Mock clinical-based NBDE I on Monday

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we're taking it on the 17th..yeah...i wonder if everyone gets this chance or just certain schools?...i know the head of our restorative dept helps write questions for the dental anatomy section of the NDBE and said that the dental decks have a lot of errors in that section....but that's just according to him...=oP...
 
Yeah..couple of my classmates are taking it also. I believe this beta testing is offered to all dental schools. Also, I've heard that only like 40% is case-based and the rest is still traditional format. Again, not 100% sure, but that's the rumor from administration here at Nova.

😕
 
80% normal regurgetation (sp?) quesions and 20% new case based questions...according to a memo that we got...and we'll be the last to take it on paper....does anyone know how the curve for the computer version will work?
 
HI, I'm taking the computerized NBDE part I in mid August. Will there be any cases on this, or will it all be regurgitation stuff? You guys have me scared will all this case based stuff.
 
Edit: we're taking it on Monday the 14th, not the 7th as my message may have alluded to.

And yeah, it is only 20% case-based. I think it's a great opportunity to prepare for the real exam, and taking this less than 30 days before the real exam will hopefully help me get my stamina up.
 
We at UNLV just found out we are taking it too, the same week as Zona. We are not sure what the exact date is because they are trying to make a hole in our schedule for it now.
 
Well, I just got home from taking the NBDE I Pilot exam. It was MUCH more difficult than I expected, and my expectations came largely from taking the released exams.

The exam booklet says that roughly a 60% would equate to a passing (NBDE score of 75) grade. After taking the exam I'm inclined to NOT believe that, and to think that a passing grade would be more in the 50% range.

The case-based questions, or testlets, were relatively easy, especially when compared to the regular questions. Those who are taking the case-based format might actually have it easier, in my opinion. Many of the questions were common-sense questions and had NOTHING to do with the clinical passage that was presented. Also, none of the clinical passages had any specific lab values, blood pressures, or anything of that nature in them. I'd say I could answer 7 out of the 10 items without even referring to the passage (each passage had 10 or so questions that went with it).

The positive is that we got to keep the question booklet along with our scores and an answer sheet. No explanations were provided.

The other lame thing is that the question subjects were all grouped together. I had hopes of using this mock-board to see where my weaknesses were, but the questions went from Physiology to Dental Anatomy to Anatomy to Physiology to Occlusion to Micro to Physiology to Path, etc., so I can't really say that I did better or worse in any given "section".

I've learned a couple of things: 1) I've learned a lot since starting dental school and a lot since starting my board study. 2) I have tons to still learn if I want to do well on the Boards.
 
hey gavinc I was wondering if you could send a fellow class of 2006 dental student a scanned copy of the test booklet you got to keep. do you have the answers to them? thanks.


gatordmd
UFCD 2006
 
So Gavin what you mean is that while the case-based part was ok the regular questions were the tougher of the two?Am I getting you right?
 
Gator, I'll have to see if there is a way I can get it to you.

gpg, Yes, the stand-alone questions were the more difficult of the two different types. The passage clinical-based questions weren't very hard (in general) and were 1-2x easier than the regular questions.

UNLV, I don't know any averages or highs. As you finish the exam, the proctor gives you an answer key and sends you on your way. It's up to you to score your exam. The school gets a class average, but that is it. The ADA however WILL be comparing your Pilot exam scores with the scores you get on the real exam in July.

I do know that I scored better than a couple other of my classmates, simply because we were all grading ours at the same time. I was one of the first 5-6 people finished, so I graded mine and then left to go home. I'll try to post averages or highs if/when I hear of them.
 
Col Sanders, keep us updated with your experience.

I've received so many PMs that I thought I'd clarify a few things. First, the Pilot exam was NOT in sections, but the real NBDE is still in sections. Even if the ADA adds clinical-based passages to the exam, it will STILL be in sections that we are familiar with (Micro/Path, Anatomy, Physiology/Biochem, and Dental Anatomy).

My hunch is that they felt they could get more accurate or more valid statistics on our test-taking abilities by clumping all types of questions together.
 
