- A must-have before your exam!
- Alan, University of South Florida
- Alan, University of South Florida
- Crack the Core is essential to passing the Core exam. Every resident at my institution used it as their primary resource for both the imaging diagnosis and physics portions of the exam. I felt as prepared as I could have been thanks to Prometheus and his resources. These books will be useful far past the core exam, and I’ve seen many fellows that come from outside programs frequently referencing it. Thanks Prometheus, I couldn’t have done it without you.
- Resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- The Books and Board review course are good. But it’s not enough for studying, b/c you need imaging. I got a lot of MRI images in GI, GU, Mams. You have to recognize different sequences to answer the Q. I used Rad Primer images and Q bank. Companion case book is excellent with good DDX. Very good and helpful topics re anatomy. But your books teach to turn on special words, clinical history and findings. On the real exam the only hint in the most Qs was age or gender. I got approximately 60-70% of Qs from physics and NM. Physics and Nucs are very simplified, easy to understand and was the main source for studying.
- Resident at DMC/WSU Diagnostic Radiology
- Resident at DMC/WSU Diagnostic Radiology
- The online review course was a great compliment to the book series. I found this online review course much more helpful that the week long review course I attended. Crack the Core series is the boards review standard. Thank you for the effort you put into both these resources. You did and wonderful job.
- Alex T
- Alex T
- While not my only resources, I would not have passed the boards without both titan radiology and crack the core.
- Josh Zeidenberg
- Josh Zeidenberg
- Prometheus provided a refreshing synthesis of the board contents and conveyed them in a succinct, clear, and occasionally comical fashion
- Resident at Brigham & Women’s
- Resident at Brigham & Women’s
- The videos are a great way to study and get through the book quickly. The video illustrations/diagrams also helped explain the physics concepts very well.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- It’s difficult to have a perfect study source for a wide subject like Radiology, but this is certainly pound for pound the BEST resource available!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- THANK YOU for your enthusiasm and effort! By far the easiest videos to sit through – your sense of humor was MUCH appreciated, and helped immensely when trying to suffer through otherwise mundane material (i.e. “Non-interpretive skills”)
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- This is the only comprehensive review system that exists. While it may not teach you everything, it teaches you what you need to PASS and be comfortable.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- The material tested by the core exam is immense and intimidating. The board review course and the Crack the Core Exam books provided a focused, high-yield method to approach studying for such a seemingly overwhelming exam. I listened to the entire board review course about 4-5 times and read through the review books twice. I also read through the dedicated physics review book, The War Machine, and the case companion books. I am confident that this helped me feel prepared for the core exam, dominate each section and pass the exam with a score well above the passing cut-offs.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- From a satisfied Crack the Core Exam (text & review course videos combined) user… who went on to PASS (& score well on) the ABR Core Exam at 1st sitting: Crack the Core Exam (texts & review course videos combined) are NOT enough to pass the ABR Core Exam IF used as one’s ONLY review materials. The ABR Core Exam simply reaches down to a level of nitpicking detail beyond that of the Crack the Core Exam materials. (Those bastards seem to have a preternatural sense of what is out there in the various review materials.) However, Crack the Core Exam forms an outstanding review base! I read (whilst highlighting & scribbling notes in margin) each section of the books then reinforced that material w/ the corresponding videos. Then, I used QEVLAR’s RadCore & NucsCore question banks followed by Face the Core & RadPrimer question banks for each topic. Prometheus Lionheart gives an excellent review base that gets you thinking in exam taking mode, which proved a great springboard to pound through those thousands of Q bank questions. I highly recommend the Crack the Core Exam books & review course videos as the base of multimodal ABR Core Exam study plan.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Best thing out there for prep
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- The Crack the Core Exam books are the best resource available on the market right now. They are definitely quite detailed but the exam tests a lot of random trivia and minutiae. A lot of what is in Crack the Core is not tested, however, much of what is tested is in the books and these books are one of the sole reasons I passed the exam. The review video course is an excellent supplement. It is mostly the same material as the books, however, when you’re tired late in the evening or at night from reading/doing questions, it’s a great way to reinforce the material. Loved the Crack the Core books, War Machine, the video course, and the Case Companion as an entire package.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- The new primary resource for boards studying. Lots of good supplemental resources out there, but Crack the Core is far and away the best single resource there is.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I totally bought in your books and videos. I ended up with a score of 520 overall. Thanks!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- The physics and non-interpretive sections were very helpful. The lectures were very helpful as well.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- If you read crack books (all four) and see lecture – you are safe
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- This series is essentially analogous to the First Aid series we all used to study for the USMLE Step 1 examination–I can’t think of a higher compliment to give a medical review text. While knowing everything in the series won’t give the user a perfect score, it provides a core degree of knowledge that, in my opinion, will make failing the exam very difficult. Hats off, Prometheus Lionhart.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Seriously great course. I felt like I learned the most radiology from the books and video series combined. Definitely not dry and boring like other review courses. Seriously hilarious, but that doesn’t compromise the educational component in any way. Makes it more like learning from your co-residents. All of my classmates used this resource, and we all passed and did very well. We are recommending it to all our upcoming classes.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Very good and concise !
