Finally finished with the *&#$@! NERB..

[UBTom]

I am soooo wasted...

Two days of hell, no lunch on either. Just work your way through it all.

The NERB consists of three components:

1. clinical case-based exams on computer. Similar to the cases in NBDE Part II. This you either take as part of your school curriculum if offered, or arrange it yourself at a Prometric testing center.

2. Mannequin exercise. Fabricate a 3-unit provisional FPD and do endo #8. You arrive on-site around 6:30AM to set up your operatory and get your stuff together, then sit through the NERB orientation at 7AM. Start the exercise at 8AM, and you have until 4:20PM to finish both the FPD and the endo. Sounds simple enough, but the way they want it done takes a friggin' long time. And during the exam, things have an uncanny way of getting screwed up... I've made provisionals using the indirect method that came out PERFECT in my last three tries, but during the NERB for some reason it came out horrible-- Had to reline 200 times and spent 2 hours adjusting the occlusion when the provisional gets punched through. This part of the NERB just ROYALLY sucked.

3. Patient clinic exercise. Must do one Class-II Amalgam, one Class-III Resin, and a perio exercise. I'm surprised it went pretty well, in contrast to my sister's experience when she took it in 2000 (she was totally stressed out). Mine went smoothly, but I think I'm lucky-- I have patients with the perfect "board lesions." Standard G.V. Black preps, smooth as clockwork. Having an awesome assistant helped a lot too. I'm still tired though; got up 5:30AM and got ready to set out. Went first to go pick up my patients-- That way you know they will show up. Basically, if your patient don't show, you fail and you just wasted $1100. Arrived at school 6:30AM to set up my operatory. Attended orientation at 7AM. Exam starts at 8AM, all the way until 4:30PM, no breaks.

If I'm lucky and pass the NERB (will find out in 4-6 weeks), I won't have to take another exam for the rest of my life!

Those of you in the Class of 2008 at any of the four New York schools who are reading this: you won't have to deal with this at all. Lucky you!

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[Yah-E]

Congrats!! Man, do I like the sound of "no more exams for the rest of my life!!"

3 more days, Doc!

 

[flat4]

Congrats buddy. I'm sure you did just fine. I heard that, if you fail, they pretty much let you know one way or another on that day. I would do anything to be in your shoes right now. I'll be counting the days...

 

[dudelove]

Why won't they have to deal with the NERB at NY schools in the future? Congrats on the NERB. Hopefully in 6 weeks you will be applying for your license!

I am soooo wasted...

Two days of hell, no lunch on either. Just work your way through it all.

The NERB consists of three components:

1. clinical case-based exams on computer. Similar to the cases in NBDE Part II. This you either take as part of your school curriculum if offered, or arrange it yourself at a Prometric testing center.

2. Mannequin exercise. Fabricate a 3-unit provisional FPD and do endo #8. You arrive on-site around 6:30AM to set up your operatory and get your stuff together, then sit through the NERB orientation at 7AM. Start the exercise at 8AM, and you have until 4:20PM to finish both the FPD and the endo. Sounds simple enough, but the way they want it done takes a friggin' long time. And during the exam, things have an uncanny way of getting screwed up... I've made provisionals using the indirect method that came out PERFECT in my last three tries, but during the NERB for some reason it came out horrible-- Had to reline 200 times and spent 2 hours adjusting the occlusion when the provisional gets punched through. This part of the NERB just ROYALLY sucked.

3. Patient clinic exercise. Must do one Class-II Amalgam, one Class-III Resin, and a perio exercise. I'm surprised it went pretty well, in contrast to my sister's experience when she took it in 2000 (she was totally stressed out). Mine went smoothly, but I think I'm lucky-- I have patients with the perfect "board lesions." Standard G.V. Black preps, smooth as clockwork. Having an awesome assistant helped a lot too. I'm still tired though; got up 5:30AM and got ready to set out. Went first to go pick up my patients-- That way you know they will show up. Basically, if your patient don't show, you fail and you just wasted $1100. Arrived at school 6:30AM to set up my operatory. Attended orientation at 7AM. Exam starts at 8AM, all the way until 4:30PM, no breaks.

If I'm lucky and pass the NERB (will find out in 4-6 weeks), I won't have to take another exam for the rest of my life!

Those of you in the Class of 2008 at any of the four New York schools who are reading this: you won't have to deal with this at all. Lucky you!

 

[freedyx3]

How come the 2008 class NY schools don't have to worry bout it Tom?

 

[UBTom]

Congrats buddy. I'm sure you did just fine. I heard that, if you fail, they pretty much let you know one way or another on that day. I would do anything to be in your shoes right now. I'll be counting the days...

Thanks guys for the well-wishing.. Hopefully those of you with your own board exams coming up in the future will have a smooth ride.

