Neuro Boards 2009 feedback

[bonran]

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As this was the second computer-based ABPN neurology boards test, lets hear from the candidate's about their experiences & views on the new testing scheme. I believe the last testing date is 14th Oct.

From what I hear, the first part with Basic Sciences was relatively easy compared to the RITEs. The second part however was horrible. Some of the salients about part 2 I heard were:

Lot of questions on defense mechanisms in psych.

NM questions on electrophys had vague & non-specific choices.

The video based clinical cases were ambiguous as very little history was provided to diagnose a case as psychogenic but it turned out that they were which is kind of unfair when you they are testing for neurological disorders.

Very few neuroradiology pics & pathology slides, unlike the RITEs.

Any opinions??
Please contribute about what test prep material in your opinion is best for preparing for it.

 

[typhoonegator]

Just finished the test. You have tons of time, 3.5 hours per section, and I tried to go slow and couldn't use more than about 2. I started at 8AM, and was OTD by 1PM, with a break for lunch. Now, I don't deliberate much, but even if you do you'll still have plenty of time.

Part one was like a more pertinent version of the RITE exam, with less neuropath and more psych. I think I only got 2-3 neuropath slides at all, and only 1-2 radiology images in the first section. There was still plenty of ticky-tack garbage that means nothing for clinical practice and is essentially just trivia, but that's the way it goes (still way better than the RITE in that regard). I studied lots of psychopharm, but there wasn't much on there. Lots about defense reactions and personality disorders, for some reason.

Part two was actually kind of fun at times. You can't go back and review your answers, because sometimes the question for the next item answers the previous. There is a video or an EEG or a brief case, and then 3-6 questions about the case. In my opinion, most of them were pretty straightforward, and if you're good at test-taking it isn't too tough to figure out what they are looking for. Even if you guess wrong on the first item, you can usually then figure out what they want on the second one, so if you don't get that the picture is a guy with Emery-Dreifuss MD and guess FSHD instead, you can still right the ship without getting the whole block incorrect. When you're done, you don't have to feel guilty about going back over your answers because there isn't an option, which is nice for people like me who get guilty about everything.

I studied:
Patten (not much)
Bradley and Daroff (not much)
Comprehensive Board Review in Neurology (Borsody) <-- Good overview
Neurology Examination and Board Review (McGraw-Hill) <--OK question book
Neurology for the Boards (Geyer) <--decent outlines

 

[GopherBrain]

I took it two weeks ago, and agree with most of the above.

Just as a quick reminder, there are still people out there that haven't take it (time is almost up, but not quite), so I'd keep the discussion of specific questions to a minimum... That being said, I think the video case mentioned in the OP was pretty clear; the physician/patient dialog was hilariously appropriate...

 

[bonran]

Great to get some responses after so many days. I wish there were more test-takers as self-less as you two, so that future test takers could benefit from their experiences.

From what I remember, Oct 14th was the last date for this year. I think individual questions can be discussed from now on if someone can recall them.

 

[GopherBrain]

The final day to take the boards is tomorrow, October 16th.

 

[BlackFrancis33]

Took it 2 Oct. Test was much easier than the RITE. The questions were much shorter and more straightforward. I started at 0825, I was done around 1130. I agree that there seemed to be tons of Psych as in American Board of Psychiatry (emphasis) and oh yeah Neurology too (so its ABP!OYNT?). Probably not as much psych as it seemed since these stood out. The second part was interesting, but if you missed the first question you could still get the rest which was nice. Of course, it created some 'Oh I should've known that' type moments. Agree that unlike the RITE pics of path and neurorads is obviously not an emphasis (maybe the test creators still order skull films...). I also thought some of the neurophys/EMG questions were a bit tricky. Probably not for those of you with an interest in this area or did more of this during your training. I studied for the RITE for 3+ years, for me that seemed to be enough. I would probably recommend a newer Neurology for the Boards or similar book, but I don't have anything more specific to recommend.

 

[typhoonegator]

Thank god someone else finished ridiculously early. I rolled out at 12:15, and several of my classmates who were also taking the test looked at me like I was nuts.

Even the proctor gave me a funny look, like "you paid 3 thousand dollars and you can't even be bothered to think through your answers?"

I was starting to wonder if I skipped half the questions by accident or something.

 

[PhakeDoc]

$3k??? WHY? 😱😕🙁😡

 

[Head]

I still don't know if specific questions should be addressed here, as I'm pretty sure they reuse some of the questions from year to year. My impression was that Part I was every bit as hard as the RITEs (though I'm really good at neuropath and neurorads and not as good at the other topics, so with only 2 questions on each of these that may have biased me a bit). Agree with posters stating that there were lots of psych questions on defense mechanisms and personality disorders. There were no questions where you had to know L vs. P/Q type Ca++ channels. There were no questions on evoked potentials, which was a bit shocking (no pun intended). Many more zebras than I expected, particularly on rare pediatric neuro diseases. Quite a few questions on vitamin deficienies.

Part 2 was definitely easier than part I, but there were some zebras mixed in. For most of the vignettes with video, EEG, or EMG you could figure out the case on history alone so you really didn't have to know a lot of neurophysiology.

Studying Strategies: The ABPN provides an outline of the topics they try to cover for the Neurology boards on their web site. I foolishly read this only 2 days before the test and realized there were quite a few gaps in my studying, (like hypervitaminosis syndromes for example). You can tell as you go through the test that they are asking at least one question from each topic they list. In retrospect, I wish I had started with this outline and used it to direct my studying. I basically studied the old RITE answers, made flash cards of all the diseases I didn't know well, went through the questions from the Souayah specialty board review (which are way harder than the real boards), went through questions in the back of my old Continuums, and some questions on the frontal cortex website (www.frontalcortex.com).

 

[BlackFrancis33]

Thank god someone else finished ridiculously early. I rolled out at 12:15, and several of my classmates who were also taking the test looked at me like I was nuts.

Even the proctor gave me a funny look, like "you paid 3 thousand dollars and you can't even be bothered to think through your answers?"

I was starting to wonder if I skipped half the questions by accident or something.

I feel you. I couldn't believe the test was over. I consider myself a relatively fast test taker, but I also had a paranoid sensation and got a 'you're already done?' from the testing center folks.

 

[bonran]

I had finished my first test 70 mins before time & could sit through reviewing 150/210 questions before it was over.

The second test took more time but was still able to finish 5-10 mins before it got over. No chance of reviewing questions as one cant go back in this set of questions.