Aug 18th CBSE

[BrazilianRider]

I really don’t think this is true lol ...

Eh. I’ve had attendings straight up tell me if you come from UConn or one of those schools with a med curriculum, you better do better than students from schools that don’t have it.

What’s more impressive? A 78 from a school where everyone gets an 80+? Or a 74 from a school where most people get <70? Context matters, and these schools know a helluva lot more than we do about this stuff.

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[surfline]

Eh. I’ve had attendings straight up tell me if you come from UConn or one of those schools with a med curriculum, you better do better than students from schools that don’t have it.

What’s more impressive? A 78 from a school where everyone gets an 80+? Or a 74 from a school where most people get <70? Context matters, and these schools know a helluva lot more than we do about this stuff.

I’d find a 78 more impressive, since.. well.. they know more than the person with the 74

 

[lb ruski]

Aren’t most schools that have dual curriculum not ranked? So those applicants have to do that much better to set themselves apart. I think people coming from schools that don’t have the dual curriculum, but are ranked, are in a better position to do not as well on the cbse to be considered competitive. Obv, they should still be aiming for the 70 cutoff.

 

[Likkriue]

I would just like to say getting a 75+ from a school which does not have a medical school curriculum is not easy. The medical school mean is a 81-82(228-230) which is what they are probably looking for.

Going to a dental school that has both medical school courses (in the beggining) and dental school courses later on. Here is my experience. The first 2/3 of my D1 year that I spent with the med students. I scored the best on the cbse in biochem, micro, immuno, and oncology which just coincidentally happens to be the classes I took with the medical students. After this all our classes such pharm, physio, and neuro were with the dental school.

Fast forward I took neuro and physiology with the same medical school professors however the class structure is different and the material was watered down and were considered dental school courses. We finished CPR and GER in 2 months. The medical students took 4 months just to do CPR and they are spending another 4 this year on GER. That is how bad the education was in comparison to the med school.
Those that take med school courses with the medical students in a medical curriculum have no idea the advantages they have on the CBSE/usmle in comparison to their counterparts in other schools. The dental school courses even with the same professors had such different expectations, that I think even the professors hated how watered down they were. It was just pathetic. I really missed taking classes with the medical students, it was just so much more comprehensive and I know for sure I would have broken a 80 if I had done 2 years of the medical school curriculum.

 

[White_Sponge_Nevus]

Did you study simultaneously during the school year? If so, can you comment on what that looked like?

My school had a month long summer break between D2 and D3 thankfully, so I spent that whole month doing not much else besides studying. Came back to school in late July and then squeezed as much CBSE studying as I could outside of class/lab/clinic until the test.

It sucks the test is only twice per year and schools have different schedules but the amount of time you can be left alone to study is the most important factor to consider when choosing a time to study for the exam

 

[BrazilianRider]

I would just like to say getting a 75+ from a school which does not have a medical school curriculum is not easy. The medical school mean is a 81-82(228-230) which is what they are probably looking for.

Going to a dental school that has both medical school courses (in the beggining) and dental school courses later on. Here is my experience. The first 2/3 of my D1 year that I spent with the med students. I scored the best on the cbse in biochem, micro, immuno, and oncology which just coincidentally happens to be the classes I took with the medical students. After this all our classes such pharm, physio, and neuro were with the dental school.

Fast forward I took neuro and physiology with the same medical school professors however the class structure is different and the material was watered down and were considered dental school courses. We finished CPR and GER in 2 months. The medical students took 4 months just to do CPR and they are spending another 4 this year on GER. That is how bad the education was in comparison to the med school.
Those that take med school courses with the medical students in a medical curriculum have no idea the advantages they have on the CBSE/usmle in comparison to their counterparts in other schools. The dental school courses even with the same professors had such different expectations, that I think even the professors hated how watered down they were. It was just pathetic. I really missed taking classes with the medical students, it was just so much more comprehensive and I know for sure I would have broken a 80 if I had done 2 years of the medical school curriculum.

