Please Help - USMLE + NBDE (Dental Boards Part 1)

[childofthesacredheart]

Hello everyone! I hope you guys are studying well for the USMLE.

I had a question - I am studying for my NBDE board exam - and I was wondering if I could ask for your advice.

I don't know if I should use USMLE material to study for my NBDE board exam and also for my school exams.

I will begin dental school in the fall of this year, and I am afraid that I won't know what to study. My school does not teach through lecture - instead, students have to learn through PBL (which is basically teaching yourself without any professors) - Some of the current students have told me that they don't always know what to study for the school exams - because they were never given any lecture material.

My question is - do you think that I should use Kaplan's USMLE (Step 1) prep material to study throughout the first two years of dental school and for my NBDE exam?

I know that Kaplan offers prep material for NBDE part 1 - but I called Kaplan - and their representative said straight out, "We offer very LIMITED resources for the NBDE part 1." - YIKES! That's scary!

Another reason why I want to use Kaplan USMLE material to study for the NBDE is because Kaplan gives you a series of these 7 prep books for the USMLE Step 1 - these seven books (each covering topics like Microbio, Immunology, Biochemistry, Pathology, Anatomy, etc. . .) are amazing.

Furthermore, Kaplan's prep material for the USMLE has so much more study material than Kaplan's prep for the NBDE. (the Q bank, the recorded lectures, practice exams, etc.)

I also heard that some of the Kaplan video lecture material for the USMLE is IDENTICAL to the Kaplan video lecture material for the NBDE.

Kaplan offers so little resources for the NBDE. But Kaplan offers SO MUCH study material for the USMLE.

My uncle is an anesthesiologist - he graduated medical school a few years ago and is almost finished with his residency. My aunt is a practicing general dentist who finished a few years ago. When my aunt was studying for NBDE Part 1 - my uncle (who had already finished the Kaplan USMLE Step 1 material) said that he could answer almost every single question on the NBDE part 1 because it was so easy compared to the USMLE. My aunt and uncle were studying together - and my uncle realized that after using Kaplan to study for the USMLE step 1 - he could easily answer NBDE part 1 questions.

Do you think that I should use Kaplan's USMLE materials and lecture recording and books and question bank to study for my school exams throughout the first two years of dental school and for the NBDE?

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[ArmyTiger]

I have no idea why you think medical students, who don't take dental boards, would know the answer to this question.

 

[Donald Juan]

I agree with the above, and I'll add in: just do what your upperclassmen tell you to do. I'm sure they pass, right?

Also, the reason med students probably think most basic science stuff on the dentist exam is easy is because we spend the entire first 2 years busting our asses to study it...not cleaning teeth or making molds or whatever the hell you guys do. It's certainly not because Kaplan's USMLE resources have some sort of magic formula for learning biochem and anatomy.

 

[childofthesacredheart]

I have no idea why you think medical students, who don't take dental boards, would know the answer to this question.

Well, maybe because the basic sciences sections are so similar between the USMLE Step 1 and the NBDE Part 1 - and besides - maybe there are some medical students on this forum who have been exposed to NBDE practice questions - who knows? The reason why I made this thread was to hopefully to find advice from medical students.

My uncle who was a medical student saw my aunt's practice NBDE questions and he could attest to the similarities between the USMLE and NBDE materials.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Moving to dental, but leaving a link in case anyone in step 1 has an opinion

 

[childofthesacredheart]

I agree with the above, and I'll add in: just do what your upperclassmen tell you to do. I'm sure they pass, right?

Also, the reason med students probably think most basic science stuff on the dentist exam is easy is because we spend the entire first 2 years busting our asses to study it...not cleaning teeth or making molds or whatever the hell you guys do. It's certainly not because Kaplan's USMLE resources have some sort of magic formula for learning biochem and anatomy.

The reason why I mention Kaplan's Prep material for USMLE is because my dental school does not offer any lecture material - we are all PBL based learning - so I am looking for a study source - and I was wondering if Kaplan's Prep material for the USMLE Step 1 is a good start.

 

[Donald Juan]

Don't you use textbooks in a PBL curriculum? It's not like you have nothing to learn. Learn the same crap that everyone else does.

Anyways, if you tried to only use kaplan for med school you would fail. I would have to imagine dental school is the same way.

 

[childofthesacredheart]

Don't you use textbooks in a PBL curriculum? It's not like you have nothing to learn. Learn the same crap that everyone else does.

Anyways, if you tried to only use kaplan for med school you would fail. I would have to imagine dental school is the same way.

Actually - for PBL in dental school - there aren't textbooks to study from - instead - we are given a piece of paper with a case describe (A patient comes in an complains about chest pains while in the dental chair. . . etc. . .) and we are suppose to research about the case - some dental students even use Wikipedia and Google to find out. The problem with PBL is that students don't know what to study for their school exams - so I am hoping that instead of using Wikipedia or Google - I can study directly from the Kaplan USMLE review books for my dental school exams.

In PBL - we are not given any lecture or core notes to study from - so we have to research physiology, microbiology, immunology, etc. by ourselves. I heard that some students use Dental Decks - but the Dental Decks is a random collection of random facts - whereas the Kaplan USMLE review books actually has context and structure.