CBSE Study Questions

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

tyjacobs

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
May 10, 2015
Messages
708
Reaction score
614
Approx 3.5 months away from August CBSE date, if anyone has any questions about studying/what materials they used/etc. please ask away I will try my best to answer.

Here to help!!! Anyone who has taken CBSE feel free to piggyback in and answer anyone’s questions as well!!

Members don't see this ad.
 
besides UFAP and sketchy, is there anything else specific that you found helpful? Strategies, schedule, resources?
 
besides UFAP and sketchy, is there anything else specific that you found helpful? Strategies, schedule, resources?
Buy the software Cramfighter. You can choose which resources you want to use, and customize your schedule to let you know what you should use each day.

It's worth every penny, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Part of what was pretty stressful about studying the first time I took the exam was pacing, deciding what I should be studying and when etc. With a set schedule, you wake up, do the tasks it tells you to do, and you're done. It's just an organization tool, so if you think you'd benefit from the structure (like I did) I couldn't recommend it strongly enough.

Just use Step 1 as the exam you're studying for when you set up the schedule. Let me know if you have questions about it
 
Members don't see this ad :)
besides UFAP and sketchy, is there anything else specific that you found helpful? Strategies, schedule, resources?

Buy boards and beyond, watch all of the videos they are incredible. Spend time actually memorizing everything in his slide sets before moving on. The key is to memorize everything (I know it’s a large task). There are many questions that require you to know a specific fact about a disease to get the answer right.

I don’t think it’s easy to cram for this exam you really need to put your time in to learn the content
 
Buy boards and beyond, watch all of the videos they are incredible. Spend time actually memorizing everything in his slide sets before moving on. The key is to memorize everything (I know it’s a large task). There are many questions that require you to know a specific fact about a disease to get the answer right.

I don’t think it’s easy to cram for this exam you really need to put your time in to learn the content
Did you watch pathoma videos as well? Use the slides? Someone at my school got an 80+ not using the pathoma book, but watching the videos and taking the notes in FA. No Boards and Beyond as well.

Figuring out how to study for this exam is much more difficult than I expected hahahh
 
Did you watch pathoma videos as well? Use the slides? Someone at my school got an 80+ not using the pathoma book, but watching the videos and taking the notes in FA. No Boards and Beyond as well.

Figuring out how to study for this exam is much more difficult than I expected hahahh

So there is like a 90%+ overlap between what is covered in first aid and boards and beyond. What I liked about boards and beyond is that the videos teach you whereas first aid is like an outline (not necessarily meant to teach you). So yes you can be very successful by purely learning first aid.

I watched all pathoma because I think Dr. Sattar explains things very well. So basically I would watch a boards and beyond video first and then if there was a corresponding pathoma video for that topic I would watch it as well but at a faster speed than at which I watched the boards and beyond video.

I watched B and B 1.25x speed
I watch pathoma 1.5x speed

Fee free to ask whatever other questions you have!
 
So there is like a 90%+ overlap between what is covered in first aid and boards and beyond. What I liked about boards and beyond is that the videos teach you whereas first aid is like an outline (not necessarily meant to teach you). So yes you can be very successful by purely learning first aid.

I watched all pathoma because I think Dr. Sattar explains things very well. So basically I would watch a boards and beyond video first and then if there was a corresponding pathoma video for that topic I would watch it as well but at a faster speed than at which I watched the boards and beyond video.

I watched B and B 1.25x speed
I watch pathoma 1.5x speed
Awesome thanks a ton for the insight! Did you bother learning the 10% mentioned in Boards and Beyond that wasn't in first aid?
 
Buy boards and beyond, watch all of the videos they are incredible. Spend time actually memorizing everything in his slide sets before moving on. The key is to memorize everything (I know it’s a large task). There are many questions that require you to know a specific fact about a disease to get the answer right.

I don’t think it’s easy to cram for this exam you really need to put your time in to learn the content
I've been using Boards and Beyond and it's great, but memorizing them all seems... monumental. Did you just watch each video 5 times until you had it down cold? Did you use zanki/brosencephelon anki decks or anything else?
 
Buy the software Cramfighter. You can choose which resources you want to use, and customize your schedule to let you know what you should use each day.