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Probably wouldn’t have passed without it.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Don’t take the Core without it!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Just wanted to say thank you for all your hard work in helping me pass this test. I was fortunate to have taken the test at a time when your Crack the Core book and video resources were available and improved. I passed this ridiculous test and I credit a lot of that towards your books and video resources.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- The Core exam is a very difficult test, full of minutia and seemingly useless information. However, there is very little, if anything that is on the exam that isn’t covered in the Crack the Core books or the video lecture series. I feel like these resources were instrumental in my passing the boards and I would highly recommend them to anyone in prepping for this exam. Myself and many others would have surely been lost without them!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Awesome summary of what you need to know for the Core.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Prometheus provided a refreshing synthesis of the board contents and conveyed them in a succinct, clear, and occasionally comical fashion
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Crack the Core is like the kryptonite spear Superman used to impale Doomsday in Batman Versus Superman. It won the day. It’s like Captain America’s mighty shield used to take done Iron Man. You need this book.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Crack the core books and videos are the highest yield materials out there. I’m strongly recommending them to anyone taking the boards! Thanks Prometheus for helping me rock the core!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I love your books, and love what you are doing for the resident community! I just found out about your videos and subscribed right away. This is exactly what radiology training has needed: more content that can be consumed while driving, jogging, eating (or shitting).
This is the only study content that I can digest after 9PM without sedating me.
Thank you for everything you are doing!- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Thanks for helping me pass boards. And keep my f**king sanity.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I am in my second AIRP week and I have to confess that your videos made me stay at home and almost never go to the AIRP which I thing seriously is a waist of time.
Thank you very much for your confirmation. BTW, I have to make a confession, I watched your videos at least 3 times each and for some reason I became the “star” in taking cases in my program. Before that, I was doing very badly since I started off-cycle 10 months later than my class, but now much better even better than my seniors. I am really grateful for your lectures. Well, I am not sure in which program you trained but you really deserve a national teaching medal. You have all my respect and appreciation Sir.- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Hey there Doc, I just wanted to reach out to you and thank you for all the work you’ve done to create this course and the books you’ve written. You are talented when it comes to education; the way you present things is so refreshing. I also appreciate your humor.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Awesome f**king books. War machine is great addition. Gonna rape my core exam.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- You are a freakin boss. Your books are incredible, the only thing better than your books are The Requisites (just kidding those are awful!).
Please start your own residency program- Adam
- Adam
- Learned a ton from your book, I wish I started using it earlier on. The way you present things just clicks!
- Anthony
- Anthony
- I passed the CORE because of you!! Thank you so much for all the hard work compiling these resources. You are the MAN!! The Goljan of the CORE!!
- Tyler
- Tyler
- I wanted to say your lectures are awesome. It really improved my knowledge across the subjects.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I used your books and video subscription for the CORE. I PASSED the exam and SLAYED the beast.
Your tips, jokes, advice, and sometimes just being able to realize the occasional absurdities (un-labelled rarely performed nucs studies!!!) really helped me get through it and not get too down while studying for months on end and what seemed at times like no end in sight. Your material was a worthwhile investment.
I hope you will continue fighting for the USERS.- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Core results came back and I passed!!!. My whole class 6/6 passed using your products. Your books and videos are amazing. I think you have found a calling in teaching. You have become a legend to radiology residents across the country. I wish you nothing but future success with Titanradiology.
Me and another resident in my program would like to personally send you a nice bottle of scotch or bourbon. I know you don’t want to give out your home address, and I don’t blame you. Do you have a PO Box or business address where we could send it? It would be our honor to send you a gift.
