How Bad Is Neuro In Comparison To Other Classes?

[68PGunner]

So, I'm in Neuro block right now and I'm just drained. It doesn't help that I currently have acute bronchitis by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. I just want to know if there are more interesting things to learn in medicine than these bs tracts with random anatomies. I did well in Anatomy despite me hating every second of it. I also seem to enjoy the clinical aspects of Neuro. However, the PhDs at my school really make me hate this subject to the bone. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

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[67552931811]

So, I'm in Neuro block right now and I'm just drained. It doesn't help that I currently have acute bronchitis by Mycoplasma pneumoniae. I just want to know if there are more interesting things to learn in medicine than these bs tracts with random anatomies. I did well in Anatomy despite me hating every second of it. I also seem to enjoy the clinical aspects of Neuro. However, the PhDs at my school really make me hate this subject to the bone. Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Dunno brother but I also absolutely hate neuro. I came into med school with neurology on the back of my mind but it is far and away my least favorite subject. Pretty much for the same reasons. It's like neuroscience PhDs get together and collaborate "how boring and soul sucking can we make this subject for med students."

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I don't know much about your curriculum, but I'll give you my two cents from the perspective of my traditional then systems course. At KCU I thought Neuro 1 was honestly a rather dull and unpleasant course. There is a lot of head and neck anatomy and a lot of discrete facts that you need to simply memorize ( ex. cutting recurrent laryngeal nerve will give you hoarseness). Then we proceed with the pathology & clinical application in Neuro 2 which is significantly more interesting. Neuropathology is both histologically and in terms of presentation rather interesting and more distinct that other pathology sections.

Neuropathology and Neuro 1 tend to be the hardest classes for most people in medical school, especially if they're not interested in neuroscience or neuropathology. But I personally think Renal is worse.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Dunno brother but I also absolutely hate neuro. I came into med school with neurology on the back of my mind but it is far and away my least favorite subject. Pretty much for the same reasons. It's like neuroscience PhDs get together and collaborate "how boring and soul sucking can we make this subject for med students."

I think neuro 1 was worse than neuro 2 by a long shot. I left neuro 1 thinking I'd never want to touch neurology. I left neuro 2 somewhat in love with the topic. The Robbin's chapter on neuro is very well written and pathoma does a good job explaining nuances.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

More hating on neuro

 

[68PGunner]

More hating on neuro

How do you like Neuro considering how much you hate Anatomy?

I really like the pathological aspect of every subjects. However, my mind zones out when the PhDs start emphasizing the idea of important stuff. I can honestly say that I enjoy taught by real physicians much better than by PhDs.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

How do you like Neuro considering how much you hate Anatomy?

I really like the pathological aspect of every subjects. However, my mind zones out when the PhDs start emphasizing the idea of important stuff. I can honestly say that I enjoy taught by real physicians much better than by PhDs.

I don't think most neurologists really care that there's the facial nerve connects to a small muscle that is deep in the face as much as they care that the facial nerve innervates the face. Likewise one of the neurologists who taught neuro 2 at my school outright said she doesn't remember anatomy that well.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

How do you like Neuro considering how much you hate Anatomy?

It's true I hate anatomy in general (mainly due to MSK), but I actually love neuro anatomy. Besides, neuro pathophys and pharm are by far the most interesting and mentally challenging. This is my biased opinion though. But like @AlbinoHawk DO said in the other thread, the more hates towards neuro = the more potential $$$ in my pocket.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Yeah, kinda of scared of neuro, we will be having it soon at my school.

 

[Giovanotto]

Currently in Neuro myself. It's terrible, hang in there! (feeling sick myself and have an exam coming up )

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

Neuro is the last weeder course. If you pass Neuro, you can pass boards and pass medical school.
It's a right of passage.

 

[SurgeDO]

Clinical neuro and theoretical neuro are two totally different things. Learning tracts is cool but is pretty impractical when you start your rotations.

I love neuro and ultimately chose a neuro heavy specialty, but I don't remember being too crazy about it during my preclinical years.

Know how to examine the cranial nerves, test muscle strength, test sensation, and identify neuro emergencies (stroke, SAH, increased ICP from bleeds) and you'll be fine on your rotations.

 

[Mr Roboto]

I despise neuro passionately. Thoughts of dropping out have occurred much more often this block than any before.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

It separates the strong from the weak.

Kidding aside, I didn't think it was so bad.