I mean I agree with all of this, I’m just relaying what one of the attendings of the schools I’ve been too told me.

 

[deleted884144]

When is the next date for the CBSE most likely to be? Feb 2019? They have set the exam to be in March before, right?

 

[desertrat12]

For those that didn't have a med school curriculum, how did you pace yourself during your first go through of First Aide? I'm trying to decide if I take it super slow, looking up and trying to memorize all the stuff I haven't seen before, or if I try and just get an overview the first time through knowing I will read through it again and be doing pathoma/uworld/etc...

Lots of stuff in First Aide I haven't been introduced to in the dental basic science courses. Thanks!

 

[Likkriue]

For those that didn't have a med school curriculum, how did you pace yourself during your first go through of First Aide? I'm trying to decide if I take it super slow, looking up and trying to memorize all the stuff I haven't seen before, or if I try and just get an overview the first time through knowing I will read through it again and be doing pathoma/uworld/etc...

Lots of stuff in First Aide I haven't been introduced to in the dental basic science courses. Thanks!

Memorize first while going through some kind of lecture videos. Like boards and beyond to get yourself a nice base. No way should you brute memorize first aid, it takes me an hour to go through 10 pages despite being familiar with the material. It’ll take you an hour to get through 3 pages if you don’t know it. Pathoma helps with the pathology portion but won’t cover physio.

Also don’t get up too hung up on boards and beyond, he goes into too much info sometimes hence the word “beyond”. The chances of you needing to calculate some stuff is slim to none.

 

[desertrat12]

Memorize first while going through some kind of lecture videos. Like boards and beyond to get yourself a nice base. No way should you brute memorize first aid, it takes me an hour to go through 10 pages despite being familiar with the material. It’ll take you an hour to get through 3 pages if you don’t know it. Pathoma helps with the pathology portion but won’t cover physio.

Also don’t get up too hung up on boards and beyond, he goes into too much info sometimes hence the word “beyond”. The chances of you needing to calculate some stuff is slim to none.

Thanks for the advice...I was looking into boards and beyond last night. Luckily I have a kind father that will cover my study materials for the cbse, so I'm thinking of doing Boards and Beyond, then going into the normal UFAP method. This test is a monster from what I've seen so far.

 

[GoldenDomer11]

Just chiming in on the medical school curriculum debate.. I go to a school with a medical curriculum for the first 2 years and I did not score nearly how high I would have liked on this exam. It's still a ton of work to put all the information together and a lot of the information we've never seen before. On top of that, we were never tested via clinical vignettes and instead had to rote memorize random facts or charts from lecture slides.. because our test administrator claimed that was how part 1 of the dental boards would be like (which was actually somewhat true).

So while I don't know what OMFS program directors expect from us, I can tell you that having a medical curriculum only gives you a solid base... the kids I know who scored in the 80s or higher worked their asses off to get those scores (i'm talking studying 10+ months from 5pm-1am on weekdays and 9am-1am on weekends).

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

Just chiming in on the medical school curriculum debate.. I go to a school with a medical curriculum for the first 2 years and I did not score nearly how high I would have liked on this exam. It's still a ton of work to put all the information together and a lot of the information we've never seen before. On top of that, we were never tested via clinical vignettes and instead had to rote memorize random facts or charts from lecture slides.. because our test administrator claimed that was how part 1 of the dental boards would be like (which was actually somewhat true).

So while I don't know what OMFS program directors expect from us, I can tell you that having a medical curriculum only gives you a solid base... the kids I know who scored in the 80s or higher worked their asses off to get those scores (i'm talking studying 10+ months from 5pm-1am on weekdays and 9am-1am on weekends).

I didn’t come from a medical curriculum but yeah I can verify that my friend and I who scored in 80s studied during those hours. He actually would show up to the library weekends at like 5 or 6am. This exam beats you up a bit no doubt.

 

[Likkriue]

I disagree of course about needing a 80+ to have a chance. It’s basically a repeat of DAT scores all over again lol, Where people with 23s were concerned about getting in or not.

