How hard are the boards really?

[Oracle DMD]

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it seems like the boards are easy to pass but tough to do well on. any thoughts? at first i thought you needed a 75 in every section to pass but then i heard that you only need 75% of the nation average to pass. if the average score is lik 82ish that would make the passing grade 62 or so. is there a better time to take them early or later in the summer? how do they figure the national average if you take it early in the summer? any thoughts?

 

[phremius]

The boards are designed so that the vast majority pass, a small percent fail, and a small percent do well.

 

[rarm1]

it seems like the boards are easy to pass but tough to do well on. any thoughts? at first i thought you needed a 75 in every section to pass but then i heard that you only need 75% of the nation average to pass. if the average score is lik 82ish that would make the passing grade 62 or so. is there a better time to take them early or later in the summer? how do they figure the national average if you take it early in the summer? any thoughts?

One of the reasons they are debating going pass/fail

 

[clockwork]

deciding on when you want to take the boards will depend entirely on your schools schedule. some schools will give you time off to prepare for the boards while others will still have classes up until the day of your test. the boards will not be pass/fail (grade-wise, they have always been in essence pass/fail) until January 2010. and even then, i have a feeling it will still be pushed back until the specialty programs can figure out how to distinguish between applicants.

 

[Oracle DMD]

deciding on when you want to take the boards will depend entirely on your schools schedule. some schools will give you time off to prepare for the boards while others will still have classes up until the day of your test. the boards will not be pass/fail (grade-wise, they have always been in essence pass/fail) until January 2010. and even then, i have a feeling it will still be pushed back until the specialty programs can figure out how to distinguish between applicants.

i can take it anytime i want from may 27th until august 27th or so. i have a date set for july 1st but i don't know if i should push back a couple weeks or will 4 solid weeks of studying be enough? i am not looking to specialize so i don't really care if i score really high or not but i want to pass it comfortably.

 

[HupHolland]

4 weeks is plenty of time to study. I did it in just under 3 weeks and passed comfortably...think mid-80's. Don't push the exam date back. Your score will not improve more than a point and you will lose valuable summer vacay time.

Best of luck,
Hup

 

[DrNush]

4 weeks is plenty of time to study. I did it in just under 3 weeks and passed comfortably...think mid-80's. Don't push the exam date back. Your score will not improve more than a point and you will lose valuable summer vacay time.

Best of luck,
Hup

Does anyone know if this applies to part 2 as well?

 

[Guy Smiley]

Does anyone know if this applies to part 2 as well?

It does.

 

[chund]

it seems like the boards are easy to pass but tough to do well on. any thoughts? at first i thought you needed a 75 in every section to pass but then i heard that you only need 75% of the nation average to pass. if the average score is lik 82ish that would make the passing grade 62 or so. is there a better time to take them early or later in the summer? how do they figure the national average if you take it early in the summer? any thoughts?

Does anyone know if this 75% of national average is how they score or is it simply a 75/100??

 

[Sajitude]

Does anyone know if this 75% of national average is how they score or is it simply a 75/100??

75% in the nation which usually does not mean 75/100 on the exam.

 

[Waitlisted2009]

.

 

[KOM]

is there a better time to take them early or later in the summer? how do they figure the national average if you take it early in the summer? any thoughts?

I'd like to know this as well. What subset of scores are you being compared to nationally (if any) at any given time?

Are you compared to everyone who took the same exam within the same week, month, year, past 5 years?

Or is like the DAT where noone really knows how the heck they standardize it?

 

[Oracle DMD]

4 weeks is plenty of time to study. I did it in just under 3 weeks and passed comfortably...think mid-80's. Don't push the exam date back. Your score will not improve more than a point and you will lose valuable summer vacay time.

Best of luck,
Hup

thanks for the insight hup!

75% in the nation which usually does not mean 75/100 on the exam.

my understanding is that the average is usually about 82% making a passing score 75% of 82 = 62% i'm hitting a 55% average on practice tests and i haven't even started studying but i feel a little anxious about it. (and i'm academically very average ...just saying it doesn't seem like it'll be tough to pass but hard to do well on 4 sure)

To hard for you

hahaha very funny. i'll remember that if you ever get in off the Midwestern waitlist...or any other waitlist...ever....