Failed for the third time

[ABNS]

I guess it's not the first but pretty uncommon. Failing for self-assessment on multiple attempts and now have to take it for credit. Any recommendations on how to pass at least? Apparently SANS questions are not enough even though I solved all modules +700 questions.

Citow and Pssarows seem very dense and memorizing won't work well because board questions were very specific even if you came across the idea before.

Would really appreciate recommendations on how to pass this nightmare

[Guest]

does your program have you pass it at a certain percentile?

[Guest]

(07-06-2020, 11:37 PM)Guest Wrote: does your program have you pass it at a certain percentile?

No, just passing

[Guest]

Not to be demeaning, but not passing as a third year is concerning. Do you have a diagnosed issue with learning/studying? If not, you may have an undiagnosed issue and it may be helpful to goto a psychologist, etc. to get an assessment and see if certain types of learning are better for you than others. What I would say, again not to be mean, but knowing just SANS really SHOULD be enough to just PASS the written test. If you truthfully went through all of the SANS questions and didn't pass, I would imagine something else is going on.

How is your fund of knowledge when seeing consults? Are you reading a few minutes about the pathology on up to date or even wikipedia etc before staffing the consult? The best way to approach neurosurgery, and the boards specifically, is what broad, consistent studying. Don't focus on benders and HOURS at a time, focus on 5-10 minute quick reads every day. Dont fall into the trap of being a consult grunt and not actually learning. The consults are what your program gets out of you, exposure to infinite iterations of pathology and MRI scans are what you get out of your program.

I hope this was helpful in some form or fashion.

[Guest]

(07-07-2020, 01:51 AM)Guest Wrote:

(07-06-2020, 11:37 PM)Guest Wrote: does your program have you pass it at a certain percentile?

No, just passing

I presume you did at least reasonably well enough on Step 1 to match in NS. What were your strategies then? Unlike Step 1, there's not much pathophysiology to manipulate to make the questions harder. The way they create the high tail of the curve is by asking esoteric trivia that's all memorization. If you just want to pass, you need to hit the high yields, and the review books are going to be where you get those from. The format has obviously changed. Anatomy is a gimme. If you fail the anatomy portion where they give you the exact images you need to know, it's your own fault. Anatomy in general is a place where people lose a lot of points. Put the Rhoton video lectures on before bed or when you're eating dinner. Watch them over and over, and it's hard not to learn. Pathology is the same idea, but the information is harder to find. The good thing is that this isn't a pathology exam, the pictures they show you will have classic findings. Find every question book you can. Read every. single. answer. explanation. whether or not you get the question right. If you don't understand something, take 5 minutes and read about it.

You are not going to passively absorb this information from your day to day work. You need to sit down and study for it like any other test, and in general, the number of hours you put in will translate to better results.