The National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition

On this page, you will find some generic information about the NUNC. For more details, please see the page for the upcoming competition by clicking here.

If you have any questions, please check our FAQS, and if those don't answer your question, drop us an email at natneurocomp@gmail.com.

The NUNC is an annual competition open to all medical students in the UK and Ireland. It first started in 2013, and has since run annually at the University of Southampton, where it attracted over 150 students. From 2023 onwards, NUNC has been based at its new home in Glasgow!

What does the competition involve?

The National Undergraduate Neuroanatomy Competition has 3 main components:

  1. A neuroanatomy spotter examination

  2. A clinically-orientated single-best-answer examination

  3. A series of talks from experts on various aspects of the neurosciences

Neuroanatomy Spotter

In previous years, the in-person neuroanatomy spotter consists of 70 stations, each with 2 questions. 1 minute per station. Students will be asked to identify neuroanatomical structures on cadaveric specimens. There will also be questions on neuroimaging.

Multiple-Choice Examination

This is a 60 question Single Best Answer (SBA) examination for which you have 70 minutes. Each question has 4 possible answers. These questions will test your ability to apply your neuroanatomical knowledge to clinical scenarios.


Categories

There are two categories: Clinical and Pre-clinical. If you have not yet started your full-time clinical placements at medical school, or study a non-medical anatomy-based degree, you will be considered a pre-clinical student. Everybody takes the same examinations, regardless of which category you fall into. You are only scored against other people in your category.

How is it scored?

The spotter exam typically consists of 70 stations, each of which has 2 questions. Each question is worth 2 marks. 1 mark is awarded for partially correct answers. The maximum score for the spotter paper is 280.

The MCQ exam consists of 60-questions. Each question is worth 1 mark. The maximum score for the MCQ paper is 60.

The exams are equally weighted. The scores are accumulated to give an overall score.

For each of the two categories, clinical and pre-clinical, the winner and runner-up will receive a prize.Students who perform in the top 10% will receive a distinction certificate to recognise their performance.

Following the competition, you will receive an email with your individual results, ranking and descriptive statistics for the cohort for those who aim to use the competition as an opportunity to build upon and develop their learning techniques, and also to those who aim to compete to gauge their performance against other competitors confidentially.

Talks

In the afternoon, when you have completed the two examinations, there will be 2-3 talks from our guest speakers on various topic of neuroscience.

Why come along?

We strive to make the NUNC a friendly and enjoyable event, and feedback from years gone past has been exceptionally positive.

There are a number of reasons to come to the NUNC. Alongside the exciting talks and indulgent refreshments, there are prizes for the winner and runner-up for both the clinical and pre-clinical category. Other students who also perform exceptionally well will be acknowledged in a distinction category.

Coming to the NUNC will also give you the opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to the neurosciences, demonstrate your ability in neuroanatomy, meet and network with likeminded people, and see our exciting collection of neuroanatomical dissections.

Feedback

At the NUNC, we appreciate the value of feedback. After the event, you will receive an email with a personalised certificate containing the following details;

•Your individual results for both the MCQ and spotter exams, and overall mark
•Your individual ranking relative to their category (clinical or pre-clinical)
•A histogram showing the distribution of results in deciles
•Descriptive statistics of the results of the whole cohort (mean, median, range, minimum and maximum)

The feedback of statistical analysis and ranking provides competitors a guide to interpreting their results, useful for those who aim to use the competition as an opportunity to build upon and develop their learning techniques, and also to those who aim to compete to gauge their performance against other competitors confidentially.

You will usually receive this email within 6 weeks of the competition.