It's worth every penny, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Part of what was pretty stressful about studying the first time I took the exam was pacing, deciding what I should be studying and when etc. With a set schedule, you wake up, do the tasks it tells you to do, and you're done. It's just an organization tool, so if you think you'd benefit from the structure (like I did) I couldn't recommend it strongly enough.

Just use Step 1 as the exam you're studying for when you set up the schedule. Let me know if you have questions about it
I remember you told me about cramfighter before, will definitely look into it.
 
Approx 3.5 months away from August CBSE date, if anyone has any questions about studying/what materials they used/etc. please ask away I will try my best to answer.

Here to help!!! Anyone who has taken CBSE feel free to piggyback in and answer anyone’s questions as well!!

Hey, thanks for stopping back in to help the rest of us. What's the recent word on the "number to get"? D4s at school here now saying 75 is the number to "get a match somewhere". At what score would you say "don't take it again"?
 
I've been using Boards and Beyond and it's great, but memorizing them all seems... monumental. Did you just watch each video 5 times until you had it down cold? Did you use zanki/brosencephelon anki decks or anything else?

It’s not easy to memorize this much. Try out anki decks. The key to studying is maximum review daily while still learning new material at an appropriate pace. Gotta find that balance it varies person to person
 
Awesome thanks a ton for the insight! Did you bother learning the 10% mentioned in Boards and Beyond that wasn't in first aid?

Yes and the 10% in first aid that wasn’t in B and B. All info in both sources are crucial to know
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Hey, thanks for stopping back in to help the rest of us. What's the recent word on the "number to get"? D4s at school here now saying 75 is the number to "get a match somewhere". At what score would you say "don't take it again"?

No idea sorry
 
From what I understand you are from a school with a med curriculum. Do you have any tips on how to learn the material tested on the CBSE without coming from a med curriculum. Is Boards and Beyond enough to learn the background info, or is there any source for Med School lectures online?

To clarify, would resources such as Dr. Najeeb's lectures, Lecturio, OnlineMedEd etc. be good for students who don't have a med curriculum, to emulate a med school curriculum.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
To clarify, would resources such as Dr. Najeeb's lectures, Lecturio, OnlineMedEd etc. be good for students who don't have a med curriculum, to emulate a med school curriculum.

I dont know about all this other stuff, but OnlineMedEd is for Step 2 CK and Shelf exam prep. Will be a waste of your time and lead to total confusion if you use those for CBSE/Step 1 prep.
 
Last edited:
From what I understand you are from a school with a med curriculum. Do you have any tips on how to learn the material tested on the CBSE without coming from a med curriculum. Is Boards and Beyond enough to learn the background info, or is there any source for Med School lectures online?

To clarify, would resources such as Dr. Najeeb's lectures, Lecturio, OnlineMedEd etc. be good for students who don't have a med curriculum, to emulate a med school curriculum.

Thanks
Boards and Beyond is really good. Fact is, the reason most threads you'll read say UFAP is because when done properly, it's led to good scores for many applicants for years even without using B&B, but I think B&B will help you cut down on significantly on the amount of time you spend trying to learn what you don't get from your school courses. The more other resources you add, the less time you'll be able to spend with UFAP which is basically the gold standard.
 
Oh alright thanks, that makes sense. I do think I will use Najeebs lectures as med students have said it is good for getting a base understanding of the material, and then I can use UFAP and BnB to review the high yield material. I'll definitely stick to what works.
 
Oh alright thanks, that makes sense. I do think I will use Najeebs lectures as med students have said it is good for getting a base understanding of the material, and then I can use UFAP and BnB to review the high yield material. I'll definitely stick to what works.

Wait a second...

Based off your signature, you have yet to know your DAT score? Is that just an outdated signature or are you truly gathering resources for CBSE prep before knowing your DAT score. That would be the wildest thing I heard all day.
 
Last edited:
Oh alright thanks, that makes sense. I do think I will use Najeebs lectures as med students have said it is good for getting a base understanding of the material, and then I can use UFAP and BnB to review the high yield material. I'll definitely stick to what works.
If you want some additional perspective, I told myself all year I was going to study B&B along with my courses and what I ended up finding was that when it came down to it and I had 2 or 3 tests to study for in a one week period most of the time, getting through all B&B videos for a unit AND studying the course material in depth enough to know what the professors wanted to test on, which doesn't always align well with what the CBSE focuses on, was really difficult. B&B is considered a top tier resource, I'd just pick one or the other.
Wait a second...

