks and it worked well.

Pretty much the same here. I actually slacked a ton and didn't start studying until nearly the end of my 4-week rotation, so I was able to finish Case Files and a third of Pretest. That's it. I think I did well on the shelf, but haven't gotten my score yet. It probably helped that my attending was awesome and took a lot of time to teach and pimp every day.

ETA: score of 83, 94th percentile. I'm very happy, especially considering it was my first shelf exam. So yup, Case Files and Pretest rock.

Bump

Case Files was great for seeing your bread and butter cases that you may or may not see on the floor.

Pretest had good questions that emphasized important topics.

Blueprints I read to get a comprehensive overview of the clerkship and then I read Case Files and did Pretest after I had completed Blueprints so I can build on what I learned in Blueprints.

I also did the Neuro questions from Kaplan Qbank which were very solid.

Overall it went very well for me.

Originally Posted by vicinihil

Case Files was great for seeing your bread and butter cases that you may or may not see on the floor.

Pretest had good questions that emphasized important topics.

Blueprints I read to get a comprehensive overview of the clerkship and then I read Case Files and did Pretest after I had completed Blueprints so I can build on what I learned in Blueprints.

I also did the Neuro questions from Kaplan Qbank which were very solid.

Overall it went very well for me.

Any more advice for this shelf?

Blueprints alone sucked.

Originally Posted by DrBowtie

Blueprints alone sucked.

I've heard that BP is absolutely horrible for neuro. I'm worried about just using Case files and Pretest.

Is pretest actually good for neuro, or is it "good"in the sense that it actually sucked (like in surgery, for instance)?

Sorry, I'm just sick of hearing tha pretest is good, then opening it up and finding that the majority of questions focus on minutae that're actually 10 years out of date.

Did Case Files and Pretest, along with UWorld questions. Don't feel like the BluePrints book was necessary, as I had several friends that used it and they seemed to be disappointed following the exam. UWorld Q's may not be necessary, but CaseFiles and Pretest were clutch.

I would recommend Case Files Neurology, Pretest, and Lange Clinical Neurology (6th Ed, 2005). Case Files does have a significant number of errors and a few cases that I felt were a little random, but overall it was a good source to get an understanding of clinical presentations. Pretest does have some questions that seem to be kind of random, but the vast majority of the questions are spot on. I bought Blueprints initially, but felt that it was extremely lacking in depth. A 4th year on my rotation recommended Lange Clinical Neurology, and I thought it was a great book. For some reason, the most recent edition (7th, 2009) gets awful reviews, so I used the 6th Ed. that was published in 2005, which I thought was great.

Overall, I read Case Files X2, Pretest X2, and about 60% of Lange (since I got it about halfway through the clerkship), and ended up with a 92/99.

Anyone else notice that Case Files for neurology is just loaded with typos, errata and horrible grammar? I mean it's useful for studying but as an example one image of the left MCA is labeled as the "left major coronary artery."

Too bad there's no official errata for most of these publications. If anyone knows of a website, please share it.

As for the utility of BP Neuro, I thought it was a good overview of Neuro. It is by no means enough (supplement with PreTest, UW, and CaseFiles), I liked that I could read through it once, get a little background information, then fill in the gaps with above mentioned resources.

I used Case Files and Pretest, plus some syllabus material provided by our school. I think I got an 85th percentile score, not sure what it was.

Originally Posted by mq123

I used Case Files and Pretest, plus some syllabus material provided by our school. I think I got an 85th percentile score, not sure what it was.

Finally got results back. PreTest was legit for this Test. Casefiles was so so, but there are no other decent resources.

How I did: 90/99

What I used:

• Case Files: Neurology
• PreTest: Neurology
• Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, neurology-related sections (~200pg)
• Kaplan Neurology Questions

I thought Blueprints and Lange Clinical Neurology were horrible. I actually really liked reading the Harrison's chapters. I thought it would be low-yield, but they actually have pretty significant "Approach to the patient" sections with either treatment algorithms or steps in the workup. Highly recommended.

Originally Posted by MCATMAN45

How I did: 90/99


.

how does a score like that correlate nationally as a percentile?

Originally Posted by officedepot

how does a score like that correlate nationally as a percentile?

99th percentile.

that notation is meant to be 90 "raw"/99th percentile nationally

I'm planning on doing pretest and case files.

Does anyone have thoughts on doing Uworld questions as well?

For those who have taken the shelf or heard about it, people at my school say Neurology is one of the hardest. I was wondering if that is due to content or time constraints/long question stems. Just wondering what to expect.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by bmr6819

I'm planning on doing pretest and case files.

Does anyone have thoughts on doing Uworld questions as well?

For those who have taken the shelf or heard about it, people at my school say Neurology is one of the hardest. I was wondering if that is due to content or time constraints/long question stems. Just wondering what to expect.

Thanks!

Uworld is good, casefiles is useful but a little weak with some errors.I really liked blueprints. If I had known how good it was I would have read it twice.

86/94

I did blueprints x1.5, case files x1, pretest x2, mksap x2, sutm neuro x1, first aid step 1 (peripheral nerve sections...i think it was under musculoskeletal), uworld x2

I wouldn't recommend lange neuro. There is just too much detail to retain unless you're really smart. Case files is very basic but you can skim it really quickly. I would definitely recommend pretest because it's full of random questions...which is kind of how the actually shelf is like.

I had a 4 week rotation
Case Files x 1
PreTest x 1
UWorld x 1

93/99

My school also requires weekly reading about 20 or so topics, which I read about on epocrates online.

The things I wish I would have reviewed before the test are back pain (spinal stenosis/radiculopathy/disc herniation) and stroke locations (basilar vs. vertebral vs cerebellar vs PCA)