Are you one of those students who took the DAT and said to yourself, “I am done with that stupid test and never have to remember anything about the Krebs cycle or gram positive bacteria ever again!�?
I was.
You are in for a major disappointment when you get to biochemistry and realize that that stupid circle on the chalkboard with carbons and water going in and out of it has a message next to it: Memorize this for the test. Not only that but it will be more detailed and have all the other major systems going into it….pentose phosphate shunt, amino acid derivatives, what happens in hypoxia, you know, stuff that will help you save your patients life. To ease the pain of this newfound realization I will say that anything to do with PLANT respiration isn’t in dental school. SO if you got that silly question on the DAT about the reproduction of a sea anemone, then don’t worry, you CAN forget that information.
I have strayed from my point, which was to point out that even though you were finished with the DAT you still need to retain some of that information, as it will make learning in dental school easier. If you were like me and thought that you would never have to know the stuff on the DAT again (I know naïve…) then you probably thought similarly to me on another issue, never having to take another test like the DAT again!!! You thought wrong. In reality I DID know I had to take another test, the National Board Dental Examination (NBDE). I just didn’t realize how quickly the time would pass before I actually had to take it. I have finished a year of school (with a summer I block ahead of me until June 30, 2007) and it seems like I got my acceptance letter a week ago. So with that heartfelt introduction out of the way I have gathered some good test taking information. I am hoping that some of the more experienced dental students out there who read this or come across this will add their personal experiences in the comments section.
NBDE Materials and Guidelines
I have been looking at various study materials and gathering advice from many people over the past six months about the materials they found to be the best to use for the NBDE Part I. In my opinion there are four things you need to rock Part I. Maybe five if you add personal skill.
1) First Aid for the NBDE Part I by Steinbacher and Sierakowski.
The authors both went to dental school so there is the first sign of credibility. One author is a dentist and the other one is doing an Oral Surgery residency in Boston. This adds more credibility because these guys more than likely used the same material presented in this book to get the scores they did (I am guessing in the 90′s). I have looked at it in the health science bookstore and it looks to be a very good resource. It is filled with definitions, charts, key words, figures, diagrams and it is organized very well. The pages look clean and uncluttered so everything can be organized into your brain better. The price also made me smile (and a little jealous…can I become an author of this book please to make some extra revenue?).
Buy First Aid for the NBDE Part I
Sorry for the crappy picture, I took in in the airport with my computer.
2) Dental Decks
These are more pricey but have been recommended to me by 100% of the people I have talked to. Everyone also had the same recommendation: Just memorize the decks and you will be fine. Seems simple enough. What are the ‘Decks’ you may be asking. I did a little looking through google and found the website that sells them. ******* They are flashcards. Even better I thought, flashcards are awesome. Remember those flashcards you had for the DAT? 200 flashcards that were pretty simple to memorize. Well, the Decks are 1300 flashcards that are professionally done, almost like baseball cards. Pretty simple to memorize indeed…each card is packed with information covering all subjects needed for the NBDE. Here is their website: deckscorp.com, and here is another link to the NBDE specific site. My friend ordered these and he got them the next day in the mail. This company is very good with what they do.
3) Personal Notes
Take the best notes possible while in school. Maybe flashcards and some cool charts and graphs. My friends and I have done this for many subjects this semester. We would take a 30-50 page power point lecture and condense it by taking out all the fluff and retaining the main points. We could then reproduce this new material into a 1-2 page sheet of paper that had all the stuff from one lecture on it (not size eight font either, a normal page). I have dubbed these sheets Ninja Sheets (I will write an article on Ninja Sheets I have decided). Why Ninja Sheets? Because like a ninja, these sheets are stealthy and the information you learn from them will help you slay and defeat the enemy: your test. It is easier to study for a test when you have a stack of 20 papers vs. a stack of 100. When it comes time to cram for the NBDE and a concept comes up that you don’t quite understand or remember, bust out your Ninja Sheets.
4) Released Exams
There are packets you can buy that have questions from previous tests. These are an excellent resource and many questions you see here will be repeated on the test. I have searched many places and can’t find where to buy these…anyone know? I know I have seen some sell on ebay.
5) Personal Skill
I have a friend at UoP who had the amazing ability called RETENTION. We would be studying for Histology in undergraduate and a concept would come up that none of us could grasp. We would all look at him for an explanation and he would search the archives of his brain for an answer. He would usually say something like this, “Remember two months ago when our teacher said such and such?� We would look at him blankly while he explained the concept and we would move on with studying. Well, I have found that retention is so much easier if you learn something with out cramming. Learn the information early and review it often. It gets incorporated into long-term memory better. Retention is also easier when you are not stressed out about it. I find that the more stressed out I am for a test, the harder it is to learn the material and I usually do worse on the test. Start retaining the information you learn in dental school from day one. Even the material from the psychology class you take will appear on the Boards!
The sooner you gather material and start reviewing and learning new material the easier it will be to get ready for the NBDE. Review while you eat breakfast, on your way to school, while you sit in the bathroom (at least once a day right?), and anywhere else where you have some downtime. My personal favorite is during commercial breaks while watching 24. I realize I still have until September of 2008 before I have to take Boards Part I, but I had to take the DAT twice because I wasn’t prepared the first time and I don’t want to anything else more than once again, unless of course it is memorizing the Krebs cycle. ☺
When you are in undergraduate class and the professor tells you you have a quiz tomorrow, you usually go home, watch three hours of TV, play with your kids, or hang out with friends, then go to sleep at 10pm. In the morning you wake up and 10 minutes before class you cram 15 facts into your brain and get quized on 10 of them. If you are good, you miss none.