SDN is also the worst place to look for sample sizes also, every other person on sdn scores a 240+ on step 1 while the average is 228-230. The average sdn DAT(I actually calculated this) was a 22. National average? 18.

So those that scored 70+ should relax no matter where you went.

 

[Likkriue]

Looks like for this exam the score range was 16-96

Mean of 55.5 and a STD of 11.9.

 

[BrazilianRider]

I disagree of course about needing a 80+ to have a chance. It’s basically a repeat of DAT scores all over again lol, Where people with 23s were concerned about getting in or not.

SDN is also the worst place to look for sample sizes also, every other person on sdn scores a 240+ on step 1 while the average is 228-230. The average sdn DAT(I actually calculated this) was a 22. National average? 18.

So those that scored 70+ should relax no matter where you went.

In the end, we just have to accept that we don't know anything and we're all just here for the ride.

 

[Likkriue]

In the end, we just have to accept that we don't know anything and we're all just here for the ride.

Yup, gotta fire up those mature defenses and just do what we gotta do and hope for the best when we apply.

 

[deleted884144]

Looks like for this exam the score range was 16-96

Mean of 55.5 and a STD of 11.9.

Its interesting how the average always seems to fall at around 55. Never seems to go up.

 

[deleted884144]

When is the next date for the CBSE most likely to be? Feb 2019? They have set the exam to be in March before, right?

Next CBSE will be Feb 9th, 2019-called AAOMS to find out.

 

[BrazilianRider]

@BrazilianRider. Here is some hard data to dispute your point. It's also if a program has interacted and had past residents from that program. Program directors know the quality of applicants from UConn and that they will pass the Step 1. The average UConn CBSE score is around 74-75 pretty much every year. The 75 last year got 25 interviews out of 30 applied. The kids who applied with below a 70 all matched as well having 10-15+ interviews. The graduating class had also a 91 and a 86 in a class of 40 kids. Those two kids worked extremely hard for their score - studying hard the first two years of school.

UConn used to have the highest NBDE Part 1 score along with Harvard, but that is long forgotten. It has established a good reputation in the northeast.

Yeah, like I said before — I totally feel where you’re coming from. I’m just relaying what I’ve heard.

Also, I’m not trying to say that people who get high scores and go to certain dental schools don’t deserve it. Obviously anyone who does well worked their ass off for it.

 

[bonzDDS]

The reason I'm asking is because I external at a certain 6 year program and they told me that they're only really looking for 80+. You could PM me if you'd like to know which program

So I PMed you and no response... stop trolling sdn. Work hard yall, get that 70+ and interview like a boss.

 

[Likkriue]

So I PMed you and no response... stop trolling sdn. Work hard yall, get that 70+ and interview like a boss.

She’s not a troll. PM’d me just fine, probably is not on currently. Its a 6 year prog that likes to see 80+ but isn’t set in stone.

 

[deleted884144]

Have any of you used USMLE Rx Qmax and would it do any good to complete it before starting UWorld? I got a 69 on this past CBSE, but I only did 600ish UWorld questions (only the Micro, Behaviorial, and a little of the GI sections) and no other qbanks. I know I have a lot of UWorld left to do, especially since I didn't even touch any of the organ system pathology questions (except for GI).
I just started D2, so I have a good amount of time/retakes, luckily. Thus I am just trying to see, if one had a lot of time, what the best approach is to getting an 80+.
I have a year-long subscription to both USMLE Rx and UWorld. And lastly, I go to dental school without medical school classes.
Thanks

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

Have any of you used USMLE Rx Qmax and would it do any good to complete it before starting UWorld? I got a 69 on this past CBSE, but I only did 600ish UWorld questions (only the Micro, Behaviorial, and a little of the GI sections) and no other qbanks. I know I have a lot of UWorld left to do, especially since I didn't even touch any of the organ system pathology questions (except for GI).
I just started D2, so I have a good amount of time/retakes, luckily. Thus I am just trying to see, if one had a lot of time, what the best approach is to getting an 80+.
I have a year-long subscription to both USMLE Rx and UWorld. And lastly, I go to dental school without medical school classes.
Thanks

You don’t need Rx to score 80+, try to do 2 passes of Uworld. If there are any subjects you’re particularly weak in, you can use Rx to fill in those deficiencies.

