How serious are the boards?

[Advance]

Did you buy the premium version?View attachment 228109
Is this app the one you mentioned?
Thank you for the answer


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Yep that’s it! No, I just bought the cheapest version. It was more than enough.

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[sjdent17]

Yep that’s it! No, I just bought the cheapest version. It was more than enough.

Can you tell me more specifically how you prepared? Did you memorize all the questions and answers in the app?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I just used the Dental mastery app primarily for about 12 days and did a few old released exams and passed.

So you sat on your phone or iPad for 2 weeks straight when studying ?

 

[FeralisExtremum]

So you sat on your phone or iPad for 2 weeks straight when studying ?

It comes with a (slower) web version so you could use it on any computer if you wanted.

 

[Advance]

So you sat on your phone or iPad for 2 weeks straight when studying ?

Yep pretty much.

 

[FatherOrangeJuice]

According to ADA data:

NBDE Part 1 Failure Rates:

2010: 5.3%
2011: 4.5%
2012: 6.1%
2013: 6.3%
2014: 3.7%
2015: 3.4%
2016: 5.2%

The test is administered to roughly 9-10k people annually, so only a few hundred students fail each year. Of the 9-10k people taking the exam annually, roughly 3k are not from accredited dental schools (i.e. foreign dental students) - most of the failure rate is attributed to these non-domestic dental students.

I thought the failure rate that they calculate comes from accredited data only. I didn't think it takes non-accredited into account. Do you know otherwise?

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I thought the failure rate that they calculate comes from accredited data only. I didn't think it takes non-accredited into account. Do you know otherwise?

You're right, it's based on accredited only. I've updated the post. Thanks!

 

[FatherOrangeJuice]

You're right, it's based on accredited only. I've updated the post. Thanks!

I looked pretty deeply into this. I'm really nervous for my boards. Such high stakes with all this school debt looming over those in US dental schools. Having a tough time dealing with it. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated @FeralisExtremum

 

[FeralisExtremum]

I looked pretty deeply into this. I'm really nervous for my boards. Such high stakes with all this school debt looming over those in US dental schools. Having a tough time dealing with it. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated @FeralisExtremum

I was really nervous too, because the exam covers a lot of material that feels impossible to retain. But the high pass rate should encourage you - almost everyone gets through it on their first shot, and even if you feel bad while taking the exam, the threshold for passing is extremely reasonable. I'm going to do a small breakdown and post some resources I used to help prepare sometime this week, hopefully that will be helpful to you guys as well.

 

[Faux]

I looked pretty deeply into this. I'm really nervous for my boards. Such high stakes with all this school debt looming over those in US dental schools. Having a tough time dealing with it. Any words of encouragement would be appreciated @FeralisExtremum

I was really nervous too, because the exam covers a lot of material that feels impossibly to retain. But the high pass rate should encourage you - almost everyone gets through it on their first shot, and even if you feel bad while taking the exam, the threshold for passing is extremely reasonable. I'm going to do a small breakdown and post some resources I used to help prepare sometime this week, hopefully that will be helpful to you guys as well.

Got this email recently.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

Got this email recently.

View attachment 229856

The standard setting is interesting, and usually causes the fail rate to spike up a bit. E.g. they did a new standard setting in 2008, and the fail rate jumped from 3.5% (in 2007) to 7.4% (in 2008). They did it again at the end of 2016 and it caused a smaller spike (3.4% in 2015 to 5.2% in 2016). Since the standard setting was done at the end of 2016 I'd expect 2017's fail rate to be a little higher too.

I think the image you have relates to a hypothetical standard setting - the fail rate in 2013 was still 6.3%, but had they implemented the new standard (which they ended up doing in 2016) to the same results, 10.1% of people would have failed instead.

I suspect there won't be another standard setting to Part I or Part II though, as the new combined exam is taking over.

 

[FatherOrangeJuice]

Got this email recently.

