For all those about to take the computer NBDE 1

[PantherPaws]

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1st of all good luck...I just got my scores back and was very pleased....It's such a weight off of your shoulders knowing you will never have to take that monster of a test again...

Some suggestions...Go through all the old released exams you can get your hands on. It helps in four ways...1.You can see where you are weak. 2.You can see how they ask questions. 3.You can see what they like to ask. And 4. If they ask that same question, well you already know the answer.

The decks I don't think really helped me too much I did them twice, but some of those f...ing cards are just too dense to retain, esp the micro and path. But, do read them. I thought the stacks high yield cards were very helpful, so if you can get your hands on those memorize as much as you can!!

Some topics I remember from the test. Know nerves and inervations of both head/neck and gross muscles I got burned on like 9 q's...Didn't really think they would ask so much, but they did. One specific one I remember: What inervates the erector spinae muscles? In biochem/physio a lot of q's on insulin, so know how that and everything assoc with it works ie. glucagon, alpha, beta cells etc...In my dental anatomy there wasn't any q's on those occlusion pictures, such as which direction is this going ie. lateral working etc etc...that hurt cuz I know those really well...

If anyone has any questions go ahead and ask...

Panther

 

[LegendDMD]

1st of all good luck...I just got my scores back and was very pleased....It's such a weight off of your shoulders knowing you will never have to take that monster of a test again...

Some suggestions...Go through all the old released exams you can get your hands on. It helps in four ways...1.You can see where you are weak. 2.You can see how they ask questions. 3.You can see what they like to ask. And 4. If they ask that same question, well you already know the answer.

The decks I don't think really helped me too much I did them twice, but some of those f...ing cards are just too dense to retain, esp the micro and path. But, do read them. I thought the stacks high yield cards were very helpful, so if you can get your hands on those memorize as much as you can!!

Some topics I remember from the test. Know nerves and inervations of both head/neck and gross muscles I got burned on like 9 q's...Didn't really think they would ask so much, but they did. One specific one I remember: What inervates the erector spinae muscles? In biochem/physio a lot of q's on insulin, so know how that and everything assoc with it works ie. glucagon, alpha, beta cells etc...In my dental anatomy there wasn't any q's on those occlusion pictures, such as which direction is this going ie. lateral working etc etc...that hurt cuz I know those really well...

If anyone has any questions go ahead and ask...

Panther

I might of misunderstood what you said, but did you say that the dental stax were better than the decks...and if that was what you said, how were they better. Did you just study from the decks/stax and old exams?

 

[aphistis]

1st of all good luck...I just got my scores back and was very pleased....It's such a weight off of your shoulders knowing you will never have to take that monster of a test again...

Some suggestions...Go through all the old released exams you can get your hands on. It helps in four ways...1.You can see where you are weak. 2.You can see how they ask questions. 3.You can see what they like to ask. And 4. If they ask that same question, well you already know the answer.

The decks I don't think really helped me too much I did them twice, but some of those f...ing cards are just too dense to retain, esp the micro and path. But, do read them. I thought the stacks high yield cards were very helpful, so if you can get your hands on those memorize as much as you can!!

Some topics I remember from the test. Know nerves and inervations of both head/neck and gross muscles I got burned on like 9 q's...Didn't really think they would ask so much, but they did. One specific one I remember: What inervates the erector spinae muscles? In biochem/physio a lot of q's on insulin, so know how that and everything assoc with it works ie. glucagon, alpha, beta cells etc...In my dental anatomy there wasn't any q's on those occlusion pictures, such as which direction is this going ie. lateral working etc etc...that hurt cuz I know those really well...

If anyone has any questions go ahead and ask...

Panther

I just took the computerized Part I today. I really liked the format, just seeing one question at a time and giving it all your attention, instead of getting distracted by realizing you still have PAGES and PAGES of questions yet to answer. I was getting pretty good scores on the released exams, and I really felt good about anat/histo & chem/phys, but when I came back after lunch I felt like the wheels came off for the last two sections. Dental and path both felt like a complete crap shoot. I'm not worried about passing, but I went in kinda hoping to do a little better than just the bare minimum. We'll see in a couple weeks, I suppose.

My dental section had several of the cusp-movement diagrams, so it still pays to know those. And, re: back muscles, I thought I'd heard that dorsal rami innervate the back muscles, & ventral rami innervate pretty much everything else. (All information guaranteed incorrect or your money back)

 

[flat4]

I just took the computerized Part I today. I really liked the format, just seeing one question at a time and giving it all your attention, instead of getting distracted by realizing you still have PAGES and PAGES of questions yet to answer. I was getting pretty good scores on the released exams, and I really felt good about anat/histo & chem/phys, but when I came back after lunch I felt like the wheels came off for the last two sections. Dental and path both felt like a complete crap shoot. I'm not worried about passing, but I went in kinda hoping to do a little better than just the bare minimum. We'll see in a couple weeks, I suppose.