 

[Mr.Scalpel]

Have any of you used USMLE Rx Qmax and would it do any good to complete it before starting UWorld? I got a 69 on this past CBSE, but I only did 600ish UWorld questions (only the Micro, Behaviorial, and a little of the GI sections) and no other qbanks. I know I have a lot of UWorld left to do, especially since I didn't even touch any of the organ system pathology questions (except for GI).
I just started D2, so I have a good amount of time/retakes, luckily. Thus I am just trying to see, if one had a lot of time, what the best approach is to getting an 80+.
I have a year-long subscription to both USMLE Rx and UWorld. And lastly, I go to dental school without medical school classes.
Thanks

Same boat. Also scored similarly in this past exam. I had UsmleRx before I bought UWorld, but used it arbitrarily. Only went through 31% of UWorld. In thinking about how to approach this again, at first I thought that I would first do Rx organ system-wise, and then UWorld on random. However, looking at the calendar yesterday I realized I will personally have a little over 4 months to study for the Feb 9th exam and so I ultimately decided to finish the remaining 70% of UWorld organ system-wise and then restart it and do it again on random. The two lessons I learned were that (1) your time should be spent internalizing and completing UWorld, because it is very easy to spread yourself too thin and end up running out of time not doing the **** you are actually supposed to do. And (2) to leave time to review stuff at the end and do practice NBMEs. I walked into the exam having reviewed absolutely nothing and even though I probably had spent some time on a certain topic 2 months before, the information was not readily available to me on that day (erectile dysfunction... point and shoot... pudental something? xvideos?).

 

[Likkriue]

A good deal depends on what questions you encounter for that specific exam. I think finishing UFAP gives you enough for that 70+ but breaking 80+ requires some stars to align. Where the exam covers more of your strengths than weaknesses. For example this exam had way more micro than ever, which was covered by sketchy inside out. Very unlikely to happen again.
Good luck on the second rodeo guys!

Make sure to do the nbmes, they are predictive of your scores for the most part.

 

[chompsss]

I know this is late, but just throwing in my two pennies.

Scored 79 on my first (and last) attempt. Primary study resources: Boards & Beyond, FA, SketchyMicro, UWorld. I also used MedBullets quite a bit.

I watched B&B and then went through the corresponding FA pages. Got through FA and B&B videos once. Same with SketchyMicro (although I reviewed the pictures many more times). If I had used UWorld more, I think I would have scored 90+, but I didn't even get through 1/3 of it. I did zero NBMEs and only one UWorld full-length.

I'd like to echo what many others have said - this exam IS something you can conquer. Whatever your resources, whatever your current curriculum, it's something you can do well on. It just take work. Just spend the time and you'll get there. If you give yourself a couple months to study and you don't do well, you shouldn't be surprised (and if you study for a couple months and DO do well, I hate you). Pick a few of your favorite resources, build yourself a study schedule, stick to it, grind, and your score will take care of itself.

 

[chompsss]

Did you study during the school year? How did you split your time? D2 years seems to have a lot of projects and random stuff to do

Yes. In my opinion, you have to study during your normal curriculum unless your school gives you a super long dedicated board prep period and you do crazy long days during that period. I recommend building it into your school year, though.

I basically did what I needed to for school (studied for the tests and quizzes when I needed to), but did nothing extra on the dental stuff. I completed all my projects during assigned lab times too - I never spent time outside of lab on that stuff. I dedicated my free time to CBSE prep. Mornings, evenings, and especially weekends. Most days I was up by 5/530 AM to start studying for about an hour or two before dental classes and most evenings it's what I was doing before bed around 10 PM or so. If I had free time between classes or during lunch time, I studied for the CBSE. I wasn't insane about it though - I rarely ever studied for more than ten hours per day, and even that was exceedingly rare. Some days were a couple hours, some were five, some were longer. I never missed a day though. I still exercised and did plenty of fun stuff too. If you start studying early enough, you make it a lot easier on yourself.