View attachment 229856

The standard setting is interesting, and usually causes the fail rate to spike up a bit. E.g. they did a new standard setting in 2008, and the fail rate jumped from 3.5% (in 2007) to 7.4% (in 2008). They did it again at the end of 2016 and it caused a smaller spike (3.4% in 2015 to 5.2% in 2016). Since the standard setting was done at the end of 2016 I'd expect 2017's fail rate to be a little higher too.

I think the image you have relates to a hypothetical standard setting - the fail rate in 2013 was still 6.3%, but had they implemented the new standard (which they ended up doing in 2016) to the same results, 10.1% of people would have failed instead.

I suspect there won't be another standard setting to Part I or Part II though, as the new combined exam is taking over.

Wow, that's very interesting that they are upping the standards. How come it seems like the goal is to simply fail more people rather than have us know what we need to know to be competent... Do you think the Pass/Fail cutoff will still be reasonable after these updated standards @FeralisExtremum ?

 

[lazyindy]

@FeralisExtremum

when can we expect your study guide and resources for NBDE part 1?

 

[mrtha pantoja]

did you pass NBDE part1

 

[ncide]

The standard setting is interesting, and usually causes the fail rate to spike up a bit. E.g. they did a new standard setting in 2008, and the fail rate jumped from 3.5% (in 2007) to 7.4% (in 2008). They did it again at the end of 2016 and it caused a smaller spike (3.4% in 2015 to 5.2% in 2016). Since the standard setting was done at the end of 2016 I'd expect 2017's fail rate to be a little higher too.

I think the image you have relates to a hypothetical standard setting - the fail rate in 2013 was still 6.3%, but had they implemented the new standard (which they ended up doing in 2016) to the same results, 10.1% of people would have failed instead.

I suspect there won't be another standard setting to Part I or Part II though, as the new combined exam is taking over.

There will always be another standard setting. They do this every 5 years because answers get passed down and each year after a new standard setting the average failure rate drops, until the new standard setting. They do this to maintain the integrity of the exam.

When they do a standard setting, failure rates always go up.

 

[ncide]

Wow, that's very interesting that they are upping the standards. How come it seems like the goal is to simply fail more people rather than have us know what we need to know to be competent... Do you think the Pass/Fail cutoff will still be reasonable after these updated standards @FeralisExtremum ?

Read my response.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

There will always be another standard setting. They do this every 5 years because answers get passed down and each year after a new standard setting the average failure rate drops, until the new standard setting. They do this to maintain the integrity of the exam.

When they do a standard setting, failure rates always go up.

Definitely, I just meant that there won't be another standard setting for Part I/Part II as we know it since the integrated exam is replacing it.

 

[FatherOrangeJuice]

There will always be another standard setting. They do this every 5 years because answers get passed down and each year after a new standard setting the average failure rate drops, until the new standard setting. They do this to maintain the integrity of the exam.

When they do a standard setting, failure rates always go up.

So what you're saying is.... the reason they have to raise the standards and increase the number of questions needed to pass is because people cheat? Isn't that kind of unfair to us who don't use questions that people have unethically passed on to others?

 

[ncide]

So what you're saying is.... the reason they have to raise the standards and increase the number of questions needed to pass is because people cheat? Isn't that kind of unfair to us who don't use questions that people have unethically passed on to others?

I don't know if it exactly is unfair, since the material on the test is material you should know, but the test did have a sharp increase in failure rates when they changed the exam in 2017.

If you study for the test, have done alright in dental school, you should be able to pass.

 

[FatherOrangeJuice]

I don't know if it exactly is unfair, since the material on the test is material you should know, but the test did have a sharp increase in failure rates when they changed the exam in 2017.

If you study for the test, have done alright in dental school, you should be able to pass.

Oh really? Could you share the 2017 statistics with us?

 

[gsquared]

The app was golden, but I would definitely recommend reviewing old exams under exam conditions and using the decks/First Aid if you have time.