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- Mar 26, 2015
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So the ADAT is now a thing. My question is - how will this change the relative numbers of people applying to residency programs? Particularly Oral Surgery? Will there be a decrease/increase?
Before, you could half-ass your boards (since they're pass fail), study for the CBSE and also CONCURRENTLY take the GRE (since it's so easy) to apply for ortho/endo/etc to hedge your bets.
With the ADAT being introduced (which, according to some professors at my school, who helped design it - is ALOT harder) I think this will change the relative numbers of people applying to specialty programs. Specifically - now that you need to study for a specific exam (either the CBSE or the ADAT) I feel like less people will apply for specialty programs because they won't want to study for another exam
Apparently the main issue with the NBDE Board Exam was that it wasn't designed to select people for residencies. It was purely designed to see if you knew the basics of dentistry - meaning - it was FAR too easy. People were routinely scoring in the 90s, near 100 almost, on the exam. Thus lies the issue - It was not designed to "stratify" people - to separate the high performers from the low performers
If you look across the pond at the NBME Step 1 for medical students - It's out of what - 270? When was the last time you heard of someone even remotely getting near that score? The average is something like 215-220, and if you're not careful - it is very easy to fail. Getting above 235+ takes such an obscene amount of time spent studying + intelligence, the exam is truly able to stratify the wheat from the chaff, and see which high performers are deserving of that orthopedic/plastic surgery/whatever slot. The exam is so freaking difficult, if you ask any oral surgery residents who had to take it - many will say it was the most difficult exam in their lives (if they didn't already fail it)
The ADAT serves as a solution to this. The fact that the GRE was used by some programs is an embarrassment - There is no reason why ANYONE taking the ADAT should get near 100% of the questions correct. It will be much, much, MUCH more difficult - simulating the difficulty of Step 1 for medical students. Oral Surgery already has their own exam - the CBSE, based off Step 1 (with an average score of 55.6, a failing score for Step 1. Which is why most OMFS hopefuls's retake it 3-4 times to hit 70, a barely passing score of 180 when converted to Step 1 scoring)
Because of this, I feel like less people will be inclined to study for both exams, or even take them. Anyone have any thoughts?
Before, you could half-ass your boards (since they're pass fail), study for the CBSE and also CONCURRENTLY take the GRE (since it's so easy) to apply for ortho/endo/etc to hedge your bets.
With the ADAT being introduced (which, according to some professors at my school, who helped design it - is ALOT harder) I think this will change the relative numbers of people applying to specialty programs. Specifically - now that you need to study for a specific exam (either the CBSE or the ADAT) I feel like less people will apply for specialty programs because they won't want to study for another exam
Apparently the main issue with the NBDE Board Exam was that it wasn't designed to select people for residencies. It was purely designed to see if you knew the basics of dentistry - meaning - it was FAR too easy. People were routinely scoring in the 90s, near 100 almost, on the exam. Thus lies the issue - It was not designed to "stratify" people - to separate the high performers from the low performers
If you look across the pond at the NBME Step 1 for medical students - It's out of what - 270? When was the last time you heard of someone even remotely getting near that score? The average is something like 215-220, and if you're not careful - it is very easy to fail. Getting above 235+ takes such an obscene amount of time spent studying + intelligence, the exam is truly able to stratify the wheat from the chaff, and see which high performers are deserving of that orthopedic/plastic surgery/whatever slot. The exam is so freaking difficult, if you ask any oral surgery residents who had to take it - many will say it was the most difficult exam in their lives (if they didn't already fail it)
The ADAT serves as a solution to this. The fact that the GRE was used by some programs is an embarrassment - There is no reason why ANYONE taking the ADAT should get near 100% of the questions correct. It will be much, much, MUCH more difficult - simulating the difficulty of Step 1 for medical students. Oral Surgery already has their own exam - the CBSE, based off Step 1 (with an average score of 55.6, a failing score for Step 1. Which is why most OMFS hopefuls's retake it 3-4 times to hit 70, a barely passing score of 180 when converted to Step 1 scoring)
Because of this, I feel like less people will be inclined to study for both exams, or even take them. Anyone have any thoughts?
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