Like I said, if you make a plan, stick to it, and grind hard, you'll be fine.

 

[deleted884144]

Wtf, now the CBSE is $300? Goddamn inflation:
NBME for OMS Applicants | AAOMS

 

[resiliens]

Wtf, now the CBSE is $300? Goddamn inflation:
NBME for OMS Applicants | AAOMS

Also, what's up with this? "Registration for the February 2019 exam will open in mid-September."

It's mid-September and I don't see an online link to register..were you able to do so?

 

[deleted884144]

Does anyone know what kind of score is needed these days for the competitive Northeast programs? I'm talking about NYU (6yr), MGH, Thomas Jefferson, UPenn, Columbia?
What would be a safe score to get an interview at these places-85? 90? I just want to know how hard to prepare for this exam, since I do have grades/rank at my school and need to how much time to put into school vs. CBSE studying.

 

[Ivy.ch]

Question for the guys on the other side: If I'm more-or-less ready for the CBSE, how much time do I need to prepare for Step 1 dental boards? 3 days? Only things I'd need to review outside the view of CBSE would be dental anatomy, dental occlusion, and dental histology, right?

 

[White_Sponge_Nevus]

Question for the guys on the other side: If I'm more-or-less ready for the CBSE, how much time do I need to prepare for Step 1 dental boards? 3 days? Only things I'd need to review outside the view of CBSE would be dental anatomy, dental occlusion, and dental histology, right?

If those three days are spent going hard, then I would say you're safe. Part 1 is essentially un-failable, good luck man!

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

Does anyone know what kind of score is needed these days for the competitive Northeast programs? I'm talking about NYU (6yr), MGH, Thomas Jefferson, UPenn, Columbia?
What would be a safe score to get an interview at these places-85? 90? I just want to know how hard to prepare for this exam, since I do have grades/rank at my school and need to how much time to put into school vs. CBSE studying.

I don’t think anyone on SDN would know the answer to this. You should ask the program directly.

 

[tertbuo]

Does anyone know what kind of score is needed these days for the competitive Northeast programs? I'm talking about NYU (6yr), MGH, Thomas Jefferson, UPenn, Columbia?
What would be a safe score to get an interview at these places-85? 90? I just want to know how hard to prepare for this exam, since I do have grades/rank at my school and need to how much time to put into school vs. CBSE studying.

The average CBSE score for people who match at Columbia is 85. We learned this at a presentation last year.

 

[chompsss]

Does anyone know what kind of score is needed these days for the competitive Northeast programs? I'm talking about NYU (6yr), MGH, Thomas Jefferson, UPenn, Columbia?
What would be a safe score to get an interview at these places-85? 90? I just want to know how hard to prepare for this exam, since I do have grades/rank at my school and need to how much time to put into school vs. CBSE studying.

Yeah, this is definitely better asked to the programs themselves. I know someone who recently matched to Columbia with a 72 CBSE and also someone who matched to MGH with a 93. So it's highly program specific. Statistically speaking, assuming they interview more than 15-20 people (which maybe they don't - I don't know), they'll be interviewing the people with 80s and 90s, but also some people with scores in the 70s. Just buckle down and you'll be fine.

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

The average CBSE score for people who match at Columbia is 85. We learned this at a presentation last year.

Sample size of 10 total and one of them got a 99. But yeah they usually consider 80+

 

[SaltyCFTR]

Yes. In my opinion, you have to study during your normal curriculum unless your school gives you a super long dedicated board prep period and you do crazy long days during that period. I recommend building it into your school year, though.

