Classes in Dental School...the same?

[Ivan Drago]

I have a question about dental school courses--

Are all the science courses we take the first two years like undergraduate courses, where they teach you everything and you take exams/quizzes?

OR, I hear that they just present only the material that you need to know, and then test you on that..not like college courses, you know? Is this true?

It sounds like nonsense for them to teach you material that they wouldnt even test you on....we have enough extra material/courses to worry about, right?

Thanks.👍

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[jackbauer!]

Not sure where you're getting at.

But, science courses are generally much more demanding than undergrad. You will be responsible for more information at a much faster pace. There is plenty of information you will learn and never be tested on, just as in undergrad.

Hope that helped.

jb!🙂

 

[xxsuzuki1000xx]

I have a question about dental school courses--

Are all the science courses we take the first two years like undergraduate courses, where they teach you everything and you take exams/quizzes?

OR, I hear that they just present only the material that you need to know, and then test you on that..not like college courses, you know? Is this true?

It sounds like nonsense for them to teach you material that they wouldnt even test you on....we have enough extra material/courses to worry about, right?

Thanks.👍

Believe me, you'll have extra material 😉

______________________________________
Chris NSUCDM2008

http://www.dentalgrad.com - connecting dental graduates to great jobs

 

[1992Corolla]

Oh it's a blast too. 6 lectures with 200 pages of reading and two tests with 30 questions each and this determines final grade. No 'fluff' projects in undergrad.

It's fun!😍😎

 

[tinman831]

If there's 30 exam questions, that's 30 facts that you had to have known to get a perfect score. The rest of the text book is all extraneous information. 😉

 

[cryptozoologist]

classes in dental school have no correlate to undergrad.

here's the main difference:
- in undergrad they teach you a bunch of stuff, tell you read thrice more than you need to, and then test you on the highlights of lecture.
- in dental school they teach you a rediculous amount of info IN lecture, tell you to read nothing (yet give you slides, supporting documents, all mostly disorganised), and then test you on 30-35 random questions from the material you saw, heard, felt, whatever. (An average test here comprises 15 powerpoints with 50-60 slides per ppt...average 1.5 facts per ppt page and you're looking at 1000 bits of info to KNOW. this is just Ppt...there is generally a supporting syllabus that is 100's of pages per test also) Of the 35 questions, perhaps 15-18 will be softballs, the other 15-17 will be hard...and there is always a question or two that you will be like "what the F$%k was that?"

Combine this with the fact that you have 2-3 exams per week for half the term, and the fact that you are in class/lab from 8 am to 5 pm...you simply don't have time to prepare to the anal retentive level that most want.

I sum it up to my nondental school friends as a 'state of relative unpreparedness'...meaning you work and work and work, but you can never really be 100% prepared...you get used to it...but it's nothing like undergrad

CZ

 

[jackbauer!]

classes in dental school have no correlate to undergrad.

here's the main difference:
- in undergrad they teach you a bunch of stuff, tell you read thrice more than you need to, and then test you on the highlights of lecture.
- in dental school they teach you a rediculous amount of info IN lecture, tell you to read nothing (yet give you slides, supporting documents, all mostly disorganised), and then test you on 30-35 random questions from the material you saw, heard, felt, whatever. (An average test here comprises 15 powerpoints with 50-60 slides per ppt...average 1.5 facts per ppt page and you're looking at 1000 bits of info to KNOW. this is just Ppt...there is generally a supporting syllabus that is 100's of pages per test also) Of the 35 questions, perhaps 15-18 will be softballs, the other 15-17 will be hard...and there is always a question or two that you will be like "what the F$%k was that?"

Combine this with the fact that you have 2-3 exams per week for half the term, and the fact that you are in class/lab from 8 am to 5 pm...you simply don't have time to prepare to the anal retentive level that most want.

I sum it up to my nondental school friends as a 'state of relative unpreparedness'...meaning you work and work and work, but you can never really be 100% prepared...you get used to it...but it's nothing like undergrad

CZ

amen brother.

jb!🙂

 

[armorshell]

I sum it up to my nondental school friends as a 'state of relative unpreparedness'...meaning you work and work and work, but you can never really be 100% prepared...you get used to it...but it's nothing like undergrad

CZ

This is all you need to know. Expect to see the procrastinators in your entering class thrive 😎

 

[rkamsterdam]

This is all you need to know. Expect to see the procrastinators in your entering class thrive 😎

sweet, i'm a huge procrastinator. does this mean I have an edge?

