Boards and Beyond

General

Boards and Beyond is an excellent resource. The videos are short, concise, and they cover most of what you need to know. They can be pretty dense so don’t feel like you need to watch on double speed to save time. Some people prefer to take notes, but not all do. If you use anki and the AnKing deck to study then after watching a boards and beyond video you can unlock AnKing cards which are tagged as associated with the BnB video you just watched. These cards will be related to the same content from the BnB video and will help you to review with spaced repetition and remember over the block. It is worth noting though that some of the cards will seem out of left field. They may still be important, but if it seems unrelated and you’re wasting time on the card or not understanding the underlying topic, feel free to suspend it to come back to later.  A list of recommended BnB videos for blocks 1-4 will be linked in the near future.

Also this is my spot here to plug Bootcamp. If you like BnB but wish it covered more, Bootcamp has so many videos and tons of practice questions. It’s a great resource for learning and I personally recommend it for everyone. BnB is more common though. It has the same exact usecase and advice as BnB. Personal choice on which you’d prefer though. I don’t recommend buying until block 2 or later though. 

Block 1

The plan that works for most people during block 1 is to watch the BnB videos for the block and to then unlock those AnKing cards. This will cover much of the content for the block and help to reinforce important testable points. It can be very helpful to cover all of the recommended BnB videos associated with lectures. It’s also a good to review the faculty objectives, and look for BnB videos related to those so you can review the associated AnKing cards

Block 2

BnB takes a back seat for many M1’s during block 2 as quite a few read Costanzo’s Physiology religiously. That being said, the videos associated with lecture on the list can be very helpful and some people prefer the videos to reading a longer textbook. Some people opt to watch all the BnB videos with Costanzo, and this is fine too, but there is a lot of overlap so many students do one or the other. The same advice for block 1 goes where it can be very helpful to look for videos related to block 2 faculty objectives to unlock those cards and review the content as it’s highly tested.

Block 3

BnB is very helpful in block 3, especially for cranial nerves, brainstem, and pathways. The structure videos are also very helpful for those who are unfamiliar with neurology content. In general, the BnB list for this block will also suffice. The same advice for block 1 goes where it can be very helpful to look for videos related to block 3 faculty objectives to unlock those cards and review the content as it’s highly tested

Block 4

As always BnB is pretty solid this block. Sketchy is the mainstay for micro and pharm, but outside of that it’s pretty weak so BnB is a good go-to.

Practice Questions

If you pay for the BnB membership, you will have access to practice questions associated with each BnB video. This can be very helpful for reviewing as well. Practice problems are an excellent way to learn and are always useful toward the end of the block to practice for the KBE.