 

[Staphylococcus Aureus]

To those ms3+ out there, was neuro really the most difficult block, or just dull etc? If not neuro, which block was the hardest for you?

 

[DocWinter]

Neuro was an exceedingly long and rough course at my school, but I never understood the hate for it. Pretty interesting material actually .

Just hang in, there are lighter courses coming up.

 

[Anti-PD1]

Neuro is the best subject out there. I'm biased.

I recommend this book for people who have trouble with neuro. It looks corny, but that's what helps you remember it. Most of the clinical scenarios, or the anatomy on which scenarios are based, can be found in this little book. It also helps on your neuro rotation, those stroke guys love anatomy:

 

[ninjaman22]

To those ms3+ out there, was neuro really the most difficult block, or just dull etc? If not neuro, which block was the hardest for you?

Neuro was definitely the hardest block for me. I ended up getting an A on the course, but I worked my butt off way more than any other course during the first two years.

 

[ewax]

look up the neuro book by blumenfeld. Not only saved my ass in neuro but also helped me do extremely well in the class (fwiw, I was not a neuro major in college).

 

[W19]

Neuro and Immuno were on par as being the most difficult classes for me... However, I hear clinical neurology is different. It's one of the specialties that I am considering. Starting Neuro on Monday; lets see how it goes.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

in my neuro block too, don't know if it's school specific but most of the grief about the class being hard stem from people underestimating how many passes are required to parse out all the details for tackling lesion vignettes properly. my advice is to have a good foundation on tracts and don't get too bogged down on details of specific anatomy.

 

[ortnakas]

Neuro is the best subject out there. I'm biased.

I recommend this book for people who have trouble with neuro. It looks corny, but that's what helps you remember it. Most of the clinical scenarios, or the anatomy on which scenarios are based, can be found in this little book. It also helps on your neuro rotation, those stroke guys love anatomy:

look up the neuro book by blumenfeld. Not only saved my ass in neuro but also helped me do extremely well in the class (fwiw, I was not a neuro major in college).

Second both of these recommendations. Our main book was Blumenfeld and the anatomy sections are dense, but the clinical section is excellent. Made Ridiculously Simple is a godsend if you're struggling, or just want a high-yield overview.

As silly as it sounds, I also recommend a neuroanatomy coloring book. You don't have time to color the whole thing, of course, but it really helped me solidify some of the tracts I was really struggling with.

 

[68PGunner]

Is it just me or is Haines Clinical Neuroanatomy garbage? Waste of $$$.

 

[Azete]

Is it just me or is Haines Clinical Neuroanatomy garbage? Waste of $$$.

It is literal garbage. So many people recommended this book to me, and I'm now convinced they were paid by the publisher because reading this book was less productive than staring at my wall.

To OP: Neuro is traditionally the most difficult block because most students enter the block without any knowledge of the material and the verbiage is vastly different than pretty much every other block -- there's very little crossover from other organ systems. That said, while I worked harder in my Neuro block for good grades, I thought GI/Endocrine was conceptually more difficult to master.

 

[KaapstadMK]

Neuro's not that bad. IMHO, the hardest part is learning the vasculature.

That being said, I definitely agree with some other commenters that Renal & Endo > Neuro, but all are important. I don't know what specialty you're interested in, but knowing your neuro SSx can be a game changer for future patients. (I speak as one interested in Paeds & EM, but almost all primary care & generalists will need to be able to do a basic neuro/renal/endo/cardio/pulm/etc exam. Sure, the specialists need to know it more thoroughly, but every primary or EM doc should be able to effectively make a preliminary Dx before calling for a consult, especially if one's serving in an underserved area - not too many consults available out in the sticks.

 

[Captain DO]

I enjoyed neuro... I wasn't a rockstar at it, but i found it one of the more interesting subjects. I went back and forth on going for neurology. Ultimately went a different route. But im not sure if it was the right decision. Some days are different than others.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I personally think Renal physiology/histology and endo are MUCH harder than neuro.
And once you add pharm to Renal, it becomes literally the hardest thing I've studied so far.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I personally think Renal physiology/histology and endo are MUCH harder than neuro.
And once you add pharm to Renal, it becomes literally the hardest thing I've studied so far.

Renal was hard because the pathology was as hard as Neuro while also being significantly more boring than Neuro. Endocrinology is the easiest class in medical school in my opinion.