 

[HenryH]

classes in dental school have no correlate to undergrad.

here's the main difference:
- in undergrad they teach you a bunch of stuff, tell you read thrice more than you need to, and then test you on the highlights of lecture.
- in dental school they teach you a rediculous amount of info IN lecture, tell you to read nothing (yet give you slides, supporting documents, all mostly disorganised), and then test you on 30-35 random questions from the material you saw, heard, felt, whatever. (An average test here comprises 15 powerpoints with 50-60 slides per ppt...average 1.5 facts per ppt page and you're looking at 1000 bits of info to KNOW. this is just Ppt...there is generally a supporting syllabus that is 100's of pages per test also) Of the 35 questions, perhaps 15-18 will be softballs, the other 15-17 will be hard...and there is always a question or two that you will be like "what the F$%k was that?"

Combine this with the fact that you have 2-3 exams per week for half the term, and the fact that you are in class/lab from 8 am to 5 pm...you simply don't have time to prepare to the anal retentive level that most want.

I sum it up to my nondental school friends as a 'state of relative unpreparedness'...meaning you work and work and work, but you can never really be 100% prepared...you get used to it...but it's nothing like undergrad

CZ

If there's way, way, way more crap to memorize than is humanly possible to, how do you guys manage to make good grades? Big curve?

 

[armorshell]

If there's way, way, way more crap to memorize than is humanly possible to, how do you guys manage to make good grades? Big curve?

You just learn things differently. I can tell you anything you want to know about physiology, anatomy, or biochem, but only if you give me 5 choices 😉

 

[jackbauer!]

If there's way, way, way more crap to memorize than is humanly possible to, how do you guys manage to make good grades? Big curve?

jb!🙂

 

[clickytop]

sweet, i'm a huge procrastinator. does this mean I have an edge?

No. It means you'll have to learn how to study.

 

[cryptozoologist]

You just learn things differently. I can tell you anything you want to know about physiology, anatomy, or biochem, but only if you give me 5 choices 😉

this is pretty much right on the money, we have an 'evidenced based dentistry' class that is largely learning how to find clinical trials papers and interpret their study results...the teacher calls people out to answer questions during lecture about studies we read over the first 20 minutes of the class...

needless to say, most everyone in the class appears like idiots because our brains are simply not set up for this right now...Armorshell has it right on the money.

CZ

 

[Ivan Drago]

ok, so, its the same as undergrad, just more material?

well, why do they teach or present material you wont need to know. this is supposed to be professional school. you already went through those courses and studied material that you were never tested on.....

....i just thought....wouldnt they just show you what you need to know? you know?

whats the point? its like someone else said in another post.....there are those foreign dental schools in the midst of accreditation that teach/present their students the material only to pass the boards here in US?!?!?!?!?

what?!?

👎

 

[armorshell]

You're not really making any sense. According to those who set the boards, we are learning only what we need to know, the material required to pass the boards.

 

[Ivan Drago]

You're not really making any sense. According to those who set the boards, we are learning only what we need to know, the material required to pass the boards.

um, ok. how about in biochem. they present you with the krebs cycle and then you go and memorize every step, enyzme...etc.

um, and then, uh, they dont test you on it...

there you go. make sense?

 

[xxsuzuki1000xx]

um, ok. how about in biochem. they present you with the krebs cycle and then you go and memorize every step, enyzme...etc.

um, and then, uh, they dont test you on it...

there you go. make sense?

Ivan,

You are required to know those steps which may or may not be present on your course exams, but will definitely be present on the boards. The material presented in dental school will take what you learned from undergrad two steps further and the overall bulk of material will be greater (while number of questions on exam may be lower).

__________________________________
Chris NSUCDM2008

http://www.dentalgrad.com - connecting dental graduates to great jobs

 

[Regmata]

They do test you on the TCA cycle...

 

[jackbauer!]

