MATERIAL and METHODS: The number of applications to the written and oral board exams organized by the Turkish Neurosurgical Society Proficiency Board since 2006, the number of successful and unsuccessful participants, and the number of the neurosurgery residents and specialists who applied to the exam were evaluated.

RESULTS: A total of 554 candidates took the exam since 2006 when the first TBNS was applied. Two hundred and sixty of the candidates were successful (46.9%), and 294 (53.1%) were unsuccessful. Two hundred and forty six (44.4%) of those who took the test were neurosurgeons, 308 (55.6%) were neurosurgery residents who had completed their 3rd year in their training. The highest score in the written exams was 93/100, and the lowest score was 33/100. In verbal exams, a total of 73 candidates participated, and 66 (90.4 %) of them were successful while 7 of them (9.6%) were unsuccessful.

CONCLUSION: Board exams are inevitable to provide a certain level of education and standardization in the training of neurosurgery. Our duty as neurosurgeons is to participate in these exams and work to increase participation for continuing education. Keywords : Board, Examination, Neurosurgery, Turkish Neurosurgical Society, Neurosurgery training