I was watching Batman Begins recently (a true movie for alpha males) and saw a quote that made me think of you as a guy who looks out for the residents and writes under a pseudonym name. Perhaps you’ve already seen it and have it in your books.
“It’s not who I am underneath. But what I do that defines me”
-Batman- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I’m an audio visual learner. I got through undergrad by listening to audio recordings of lectures. I got through medical school by watching recorded videos of lectures. And now, I’ve gotten through the Core exam in part by watching your lectures.I read your Crack the core and case books once. I streamed your lecture series twice while thorough taking notes the second time (during the 2 week before exam week).
Thank you for the efforts you have put into creating such great works.
I wish you the best with your future pursuits.
PS As far as I am concerned, you are the best educator in Diagnostic Radiology.- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Got my core results and passed comfortably, and I owe it all to you. The teaching we get in my program is shit, and literally everything I learned came from Crack the Core, Case Companion, your videos, and War Machine. If there’s anything I could do to promote or help you improve your materials or put in a good word, I’d be more than happy to do so. Thanks for all your help and for fighting for the users!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Passed the boards using only your Crack the Core book and videos to study.
- Eric
- Eric
- I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you’ve done in compiling such a great resource for us. Hands down, your CTC 2 volume set and war machine books are amazing. The videos were the most lucid explanations of concepts that educators at my institution failed to present in a logical manner.
The RSNA modules are a mess. War machine and your physics lectures presented everything clearly and to the appropriate level of detail.
My only minor gripe was the case companion set as it was a bit redundant when done with the video series. Also, the questions were a bit too basic for the CORE and had too many cute distractors.
Overall, YOU are the reason I passed this exam.- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Found out yesterday I passed the CORE! Credit where credit is due, both the Crack the Core books and the Titan Radiology lectures were a huge portion of my study regimen, couldn’t have done it without them.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- First off, thanks for the resources. Definitely passed because of your books and videos. Going to be advising the upcoming core taking residents soon in my program. Do you plan to come out with a new edition of any of the books? Just trying to give them an idea of how much to budget for core prep.
I bought all of your books and videos and don’t regret a dime. I will never forget lead tech’s sweaty pits.- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- I do think once your classes of graduates become far along you could win acr pres vote. And then you could fix the system.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Thanks to you !!! Really owe you big time thanks for everything you have done ????
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Thank you for writing the crack the core books and making the online review series. I passed the test mainly from studying your awesome resources. We residents appreciate you for listening to our feedback and continually making your resources better. Thank you for keeping the books and online course at affordable prices too. Keep up the great work!
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
AuntMinnie.com Forum Praise:
- what was good: CTC + CTC physics/war machine- books were easy to read and most relevant. There was some minutiae in there that wasnt really tested, but they did test other minutiae, so whatever is in those books is probably fair game. most easy to understand and relevant physics. Titan videos also great.
- radqbr
- radqbr
- 6/6 passed here too, hybrid academic/private setting- decent board reviews in certain subspecialties but also exposed to every modality at work and it’s busy. most importantly, prometheus lionhart’s books and videos were GOLD.
- gadolinium11
- gadolinium11
- Passed with a wide margin. In-person review courses and the RSNA physics modules are unnecessary. CTC a billion times with question banks is the way to go.
I highly recommend the Titan radiology videos.
If there is any subject you want he doesn’t already cover, he’ll add it. He was adding material up to the day of the test and probably still is (my subscription expired, so no idea how much).
Think Prometheus Lionheart singlehandedly got many of us over the passing threshold, might as well go straight to the source.- interview2017
- interview2017
- Passed with room to spare, thank the lord! Used mainly CTC and his videos with radprimer and Qevlar. This seems to be the best formula this year. Congrats to all who passed!
- EightyDeuce
- EightyDeuce
- 3/3 passed in my program…I wouldn’t be surprised if the test ‘curve’ reflects the amount of memorized material from CTC
- aceshighk
- aceshighk
- Crack the Core has its flaws. But, I would not have gone to battle without it. I also personally liked his writing style.
For me the best part of CTC was not even the radiology stuff but the physics section and videos. I reviewed the physics section 3x. He has a couple of nice high yield charts for physics. For example for MRI for he has a chart for each parameter and what happens to the image. I think he has the best stuff for physics. I did 80 percent of the RSNA modules which take a long time to get through. CTC is helpful since if you do it side by side with the RSNA modules you can focus on the important stuff in the modules and skim through the other stuff. You can argue that you don’t even have to do the modules. Two of my co-residents didn’t even do the modules and one of them had the highest physics score in my class. Only part of the physics section that I did not like and I think needs a bit of an overhaul was the radiation safety portion. Too many numbers and some numbers are different from RSNA and Huda. I think for that portion, its best to make a chart or flashcard those numbers based on the RSNA modules. Otherwise you will find yourself memorizing different numbers.