My dental section had several of the cusp-movement diagrams, so it still pays to know those. And, re: back muscles, I thought I'd heard that dorsal rami innervate the back muscles, & ventral rami innervate pretty much everything else. (All information guaranteed incorrect or your money back)

Congrats Bill. Go get yourself a drink or 10. I took my exam on 7/21 and I got them back TODAY 😱 Good turnaround and you should probably expect around the same. And yes, I did pass 👍

 

[mike3kgt]

I just took the computerized Part I today. I really liked the format, just seeing one question at a time and giving it all your attention, instead of getting distracted by realizing you still have PAGES and PAGES of questions yet to answer. I was getting pretty good scores on the released exams, and I really felt good about anat/histo & chem/phys, but when I came back after lunch I felt like the wheels came off for the last two sections. Dental and path both felt like a complete crap shoot. I'm not worried about passing, but I went in kinda hoping to do a little better than just the bare minimum. We'll see in a couple weeks, I suppose.

My dental section had several of the cusp-movement diagrams, so it still pays to know those. And, re: back muscles, I thought I'd heard that dorsal rami innervate the back muscles, & ventral rami innervate pretty much everything else. (All information guaranteed incorrect or your money back)

Haha, sounds like we were in the same scenario. I took Part 1 today on the computer and had the same experience. Biochem BY FAR was the easiest section. Type of Q?

"Which is involved in transcription?"
a. DNA-RNA
b. RNA-protein
c. Transposons
d. I don't remember the others

Too much!

Now micro/path and dental anatomy? Man, I must've taken some sort of pill that caused me to CRAP out my brain because I was shocked!

Ah well. It's over 🙂

-Mike

 

[aphistis]

Haha, sounds like we were in the same scenario. I took Part 1 today on the computer and had the same experience. Biochem BY FAR was the easiest section. Type of Q?

"Which is involved in transcription?"
a. DNA-RNA
b. RNA-protein
c. Transposons
d. I don't remember the others

Too much!

Now micro/path and dental anatomy? Man, I must've taken some sort of pill that caused me to CRAP out my brain because I was shocked!

Ah well. It's over 🙂

-Mike

Scores in the mail today, 2 weeks to the day after taking the exam. 92/94/91/93, 93 average. I'll take it. 😀

 

[Austin1]

Great job Bill. For all of us who have yet to take the exam, what study materials helped you the most? Thanks, and congrats again. AUSTIN

 

[aphistis]

Great job Bill. For all of us who have yet to take the exam, what study materials helped you the most? Thanks, and congrats again. AUSTIN

I went through the decks 3 times, and I took the 2004 pilot(*very* useful), the 2000 unreleased (surprisingly unhelpful), 1998, 1996, & 1989 released exams.

I divided the decks into high-yield (i.e., tables/lists/etc.) and low-yield (paragraphs of fluff) stacks and spent more time on the former.

With the exams, make sure you know about the wrong answers, not just the right ones--you want to make sure you're still covered in case they ask you a different question with the same answers.

I don't know for sure, but my total study time was probably 60-80 hours spread out over several weeks. If you have the stamina for a two-week study marathon right before the test, it'll probably work better than what I did; but I just can't sit down for that long at a time. Good luck!

 

[gryffindor]

Woohoo! Congrats to aphistis!

 

[miserable]

A 93 is an excellent score, Bill! Just out of nosiness, what is your GPA/class rank? It seems like you have a very good chance of getting into a specialty with your board scores! I only got a 90 avg and am feeling a little blue...
But congratulations to you! 😀

 

[adamlc18]

Good job Bill. I took it Saturday and came out feeling like it was nothing like the old tests. This year at UNC we are supposed to take by December of the 2nd year, but I wanted to get it done while we actually had time to study so I took it the summer between 1st and 2nd. I still feel like I would have known more if I had waited. But coming out of there, I had no idea how I did. I hope I do as well as you did. Are you still thinking OMS? I thought I saw you post that previously.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Man, all this talk is rekindling old memories and driving me to want to retake the exam.

 

[JavadiCavity]

Good work Bill, that is a fantastic score. I'm not surprised at all.

 

[aphistis]

Good work Bill, that is a fantastic score. I'm not surprised at all.

Thanks, Javadi (and everybody else who has chimed in). I really appreciate it. 👍 And, yes, OMS is on the radar right now, but I need to spend some time externing, & burnishing my thus-far-unremarkable GPA, before I decide for or against. Good luck to everyone who hasn't taken NBDE I yet.