Question Bank/Study Materials for Boards

[gritsngravy]

Hey everyone, third year heading into the new year and wanted to do some more "board specific" studying now that my clinic/research load is much lighter. From my understanding, the HOQ question bank is definitely king and seems great from what I've done so far. I know there are a few others that some have used and was wondering if anyone felt other question banks/courses/etc were very useful. Any tips from those who recently took both heme and onc board would be greatly appreciated!

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[gutonc]

ASCO SEP is good too. Not great, but good (and I say this as a former question writer for it) and probably worth your time.

If you're a visual learner and need a lecture, I've heard good things about the GW course/videos but that's not my jam so I can't comment.

 

[karaage]

I am not a great standardized test taker (below average on all Steps + IM boards + all ITEs in fellowship), so I hope to post some updated recs for study resources. Passed oncology with a good margin today.

I'm mostly research so I studied a lot for the boards, about 8 weeks x 4-6 hours each weekday.

Qbanks:
HOQ is the main Qbank and is definitely sufficient as a standalone resource. The Qbank is vast and very detailed. Of note, it appears to be frequently updated with even 2022 FDA approvals appearing in questions. It feels a lot like UW for IM boards. However, the user interface leaves a lot to be desired.

ASCO SEP has more "big picture" questions compared to HOQ, and the questions don't get too esoteric (an issue with about 10-20% of HOQ). This feels like MKSAP for IM boards. I would recommend doing this after a good solid first pass through HOQ. Doing SEP before HOQ might give you a false sense of confidence because it's quite a bit easier.

HemOncReview I would not recommend. It seems like they stopped rigorously updating the Qbank around 2018-2019 and there are A LOT of questions that are simply not up to date. The site has a great user interface, though, which I wish HOQ had. I gave it a good shot for about 10 days and then gave up. Don't waste your money on this.

For hematology, I was able to get copies of the printed question books for ASH SAP both 7th and 8th editions (the questions are different between editions) and did those. This is like the heme equivalent for ASCO SEP. The ASH questions I thought were better written than HOQ for benign heme.

Lectures:
I had access to MD Anderson lectures so I watched those. The lectures are pretty concise and high-yield overall. I watched solid+heme onc but then ran out of time to watch the benign heme. Overall, I would recommend this to solidify knowledge gaps or if you need a more thorough brush-up than just doing questions.

Strongly recommend ASH Review Series (free through ASH) for hematology (benign + malignant). 70-80% of the lectures are very high-yield and it's free! I did not attend any of the live sessions where they went over MCQ questions, but watched all the recordings.

At the end of the day, I did all of HOQ (~2000 questions, 1 pass), ASCO SEP (~1000 questions, 2 passes - second pass incorrects only), ASH SAP question books (7th and 8th, ~200 questions each, both 1 pass), MD Anderson oncology lectures, ASH Review Series all lectures. For me, at least, I thought this was the right amount of studying. I felt confident walking into the tests and that's important for me given my historical performance lol.

If you're a strong test taker, I can see just HOQ and dabbling in ASCO SEP as being enough, with some supplementation of your choice for benign heme. Video lectures are good for reinforcing your knowledge base but depending on how much attention you paid in fellowship (YMMV), you might not need them.

Best of luck! Waiting on heme but can't believe this is the end of the road after Q3-4 years of big exams since medical school. So glad to be done! *knocks on wood for heme*

Edit: Passed heme! Also with a good margin. I just want to make a side note here that I don't think most people need to study this much. It was more so bc I am not a strong test-taker and I barely studied in fellowship that I used this many resources. But if you do all of the above, you should be more than fine.

 

[gritsngravy]

I am not a great standardized test taker (below average on all Steps + IM boards + all ITEs in fellowship), so I hope to post some updated recs for study resources. Passed oncology with a good margin today.

I'm mostly research so I studied a lot for the boards, about 8 weeks x 4-6 hours each weekday.

Qbanks:
HOQ is the main Qbank and is definitely sufficient as a standalone resource. The Qbank is vast and very detailed. Of note, it appears to be frequently updated with even 2022 FDA approvals appearing in questions. It feels a lot like UW for IM boards. However, the user interface leaves a lot to be desired.

ASCO SEP has more "big picture" questions compared to HOQ, and the questions don't get too esoteric (an issue with about 10-20% of HOQ). This feels like MKSAP for IM boards. I would recommend doing this after a good solid first pass through HOQ. Doing SEP before HOQ might give you a false sense of confidence because it's quite a bit easier.

HemOncReview I would not recommend. It seems like they stopped rigorously updating the Qbank around 2018-2019 and there are A LOT of questions that are simply not up to date. The site has a great user interface, though, which I wish HOQ had. I gave it a good shot for about 10 days and then gave up. Don't waste your money on this.

For hematology, I was able to get copies of the printed question books for ASH SAP both 7th and 8th editions (the questions are different between editions) and did those. This is like the heme equivalent for ASCO SEP. The ASH questions I thought were better written than HOQ for benign heme.

Lectures:
I had access to MD Anderson lectures so I watched those. The lectures are pretty concise and high-yield overall. I watched solid+heme onc but then ran out of time to watch the benign heme. Overall, I would recommend this to solidify knowledge gaps or if you need a more thorough brush-up than just doing questions.

Strongly recommend ASH Review Series (free through ASH) for hematology (benign + malignant). 70-80% of the lectures are very high-yield and it's free! I did not attend any of the live sessions where they went over MCQ questions, but watched all the recordings.

At the end of the day, I did all of HOQ (~2000 questions, 1 pass), ASCO SEP (~1000 questions, 2 passes - second pass incorrects only), ASH SAP question books (7th and 8th, ~200 questions each, both 1 pass), MD Anderson oncology lectures, ASH Review Series all lectures. For me, at least, I thought this was the right amount of studying. I felt confident walking into the tests and that's important for me given my historical performance lol.

If you're a strong test taker, I can see just HOQ and dabbling in ASCO SEP as being enough, with some supplementation of your choice for benign heme. Video lectures are good for reinforcing your knowledge base but depending on how much attention you paid in fellowship (YMMV), you might not need them.

Best of luck! Waiting on heme but can't believe this is the end of the road after Q3-4 years of big exams since medical school. So glad to be done! *knocks on wood for heme*

Very much appreciate the thorough write up! And congratulations!