CBSE - July 2023
Started by Rick Sorkin
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
For someone who finished u world and NBMEs, I thought this exam was super random-worded really poorly, and just very vague. Anyone else genuinely feel like this? No HY things tested either
Yeah this thing destroyed me lol; probably gonna retake in Feb. It is what it is.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Yeah after doing + essentially memorizing NBMEs 20-31 + Free120 I was legitimately shocked. There seemed to be a pattern of question that existed and repeated through all NBMEs that dropped off here. It’s more annoying than anything cuz I have no idea how I could prepare better. Also there were entire organ systems that had 0 questions asked like wtf.
Could someone explain the scoring to me? if we all believe, and people who have taken them in the past think this was especially hard, is there a curve? is that what percent equated means?
basically i guess im asking is this percent equated a test by test "curve" or are all the tests on the same curve
basically i guess im asking is this percent equated a test by test "curve" or are all the tests on the same curve
I’m hoping it’s curved. It was super low yield info, I’m just shocked. I can’t really afford to take this again-mentally and physically cannot 🙁
From what I understand, the EPC is a statistically adjusted value of the content that you have mastered, and is based on amount of questions you answered correctly as well as difficulty of the question. How the level of difficulty is assigned: I would guess there is some criteria NBME looks at and depending on how that batch of test takers did would classify a question. I would assume the stats change each test and they use that to calculate scores, but I am unsure.
Is it a raw score out of 200? So like 170/200 is 85?
No, because a raw score wouldn't account for the assigned difficulty value for that question. But I'd assume more questions right, regardless of value of difficulty, would mean a higher score.
I’m assuming they’ll have to curate the score reports with how everyone does. So a “low pass” score may equal more questions wrong than previous exams
That makes sense. i was hoping the difficulty of the question would be considered. thank you!
AAOMS has a link to NBME with more details on how the score is calculated:
Basic Science Subject Exams | NBME
Assess your students' knowledge and compare performance against examinees around the country with the Basic Science Subject Exams.
www.nbme.org
I believe AAOMS gets the stats and more details reports on how people did for that specific test date
The Feb CBSE was curved this year, I got a raw 81.5% and my EPC was 84.
As opposed to the practice NBMEs where my EPC was always a little less than then the raw %.
As opposed to the practice NBMEs where my EPC was always a little less than then the raw %.
Did u feel like u got an amazing score when u walked out? Or confused? I took Feb exam and Altho I wasn’t quite prepared for it, it was a lot more doable than this one.
Honestly glad to read this because I walked out feeling the same way. Even for some of the high yield "gimmes" stems, it would lead me down a path of "Oh I got this" after reading the first 3 sentences, then honeydick me at the very last sentence with asking about some random twist minutiae I don't know where I would've covered
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I just can’t get over the low yield ****. Lol
Fingers crossed if results are coming out tomorrow.
Indeed. Do we get an email or is do we check on some website?
Email check your spam folder
No guarantee they’re out tomorrow don’t hold your breath
oh my god they are coming out tomorrow? I am dreading this......
D
deleted923283
Back when I took the CBSE, it took like 6 weeks
Were any of them a July exam?
July + Feb
What time did you get the email 🥲
Noon-ish
Does anyone keep having night mares about the exam/remembering questions at random points in the day? Lol am I going crazy
All week my friend. Lol
dentalnoob8
New Member
Taking their time?
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Maybe they need to curve it a lot lol
Where do we find these scores
Email I think. It's also entirely possible that they just don't come out today.
Oh my god the stress !
How are you seeing the curve ? Is the score in the top right correct ?
I think they are comparing Raw score (correct/total X 100) vs. EPC
There are two "Print Score Report" options. The top one shows %EPC. The bottom one shows the number of incorrects. I basically counted my incorrects and compared w/ my real EPC.
Count the number of questions you got wrong in the second report - easy way would be just Cmd - F the word "Incorrect" and count the number of matches. You can do the math from there 🙂
79 EPC 2% curve.
Plan on posting a breakdown of what I did later when I get a minute.
If anyone could give me some advice I’m currently ranked 50th percentile in my class. 6 1 week externships all across the country basically no other ECs. Want 4 year program. Any chance for me?
Plan on posting a breakdown of what I did later when I get a minute.
If anyone could give me some advice I’m currently ranked 50th percentile in my class. 6 1 week externships all across the country basically no other ECs. Want 4 year program. Any chance for me?
The advice from Ivy.ch, pleurodynia, and indifferentosteoblast was super helpful so I'll post some of my main pointers.
1. The NBMEs are a question bank; treat them like UWorld. Review them thoroughly.
2. Mehlman videos on youtube are super good.
3. I think if you study for too long you might start forgetting old stuff. For me, the sweet spot would've been 6 months (but I studied for 7)
4. Memorizing first aid is basically impossible. I would instead try to learn the logic that the NBMEs want you to adopt (UWorld is also helpful with this).
5. Building your "base" of information is super important. Putting in consistent effort over a longer period of time is just as important as your dedicated study time (the last 3-4 weeks or so).
Time to start studying for dental anatomy.
89 EPC (95/254 old scales)
1. The NBMEs are a question bank; treat them like UWorld. Review them thoroughly.
2. Mehlman videos on youtube are super good.
3. I think if you study for too long you might start forgetting old stuff. For me, the sweet spot would've been 6 months (but I studied for 7)
4. Memorizing first aid is basically impossible. I would instead try to learn the logic that the NBMEs want you to adopt (UWorld is also helpful with this).
5. Building your "base" of information is super important. Putting in consistent effort over a longer period of time is just as important as your dedicated study time (the last 3-4 weeks or so).
Time to start studying for dental anatomy.
89 EPC (95/254 old scales)
Last edited:
That’s insane. That’s like a top 10% med school score. Congrats!
absolutely insane!
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Thank you so much for the kind words. Congrats to you too!
Legend, great job.
And this is as a fresh D1? Holy ****. Congratulations!!
Damn that’s nuts. I got an 82% (86;238). Finally done studying for this thing. Can post a break down tomorrow maybe
Honestly kinda gutted, got a 60 EPC. At least its an improvement from last time but I'm crushed that it was a near-miss to the low pass range.
Practice exams were predictive for me. Last practice exam was a 59 EPC
Practice exams were predictive for me. Last practice exam was a 59 EPC