Ivan- nobody knows exactly what questions will be on the boards. We know the broad topics that the questions will come from, but we do not know the questions. Therefore, we must know the ins-and-outs of each and every topic, but will only be asked random, specific questions to test comprehension of the material. This is the same as undergrad; however, the courses are more dense and move at a quicker pace. Don't forget you will also be taking dental courses which occupy quite a bit of time.

Hopefully that cleared it up.

jb!🙂

 

[rose786]

They do test you on the TCA cycle...

😱

 

[pmantz]

If there's 30 exam questions, that's 30 facts that you had to have known to get a perfect score. The rest of the text book is all extraneous information. 😉

or 60 if the test is all double true false...

 

[jfitzpat]

or 60 if the test is all double true false...

I hear you. In some of my classes you need to know 200 facts for the 30 questions because it will be something like this:

All of the following are true EXCEPT:

a. Unrelated fact #1
b. Unrelated fact #2
c. Unrelated fact #3
d. Unrelated fact #4
e. Unrelated fact #5
f. Unrelated fact #6
g. Unrelated fact #7
h. Two or more of the above are false
i. All of the above are true.

We've had multiple choice tests where there was actually a "t" choice

 

[Goldanboy]

I hear you. In some of my classes you need to know 200 facts for the 30 questions because it will be something like this:

All of the following are true EXCEPT:

a. Unrelated fact #1
b. Unrelated fact #2
c. Unrelated fact #3
d. Unrelated fact #4
e. Unrelated fact #5
f. Unrelated fact #6
g. Unrelated fact #7
h. Two or more of the above are false
i. All of the above are true.

We've had multiple choice tests where there was actually a "t" choice

A "T"!?! geeze i really hope that was in a matching section. I'm still getting over the 8 answer questions in dental anatomy in which the answer also varies depending on what source you use. I always felt like I entered the lotto after one of those tests.

 

[blankguy]

So tests are True/False, Multiple choice, and fill in the blanks with a list of terms?

 

[crazy_sherm]

Dental school classes are much easier conceptually, but requires more memorization in a shorter span of time. You're also taking a lot more classes at the same time compared to undergrad but the tests tend to be easier if you're good at multiple choice. The biggest change from undergrad to dental school is time management. You have to study differently from what you're used to and know how to utilize your time efficiently. Once you figure out a good routine that works for you, its just a matter of plugging away.

 

[pmantz]

So tests are True/False, Multiple choice, and fill in the blanks with a list of terms?

No fill in the blanks, only A-E. Filling in bubbles is a valuable skill.

 

[pmantz]

A "T"!?! geeze i really hope that was in a matching section. I'm still getting over the 8 answer questions in dental anatomy in which the answer also varies depending on what source you use. I always felt like I entered the lotto after one of those tests.

My dental anatomy was a pain in my arse, it occured to me about 3-4 weeks in it didn't matter how hard I studied. About 80% of the questions were really pretty resonable, and 15% of the questions were doable if you had a good memory/studied real hard and that last 5% was there to prove a point.

 

[blankguy]

If it's all multiple choice, you can get away with sort of knowing it.

 

[pmantz]

If it's all multiple choice, you can get away with sort of knowing it.

I would have to disagree. If you are talking about passing (marginally) your right. But you and I know that is no way to live. And I am going to tell you there are some classes where sort of knowing stuff won't get you a passing grade, ie. head and neck, occlusion.

 

[Goldanboy]

So tests are True/False, Multiple choice, and fill in the blanks with a list of terms?

When I said "matching" i was referring to a section where a large numbers of answer choices are used for more then one question with few repeated answers. I do think its possible to cram some of the easier subjects but it would be very hard to get though without knowing the stuff (the important facts are repeated anyway). I also had some classes such as anatomy and oral histology with practicals that require handwritten answers.

Besides; the science classes are pretty easy compared to learning how to wax a molar in 2 hours or getting that perfect prep in indirect vision. At least a multiple choice test has a clear right answer ...

 

[blankguy]

I would have to disagree. If you are talking about passing (marginally) your right. But you and I know that is no way to live. And I am going to tell you there are some classes where sort of knowing stuff won't get you a passing grade, ie. head and neck, occlusion.

Wouldn't people who have a knack for doing well in multiple choice questions have an edge?