Hi All,
I thought it would be a good idea to share the experiences of all those who took the exams so that it will be a good guidance for our future visitors.
I had taken Part I this week and felt the paper was OK except for I thought the MicroB / Pathology was a tough one. Could not figure some of these questions. On the whole Decks and question papers were helpful. Dental Anatomy was cool. Bio / Physiology was a little thoughtful.

Also is there any difference in scoring patterns between July and Dec exams (Like one is easy to score vis a vis other)

Please share your experiences

I took Part 2 monday and tuesday, it was really tough. I had a doubt in which malocclusion is most difficult to take to centric relation. There were choices like:
Unilateral crossbite
Bilateral crossbite
Class III mo
Class II mo
class I mo

Ther was anoter one like why do you make the whole cavity prep before excavating caries that may have the risk of pulp exposure?


Please discuss them

Hey Mightymolar,

I am also getting ready to give the part II this month end. Any discussions would be very helpful. Do you have en email id I can get in touch with ?

Thanks...:)

Just finished the paper version of NBDE Part 2. It wasn't too bad as I had anticipated. About 60% were recycled questions and the rest were similar but "re-packaged". Overall, most people who took it were happy in the end. There were no problem with time management, most people finished with at least 1 hour to spare. Any others who could share their experience past two days? Cheers.

In the case with the 11 year old child who had cystic fibrosis , which sedation did you chose?

There was another question regarding 8bids represented how many shades of gray?

There was another question about a Patient asking for medications for her TMJ pain?

There was another comparing fear and anxiety

Hypertensive Pt was administered 2%lidocaine 1:100,000 epinephrine, didi not get the anesthesia what would you administer next?

Please discuss them while you still have them fresh, if I remember any othe I will post them

hi mighty molar
i am planning to take my part 2 in another month,did u see the kaplan notes,u said qs were recycled was it from previous years questions?i am not sure if i will do well i got only 85% in part 1 as result of which i didnt get any admit:(

Wife took part2 at UOP last Monday and Tuesday. Surprised to find only 10 people taking the test at UOP (vs probably couple hundreds at SF Holiday Inn for part 1 last December). She said about 50% are recycled/repackaged questions (she finished only half of the published exams). Since only about 55% is required to pass the test, studying past exams get her more than half way to the holy grail.

Her English is less than fluent, but was able to finish each test with about 20 minutes to spare. 200 questions/3.5 hours (x2) for the comprehensive, 100 questions/3.5 hours for the case study.

The case studies were more tricky, often with multiple plausible answers.

For what it's worth, she prepared by concentrating mostly on dental decks (3.5 times) and old exams, supplemented by Duggan's and Kaplan notes. Total prep time is 9hrs/day x 6 days/week x 16 weeks. She felt an additional month of preparation will be better. Part 2 requires 30% more time to prepare than part 1.

- tengu

Hi Tengu3,

How much is the passing score for part 2. Is it 75% or 55% ?
You mentioned 55% above, can you point me to some documentation regarding that.

Appreciated.

- HSB

Originally posted by hbajwa
How much is the passing score for part 2. Is it 75% or 55% ?

Raw score ~55%, translate to a composite score of 75 points. The required raw score changes from one exam to another, but it has been hovering around 55 to 56%.


You mentioned 55% above, can you point me to some documentation regarding that.


http://www.ada.org/prof/ed/testing/techreport.pdf

see page 82

Originally posted by Mari_Cristi
In the case with the 11 year old child who had cystic fibrosis , which sedation did you chose? Oral benzodiazepam conscious sedation. Valium.

There was another question regarding 8 bit represented how many shades of gray? It was a surprise! I put 8 shades of grey.

There was another question about a Patient asking for medications for her TMJ pain? "Well, let's talk about the cause of pain and find a reasonable management..." something along this way. Didn't want to give a bad vibe to the patient.

There was another comparing fear and anxiety. Anxiety is something that you can associate with; fear is something that you cannot associate. Eg. white coat would be the source of your anxiety.

Hypertensive Pt was administered 2%lidocaine 1:100,000 epinephrine, didi not get the anesthesia what would you administer next? Carbocaine without the vasoconstrictor.

Please discuss them while you still have them fresh, if I remember any othe I will post them

How about restoring and bleaching Class III lower anteriors? Did you think bleaching first and then restore. or restore first and then bleach? Very tricky as either way would work. Oh well.
My 2 cents worth people.

Originally posted by shilpi
hi mighty molar
i am planning to take my part 2 in another month,did u see the kaplan notes,u said qs were recycled was it from previous years questions?i am not sure if i will do well i got only 85% in part 1 as result of which i didnt get any admit:(

I didn't have access to Kaplan notes. I used past exam papers and the Dental Decks (98 edition). 85 in Part 1 is a great score. If you get 85 in Part 2, then you would have done very well. So don't sweat it. Give it your best shot!

What were the case history topics/diseases or conditions. Please post in detail.
Any cluse for behavioral science questions?

hi mari cristi
i think anxiety is associated with unknown cause and fear is associated with a known cause,thats what i think

hi tengu
can u ask ur wife if she remembers any difficult or different questions so it will give an idea for the future exam takers

Originally posted by shilpi
hi mari cristi
i think anxiety is associated with unknown cause and fear is associated with a known cause,thats what i think

Isn't it the OTHER way around? Anxiety is when you can connect with the cause. e.g. Most people reading this thread would be anxious of the possibility of them failing the NDBEs and the same bunch of us would be fearful of failures in general. That's my rocket science for today! What do most people reckon?

There was another question about a case in which a former FPD conector showed beneath the porcelain .


another case the Pt was treated with Prilosec

hi mari
what do u do if the connector shows beneath the porcelain?

Originally posted by mightymolar
How about restoring and bleaching Class III lower anteriors? Did you think bleaching first and then restore. or restore first and then bleach? Very tricky as either way would work. Oh well.
My 2 cents worth people. ;)


my reply would be bleach first, then restore.....bcos u can place the restn. to match the color of the bleached tooth.

but if u restore first, placing a filling based on the shade of the tooth, and then bleach.....u will have an unesthetic, ugly filling calling out 'here i am'

Shilpi
I blamed the lab