Yep, a few of my more unfortunate classmates did get that dreaded "temporize patient" order from the examiners because their prep for one reason or another did not pass muster... That's a for-sure on-the-spot failure. Might as well just pack up and go home right then and there if one received one of those. Glad I never did!

Then there are also those who received the equally-dreaded "follow-up" form because they left an open contact or some other defect on the restoration... That's an instant failure too. My patients did complain to me a bit today because they felt I was unconsciously shoving in those wedges a bit too forcefully to ensure I got closed contacts..

Almost made me feel like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, dodging all those bullets today.

Those of you in the Class of 2008 (and 2007 too, actually) in NY schools: I remember my classmate Griffin posting previously on how as of January 1, 2007, to be licensed in NYS to practice dentistry, you no longer have to take the NERB. But you do have to do a 1-year postgrad program such as a GPR or AEGD in order to be licensed to practice in NY.

 

[freedyx3]

But will students have an option, like can they choose to take the NERBs instead of doing a GPR?

 

[gryffindor]

But will students have an option, like can they choose to take the NERBs instead of doing a GPR?

Freddy, I attempted to answer this question and debated it with avingupta near the end of the infamous "Is Columbia any good?" thread in the Pre-Dental forum. Here is a paragraph from one of my posts in that thread.

"...many of my clinically talented and confident classmates are signing up for a GPR b/c they do not want to put up with taking the NERB examination (a horrendous, biased, subjective, expensive exam). New York is now waiving the NERB exam and will grant a NY license to any student in the USA in the classes of 2004 & 2005 & 2006 if the student completes an ADA accredited GPR/AEGD. Starting with the class of 2007, don't even bother coming to New York state to practice unless you do a GPR/AEGD b/c New York will not give you a license unless you do a minimum of 1 year post-grad - this applies to ALL graduates of all USA/Canadian dental schools who want to practice in NY."

The legislation making a residency MANDATORY to get a NY state license starting on January 1, 2007 hasn't actually passed yet, but Mr. Lasky (executive director of NYSDA) has made it clear that this is the direction NYSDA is pushing for. ASDA is still trying to fight and keep it an option like you suggest in your question, but the true outcome isn't known yet.

So you could still take the NERB if you want to get a license in one of the other NERB states, but it is likely the results of the NERB will be meaninless in New York come Jan. 1, 2007.

 

[freedyx3]

Cool thanks griff.

 

[gryffindor]

My left arm hurts as I type this, having suffered two days of this horrid exam.

I wasn't nervous or scared, I didn't worry about practicing the perfect preps or memorizing the rules. I knew my patients were gonna come b/c I scared them into coming (I'M GONNA FAIL and it's all your fault!!!) and made them feel like they were getting a great bargain (free filling!) by showing up. I was ready to accept whatever came my way during the exam.

But I was majorly ANGRY throughout the entire exam, especially yesterday when I did my live patient portion. I was angry that the decision to give me a license rested in the hands of the dentists so old, they probably studied with G.V. Black himself. I was angry that my clinical skills and dental license were going to be determined by how two fillings and scaling of 6 teeth happened to turn out in one day, being graded by a bunch of old, male, retired dentists.

And the fact that I had an absolutely LOUSY assistant didn't help matters at all.

I gave it my best shot. I didn't get an automatic failure for any of my live patient procedures, however, I did get a "love note" back from the examiners claiming that I had hit the adjacent resin filling on #12 DO while prepping #13 MO for amalgam. I KNOW I didn't hit the tooth, at least not to any level of clinical importance. The patient (who was also a second year dental student) said 2 examiners checked my prep and had no problems with it, and then proceeded to play with #12 DO resin. Four examiners debated over #12 DO and they finally decided to send a note back with the patient saying I had to smooth the resin before proceeding with my amalgam filling.

My opinion on the "love note" - the examiners are probably so old, they'd probably never seen a class II (posterior interproximal) resin before and didn't know what to do or expect when they saw it in my patient's mouth.

My typodont excercises went fine, no major glitches. I feel like I should be ok with this section, but then again, it's so subjective, who knows!

If I'm lucky to pass, then I will be able to moonlight during my residency as some dentist's perio slave so I can make some extra $$$ to support my shopping habits in NYC.

NYU and Pittsburg offer retakes in August...

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

Griffin.....glad you're not an Olympian.....practice your whole life for one shot....life sucks, eh

 

[UBTom]

to Griffin:

Ouch, classmate.. I can sympathize. There were a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth (no pun intended, heh) today when we saw those NERB helpers walking around delivering the temporize-patient and follow-up order forms... When I saw those, my immediate thought was, some poor guy is about to be hit with a laser-guided smart bomb (and prayed that it wasn't me. *gulp*).

