I figured I’d post an in-depth wrap up of my CBSE experience as it definitely helped me reading these.
Little bit about myself: I go to a Dental School that is not a medical school curriculum. I’m also not necessarily the smartest guy out there (21 DAT), but that’s ok because to crush this exam, all it takes is lots of hard work, little sleep, and coffee.
I started in June after my D1 year (we were given 3 months off for summer break). I tried to focus my summer on getting through First Aid at least one time – not necessarily memorizing it, but understanding it and getting familiar with terminology. I tried to emphasize my time on the organ systems that I would be learning during D2 year, that way I didn’t need to study too much for them and could focus more time on my CBSE studying.When we did go over diseases in class, I would do it with First Aid open and try to learn it more in depth that way. I also made it a goal to get through all of sketchy micro and pharm and memorizing them. I used Youtube a lot and would do it with my First Aid opened. I felt it was more beneficial for me personally than pathoma or boards and beyond. Pathoma is great but I didn’t get much out of it because he only does his drawings occasionally. Anything I couldn’t find on youtube, I’d search for in BnB or Pathoma.
I paid and took the CBSE in August knowing I was going to bomb it, and boy did I. Scored a 137 (47), but I have zero regrets doing this. Was it a waste of money? Maybe. But it definitely lit a fire under my a$$ and made me realize how much work I had to put in.
Once I got through my first pass of First Aid, I started UWorld on random, untimed (around October). FYI – don’t fret on your UWorld prercentages. I started out getting 30%s and before this CBSE I was consistently getting in 60% range with a few 70% range on each block. This next part was key for me and I highly recommend this – I would do 20 questions per day (until Winter Break where I would try to get 1 block/40q’s in per day) and based on those 20 questions, I would make a master deck in Anki with my Brosencephalon deck and start doing my new cards that way. I would take my time doing my new cards – adding any mnemonics or photos I liked (I’m a visual learner) and would add screenshots of my First Aid PDF notes if I found anything helpful there (Bros has a lot of First Aid screenshots already, though). Usually I would do around 75-100 new cards per day and as they piled up, I would have roughly around 200-300 reviews per day. The new cards would take me roughly 2-3hrs to get through and my reviews I would do on my walks to school and every second I had available. I had ZERO down time trying to balance D2 year with everything and all the lab work and practicals I had. DOING YOUR REVIEWS IS CRUCIAL AS WELL AS COMING UP WITH MNEMONICS FOR EVERYTHING. No matter how dumb the mnemonic is, it’ll help you memorize it. There is tons I still remember (i.e. Gardner Syndrome – Garden in a FOREST = F = FAP, O = Osseous tumors, RE = Retinal Epithelium hypertrophy, ST = Supernumerary Teeth). I’d add it to my notecards accordingly and make sure I had them all down. I got through around 8000 of the Bros cards total before this CBSE and did every single one of my reviews. I had done Pepper deck for Sketchy Micro before the August CBSE and had it fully memorized and managed to get through all of Pepper Deck for Sketchy Pharm by September fully but I did not keep up with my reviews for this and it was definitely my biggest regret. I also highly recommend Pixorize. It is extremely helpful for Biochem and some of those more difficult diseases. I would take screen shots and add them to my Bros cards.
I took an offline NBME17 over Thanksgiving break to see where I was at (60% correct) just to experience one and give myself another kick in the a$$ (NBME17 has a harsh curve and based on what people posted online, I was at around a 55 CBSE score). I then took one more NBME paid for to see my score prediction, and this was 3 days before the Feb exam. I scored a 209 (≈ 73), so this made me feel a little better. My goal was a 75+ so I knew it was doable.
CBSE came and I think I was the only one who didn’t think it was as horrible as I expected it to be. There were only around 5 questions on it I had no clue how to answer, but other then that I did my best to think through everything. The 2 weeks of waiting was absolutely horrible but it all came out great. No matter how much you study, you will never feel like you are ready. I wish I had 2 more months to focus on my weaknesses (i.e. cancers and anatomy), but you actually end up being more ready than you feel.
CBSE score: 227 (80)
Biggest regret: Not going through my Sketchy Pepper decks again. I should have started them up again about 1 month out, but never got to. I missed a few easy ones because I hadn’t reviewed it fully. I also regret not starting my Bros deck sooner. Over the summer, I definitely should have gone through the Bros deck for the courses I took my D1 year (immunology, pathology, oncology etc). I also regret not looking at the histology more in the microbiology chapter. Pepper Deck has them in their so make sure you get familiar with histology of the bugs.
I highly recommend also getting a groupchat going of people taking the exam. It helped a ton to bounce ideas off each other and challenge one another – healthy competition is super helpful.
End of the day: all it honestly takes is hard work. I would be in bed by midnight and up at 6am every morning and made it a thing to try and get only 6-7 hours of sleep each night. I would fly through my reviews as quickly as possible at meals and walks from my place to campus. Doing this during D2 year was absolute hell, but it all worked out in the end. As bad as it sounds too, you have to put CBSE before dental school – you’re a medical student first during your months of dedicated studying. Get your dental work done as quickly as possible (bad to say, I know), but it’s the only way to manage it. Work hard and it’ll all work out in the end.
P.S. – don’t hire me as your surgeon because I’m apparently unethical af. My lowest score according to the summary was my ethics section and I clearly remember going like 2/6 out of the ones I remember.
Hit me up if anyone has any questions!