– Crack the Core Book:
Read it once from mid March through May and a second time in the 3 weeks before the exam. Read physics section 3 times. Jokes and tips really helped me power through some sections and inspirational quotes were a nice touch. Hits some high points and explains some confusing topics well. Fair amount of minutiae in some sections of the book that wasn’t on my exam but don’t know if it could show up on other tests. Some errors but this feels like a work in progress and Prometheus is responsive to email. At this point, I think almost everyone in the country is using it.
– Crack the Core Video Series:
Bought it in late April. Wish I would have it bought it earlier. Its expensive, but thought it was a worthwhile investment. Its a little too slow on x1 speed. But with the x2 speed you can listen to a whole topic in 1 day. Prob watched 70 percent of the videos and watched some sections twice which I felt weak in. Also Prometheus was adding topics up until a few days before the exam based on requests. Thought the videos hit some things nicely and he also shows images on stuff. I think it should be viewed as complimentary to CTC.
– Physics:
I had basically zero physics knowledge prior to mid Feb when I started RSNA modules. Did about 80 percent of the modules and mostly did the modality specific modules. Mixed feeling about the modules. I thought some were very good and others were way too detailed. If I had to do it again, would have done them earlier in the year and used Crack the Core Book and Videos while going through the modules to help guide me what was important. Went back and did some of the module post test questions again like a week before which I thought was helpful.
Read crack the core physics section x3 and watched some of the Crack the Core physics videos. Would have watched them all if I had bought the Crack the Core Videos earlier in my study period. Thought both were very good. Did not use Crack the Core Physics War Machine since it came out in May and wanted to focus on Qbanks at that point.
Overall, felt that the physics questions were fair on the exam.- BGF
- BGF
- Crack the core and radprimer only. Passed with a wide margin.
- FrickenhugeMD
- FrickenhugeMD
- Centered my studying around Crack the Core and Qevlar. Also read Primer and did questions (not all of them) from board vitals, rock the boards and rad primer which helped solidify areas that needed extra attention.
Other things that are a must know are the noninterpretative skills study guide and the Mettler chapter on nuclear regulations and safety. One professor does a youtube series on the qi study guide which was great in my opinion and saved me time.
For physics I relied on the questions from the above qbanks along with the Huda course and his questions. Felt very comfortable with physics with this and never looked at a RSNA module.
Finally I would highly recommend the core review series. I discovered these late in my studies but ended up doing the majority of the question books. I would probably have used these over the other qbanks except for qevlar and radprimer.- Gastrografin
- Gastrografin
- Program had us do Ram’s Physics course which was mediocre and probably not necessary. CTC Physics was probably enough. I also used the Physics 300 iPad/iphone app which was pretty useful for $4 or $5.
- Msk 2017
- Msk 2017
- – Crack the core + videos (seriously, the videos are well worth the extra $$$). Read the books probably x 3, videos x 1 with repeats in weak areas.
– Physics: We had 0 physics at my program, and I used crack the core and core physics review (program paid). I would say that CtC w/videos would probably have you covered since the physics on the Core is actually reasonable.- Punkindrublic
- Punkindrublic
- pass:
-CTC volumes one and two plus war machine
– qevlar/BV/and FTC
-read nothing for 2.5 yrs- radiology DO
- radiology DO
- You da MVP:
Crack the core book
2. Titan Videos
3. Huda physics review
4. Core review Nucs and GU
None of the Qbanks are very good, but collectively they get the job done.- gasmasspsoas
- gasmasspsoas
- Generally felt the test was fair. Very small number of test items where I had no idea what they were looking for, probably 3-4 questions like that, although picking between 2 answers was a common experience. Learning the Qevlar qbank, knowing what’s in the RSNA modules, knowing the stuff in CTC volumes 1 and 2 and Core Radiology well, understanding well how images are acquired, and how to QC images/fix issues is plenty to get a pass in my opinion. That was my approach and was well above conditioning any subject. Maybe I burned out less than some by waiting to start my primary book review resources for the first time until April – although there was definitely stress to that approach.
- radiopique
- radiopique