I basically did what I needed to for school (studied for the tests and quizzes when I needed to), but did nothing extra on the dental stuff. I completed all my projects during assigned lab times too - I never spent time outside of lab on that stuff. I dedicated my free time to CBSE prep. Mornings, evenings, and especially weekends. Most days I was up by 5/530 AM to start studying for about an hour or two before dental classes and most evenings it's what I was doing before bed around 10 PM or so. If I had free time between classes or during lunch time, I studied for the CBSE. I wasn't insane about it though - I rarely ever studied for more than ten hours per day, and even that was exceedingly rare. Some days were a couple hours, some were five, some were longer. I never missed a day though. I still exercised and did plenty of fun stuff too. If you start studying early enough, you make it a lot easier on yourself.

Like I said, if you make a plan, stick to it, and grind hard, you'll be fine.

Pretty similar for me too. My school goes year round with a 1 week break in May and nothing else until after the CBSE. Also, my classes were required, so I couldn't skip anything. I basically got up at 4am every single day and put 4 hours of studying in before school, studied during lunch, and reviewed after school more casually. Really sucky.
I pretty much only used UW for the 5 months leading up to the test, but I had followed along with my preclinical courses with FA. So I did technically get through FA too. Just never really revisited in my main studying period.

 

[SaltyCFTR]

Have any of you used USMLE Rx Qmax and would it do any good to complete it before starting UWorld? I got a 69 on this past CBSE, but I only did 600ish UWorld questions (only the Micro, Behaviorial, and a little of the GI sections) and no other qbanks. I know I have a lot of UWorld left to do, especially since I didn't even touch any of the organ system pathology questions (except for GI).
I just started D2, so I have a good amount of time/retakes, luckily. Thus I am just trying to see, if one had a lot of time, what the best approach is to getting an 80+.
I have a year-long subscription to both USMLE Rx and UWorld. And lastly, I go to dental school without medical school classes.
Thanks

Rx could be helpful if you're hell-bent on a 80+. I ran through UW 2 times on my first run and probably won't revisit it because I feel like I have all the Qs memorized, so I may do Rx if I decide to retake. I know for USMLE, they say the strongest link to high scores is total number of Qs done.

 

[510586]

I know this is late, but just throwing in my two pennies.

Scored 79 on my first (and last) attempt. Primary study resources: Boards & Beyond, FA, SketchyMicro, UWorld. I also used MedBullets quite a bit.

I watched B&B and then went through the corresponding FA pages. Got through FA and B&B videos once. Same with SketchyMicro (although I reviewed the pictures many more times). If I had used UWorld more, I think I would have scored 90+, but I didn't even get through 1/3 of it. I did zero NBMEs and only one UWorld full-length.

I'd like to echo what many others have said - this exam IS something you can conquer. Whatever your resources, whatever your current curriculum, it's something you can do well on. It just take work. Just spend the time and you'll get there. If you give yourself a couple months to study and you don't do well, you shouldn't be surprised (and if you study for a couple months and DO do well, I hate you). Pick a few of your favorite resources, build yourself a study schedule, stick to it, grind, and your score will take care of itself.

Congratulations on the high score. How does the cbse compared to uworld and nbmes in difficulty and question length? Heard vignettes are shorter than step1/uworld/nbmes

 

[chompsss]

Congratulations on the high score. How does the cbse compared to uworld and nbmes in difficulty and question length? Heard vignettes are shorter than step1/uworld/nbmes

Couldn't speak to NBME practice tests - didn't take any. But the CBSE is designed by NBME, so I'm going to say that they're from the same exact bank of questions. Using logic, I think it's safe to say that NBME is the best replica.

As for UWorld, you'll get varying opinions on how similar/dissimilar the questions are to the CBSE. I wouldn't worry about it or put too much thought l into it. They're "pretty good" approximations, which is all that really matters. If you still want to know, I thought UWorld stems were marginally longer.

One word of advice is not to put too much weight into a good UWorld practice test. I took my one and only UWorld full-length practice test two weeks before the exam and scored an estimated 84. I continued to study for the next two weeks leading up to my exam, thinking I was headed for a 90+, but I only managed a 79. In hindsight, I still don't think I would have changed my prep in those last two weeks, but I was surprised to score below that practice exam score estimate. I guess it's possible that I just really biffed it on the day of the exam, but I think it's more likely that the UWorld score is kind of inflated, for whatever reason. This is consistent with what I've heard from others too.