I wonder if your assistant is anybody we know...? They did bring in assistants from outside of the school right? Somebody up there in heaven must have been looking over me because somehow I ended up with one of the assistants from my floor who was familiar with how I work.

And to ensure that my patients show up, I resorted to what every NYU student does: bribe them to come in. It was customary down there in NYC to pay your patient $150 per procedure (!) for the NERB. Me, I managed to lure them in with a mere $50 per.

Personally, I'm wondering if I will need to retake the typodont portion again in August... The first exam day seems to have sucked for everybody.

Well, at least we can commiserate..

Some of our classmates are nuts, by the way... A few of them who took the NERB with us are also taking the WREB... TOMORROW in Cleveland. Egads!

 

[spooky42]

Congrats Tom and Griffin

 

[drPheta]

Congrats on finishing this leg of the exam, and let's hope it's the last. And barely anyone believes me when I tell them the NERBs are a horribly organized and proctored exam.

Let's hope we all pass!

Good job guys!

 

[gryffindor]

Tom forgot to mention something in his description.

The students do not get a lunch break. You go from 7am (orientation) to 5pm both days.

The examiners, however, do go on lunch breaks.

Not a particularly important detail, but just worth a mention IMO.

And since when is it necessary to be wearing a mask when you are clearly reading a manual and nowhere near the area of the mannequin treatment? Maybe the examiner who reprimanded me was bored, felt like using his authority b/c he could.

Yeah, we all know my assistant. She wasn't from any of the tiers and works in one of the departments where they don't do traditional restorative dentistry. Another classmate seemed to have trouble with his assistant too, a woman who works in a different non-restorative dept. Non-restorative = Ortho, Endo, OMS, ODS/Radiology. Maybe b/c these assistants aren't used to the fast-pace in restorative, they aren't as sharp & quick as some of the other ones, like the ones from the tiers or AEGD or prostho? I recall when I was a patient for the NERB a few years ago, the poor student dentist had the same complaint - his assigned assistant, a woman from the ortho dept., sucked.

I gave 2 of my patients a $50 "gift" for coming, but they had no idea that I was going to be giving them money. I paid for one of them to take a cab here as well (I gave that pt. $20 for the cab in addition to her $50). One of them called me last night and said she was shocked at the money, I didn't have to do that, why did I do that, etc. I haven't figured out yet what I'm gonna give the dental student who was my patient, I'm trying to hook the student up in clinic somehow. I didn't pay the student, my student dentists didn't pay me either when I was their patient back in my early days of dental school. Wow, I don't think I'm gonna find such nice patients in NYC...

 

[dudelove]

I remember my year, wheoever had their perio checked by some 76 year old orthodontist failed. No exceptions. What a joke. I bet those evaluators didn't even use loupes to evaluate #12. The funny thing with this all is that I know a past NERB evaluator and you should see his work...all overhangs on everything. Terrible dentist. Good luck to you all though! The hard work will pay off soon.

My left arm hurts as I type this, having suffered two days of this horrid exam.

I wasn't nervous or scared, I didn't worry about practicing the perfect preps or memorizing the rules. I knew my patients were gonna come b/c I scared them into coming (I'M GONNA FAIL and it's all your fault!!!) and made them feel like they were getting a great bargain (free filling!) by showing up. I was ready to accept whatever came my way during the exam.

But I was majorly ANGRY throughout the entire exam, especially yesterday when I did my live patient portion. I was angry that the decision to give me a license rested in the hands of the dentists so old, they probably studied with G.V. Black himself. I was angry that my clinical skills and dental license were going to be determined by how two fillings and scaling of 6 teeth happened to turn out in one day, being graded by a bunch of old, male, retired dentists.

And the fact that I had an absolutely LOUSY assistant didn't help matters at all.

I gave it my best shot. I didn't get an automatic failure for any of my live patient procedures, however, I did get a "love note" back from the examiners claiming that I had hit the adjacent resin filling on #12 DO while prepping #13 MO for amalgam. I KNOW I didn't hit the tooth, at least not to any level of clinical importance. The patient (who was also a second year dental student) said 2 examiners checked my prep and had no problems with it, and then proceeded to play with #12 DO resin. Four examiners debated over #12 DO and they finally decided to send a note back with the patient saying I had to smooth the resin before proceeding with my amalgam filling.

My opinion on the "love note" - the examiners are probably so old, they'd probably never seen a class II (posterior interproximal) resin before and didn't know what to do or expect when they saw it in my patient's mouth.

My typodont excercises went fine, no major glitches. I feel like I should be ok with this section, but then again, it's so subjective, who knows!

If I'm lucky to pass, then I will be able to moonlight during my residency as some dentist's perio slave so I can make some extra $$$ to support my shopping habits in NYC.

NYU and Pittsburg offer retakes in August...