Based off your signature, you have yet to know your DAT score? Is that just an outdated signature or are you truly gathering resources for CBSE prep before knowing your DAT score. That would be the wildest thing I heard all day.
uh... yeeeah, you haven't even applied yet...? Honestly you don't even need to know that the CBSE exists until you're well into D1 even if you're 100% dead set on OMFS, and a lot of people would tell you being dead set would be really silly a year+ before even starting school.
 
If you want some additional perspective, I told myself all year I was going to study B&B along with my courses and what I ended up finding was that when it came down to it and I had 2 or 3 tests to study for in a one week period most of the time, getting through all B&B videos for a unit AND studying the course material in depth enough to know what the professors wanted to test on, which doesn't always align well with what the CBSE focuses on, was really difficult. B&B is considered a top tier resource, I'd just pick one or the other.

uh... yeeeah, you haven't even applied yet...? Honestly you don't even need to know that the CBSE exists until you're well into D1 even if you're 100% dead set on OMFS, and a lot of people would tell you being dead set would be really silly a year+ before even starting school.

Thanks for the info. It makes sense you don’t have time for BnB with classes. Do you think you will find some time during break for BnB or will you skip that resource? Would you say your dental courses prepare yourself enough to tackle UFAP?

As for me, I was just bored and felt like asking some Q’s on my mind that’s all. I just wanted to know what you guys use to study for the CBSE if one day I were to take the exam. But yes right now my focus is on the DAT and getting into D school. Life just moves really slow haha, my brain is always thinking 10+ years ahead 🙂
 
I mean, kind of. I know anatomy well, I know physiology well, sure, but the CBSE is on a whole 'nother level. You have to know things well conceptually, but also know huge amounts of detail. Then you have to be able to integrate it all together to recognize what's going on in a question and then identify a protein involved in the mechanism of the second-choice drug used to treat it because the patient had a reaction with the first line drug. Even after learning tons of stuff well in school, knowing it isn't enough, you have to actually practice for the test to get to that level of integration of knowledge. No matter where you go, you have to put in a lot of time outside of school to get that practice.
 
BnB is in some ways a newer, better version of the older Najeeb lectures. You'll notice that he covers the material much more quickly and efficiently, and less time is spent drawing things and answering people's questions in the 'class'. BnB is part of UFAP in that it is the "FA" in UFAP. It is based on First Aid and covers all of the material there (and has the corresponding FA pages referenced). It is ideal especially for dental students who will need to learn not only the material in FA but why those facts and blurbs in the book are important, and how to use them (which BnB explains).
 
From what I understand you are from a school with a med curriculum. Do you have any tips on how to learn the material tested on the CBSE without coming from a med curriculum. Is Boards and Beyond enough to learn the background info, or is there any source for Med School lectures online?

To clarify, would resources such as Dr. Najeeb's lectures, Lecturio, OnlineMedEd etc. be good for students who don't have a med curriculum, to emulate a med school curriculum.

Thanks

Honestly boards and beyond handles that IMO I feels like he taught everything. Do you feel like he does this when you watch his videos or no?
 
Thanks for the info. It makes sense you don’t have time for BnB with classes. Do you think you will find some time during break for BnB or will you skip that resource? Would you say your dental courses prepare yourself enough to tackle UFAP?

As for me, I was just bored and felt like asking some Q’s on my mind that’s all. I just wanted to know what you guys use to study for the CBSE if one day I were to take the exam. But yes right now my focus is on the DAT and getting into D school. Life just moves really slow haha, my brain is always thinking 10+ years ahead 🙂
Advice on best time to study for/take the CBSE is best when it comes from someone from your school. School specific advice is more useful than generalized advice (which is still useful). Every curriculum is different, every school's schedule is different. Try to get in touch with an upperclassmen who as already matched/taken the test to answer these questions; their advice will be more specific to your situation than ours will be.
 
Did you use sketchy on top of BNB Infectious diseases or just one or the other?
 
Did you use BaB, Pathoma, etc. during your first year of medical school to study for classes?
 
Last edited:
what r you thoughts on the nbmes? Are they predictive of the real thing? Is the curve similar to the cbse?
 
Top