 

[510586]

Couldn't speak to NBME practice tests - didn't take any. But the CBSE is designed by NBME, so I'm going to say that they're from the same exact bank of questions. Using logic, I think it's safe to say that NBME is the best replica.

As for UWorld, you'll get varying opinions on how similar/dissimilar the questions are to the CBSE. I wouldn't worry about it or put too much thought l into it. They're "pretty good" approximations, which is all that really matters. If you still want to know, I thought UWorld stems were marginally longer.

One word of advice is not to put too much weight into a good UWorld practice test. I took my one and only UWorld full-length practice test two weeks before the exam and scored an estimated 84. I continued to study for the next two weeks leading up to my exam, thinking I was headed for a 90+, but I only managed a 79. In hindsight, I still don't think I would have changed my prep in those last two weeks, but I was surprised to score below that practice exam score estimate. I guess it's possible that I just really biffed it on the day of the exam, but I think it's more likely that the UWorld score is kind of inflated, for whatever reason. This is consistent with what I've heard from others too.

Thanks for the reply. By uworld test do you mean uwsa1?

 

[chompsss]

Thanks for the reply. By uworld test do you mean uwsa1?

Correct

 

[510586]

Correct

Thanks for the help!

 

[chompsss]

Thanks for the help!

Vaya con dios, my friend

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

UWSA1 overestimates by quite a bit and UWSA 2 slightly overestimates. Your CBSE score should typically fall within +/- 5 of your NBME average. Just speaking from personal experience and similar scenarios from friends.

 

[510586]

UWSA1 overestimates by quite a bit and UWSA 2 slightly overestimates. Your CBSE score should typically fall within +/- 5 of your NBME average. Just speaking from personal experience and similar scenarios from friends.

Did you feel length or difficulty were similar with cbse? Hoping preparation as if it's step 1 will give the results for cbse

 

[chompsss]

Did you feel length or difficulty were similar with cbse? Hoping preparation as if it's step 1 will give the results for cbse

Preparation as if it's Step 1 is a must. It basically IS Step 1, except that it's 4 blocks of 50 questions for a total of 200 questions, as compared to 7 blocks of 40 questions for a total of 280 questions. For all intents and purposes, this is a Step 1 with fewer questions and commensurately less time.

 

[GimmeTheScalpel]

Preparation as if it's Step 1 is a must. It basically IS Step 1, except that it's 4 blocks of 50 questions for a total of 200 questions, as compared to 7 blocks of 40 questions for a total of 280 questions. For all intents and purposes, this is a Step 1 with fewer questions and commensurately less time.

Just a little inaccurate. Definitely prepare for it with the same Step 1 materials, etc. But students who have taken Step 1 told me that it’s more similar to Uworld in question length and style, but the CBSE is not like that. CBSE is like the practice NBME exams. I had the same misconception.

 

[chompsss]

Just a little inaccurate. Definitely prepare for it with the same Step 1 materials, etc. But students who have taken Step 1 told me that it’s more similar to Uworld in question length and style, but the CBSE is not like that. CBSE is like the practice NBME exams. I had the same misconception.

On whether Step 1 questions are the same as CBSE questions, if you don't think they are, we'll have to agree to disagree. That's definitely just my opinion though, based in the logic behind it. NBME designs the CBSE essentially as a "practice test" for the Step 1. Many medical schools actually require their students to take the CBSE in order to prove they're ready for Step 1. With that in mind, and also with the fact that NBME designs them both in mind, I believe they're the same questions. *yes, this is opinion, and I have not seen any evidence in favor of or in opposition to this - I have only seen and only offer conjecture*

It's a moot point though - I think we agree that preparing for CBSE as if it were Step 1 is a good life decision.

 

[Likkriue]

so how many of you are planning to go through the gauntlet again just to break that 79?