I am taking it tomorrow. Does it take all day to do the exam? Also can you work at your own pace or are the sections timed like the real board exam?
Will let everyone know what I do on it!
 
i took the test yesterday with gavin. we took one section at 8:30 and one at 1:00 both were 3 1/2 hours to answer 200 questions. time wasn't much of an issue, many were done with over an hour to spare. i agree with gavin, that this test was harder than the released exams. i scored 301/400 ~75%.
 
we take ours thursday...woo hoo!...3.5 hours for 200 questions doesn't seem that bad...since most of our tests are 50 questions and i usually finish in about 30 minutes or so...although i am worried about the fatigue factor...and just wanting to give up on questions toward the end....how have you guys been training for that?
 
I just got finished with it and it really does suck. I think it was one huge waste of time. I did horrible, at 252 out of 400, at 63%. Again it sucked! I don't think its anything like to boards. The questions are all mixed up, instead of having them in categories. Also the passage related questions are not even related to the passages. :meanie:
 
c132, I still think that your 63% is a decent score.

When I go back and read the questions with the answers, I'm shocked at some of the ones I missed. Part of my problem it seems is that I don't take enough time reading the stem. There were multiple gimme questions that I completely botched and shouldn't have.

How was your timing?
 
Just got done with the first section of the pilot exam. Pretty much followed with what everyone esle said. I thought it sucked, but then so did everyone else that I talked to. The main problem I found was trying to get it all straight in my head. When you bounce between four different sections at once, your mind has to readjust every 30 seconds. I found myself having to read questions three different times before I could move on to the answers. Hope the real exam isn't this bad.



I'll probably be making copies, if you know what I mean, let me know if anyones interested.

Anyone bought the cd for the computerized exam and know whether its worth getting.
 
that test was a hard mother%*$*%...but i guess considering i still haven't studied much b/c of seeing patients and still having classes, i think i'm okay still...but time is running out. 😱 sigh...
 
MY timing was great. It took about 2 hours for 200 questions. I rushed through a lot of them, like you and when I went back and looked I was like what in the HECK was I thinking. I dunno if I was nervous or what the deal was. I think the real one will be easier since the sections will not be mixed up like that! A BUNCH of my classmated scored in the mid 40% which made me feel a little better 😀
 
i got a 52%... 😎 that's okay...at least i know where my weaknesses are now and have 3 weeks to fix them!...good luck studying everybody!!!
 
c132 said:
A BUNCH of my classmated scored in the mid 40% which made me feel a little better 😀
Click to expand...

Yeah, the bulk of my classmates seemed to score in the 35-45% range, so at least I know I'm ahead of many of them (at least on that stupid pilot exam).
 
cusp of carabelli said:
i got a 52%... 😎 that's okay...at least i know where my weaknesses are now and have 3 weeks to fix them!...good luck studying everybody!!!
Click to expand...

But seriously, I don't know if one can really know where their weaknesses are after that Pilot exam. I have two thoughts on the subject:

1) We are all screwed because Part I has gotten extremely more difficult over the years. I mean, the 1998 released exam really pales in comparison to that Pilot exam.

or

2) They made the Pilot exam trickier on purpose because it somehow gave them better data (or more valid data) for their tracking purposes. For example, making the test easy would result in most people getting great scores, which wouldn't carry as much weight when tracking our real NBDE scores.

I hope it is the latter. 😱
 
yeah...i agree...i'm hoping it's like the kaplan exams for the DAT where they make it super hard to make you think you need to start studying (and also to sell their product i'm sure...) and then the real thing is super easy compared to this pilot exam. The way i found out which sections i need to work on is i just went through each of my wrong answers and marked the category that it belonged to and then added up the total for each category. =oP I'm not sure how they can do those clinic based questions on the real exam though b/c they combine all the different subjects in one passage. are they gonna have the passages on a separate piece of paper and then say refer to passage one to answer ?'s 110-121...for each section? =oP I also thought there were way too many ?'s/passage too. I never knew they could ask that many dental questions from a 4 line case presentation. 🙁
 
Lets all hope that we pass so we don't have to fool with those passages next time around!!!! Those were really pointless. They were like 2 sentences long and the ?'s didn't even come from them. I dunno if anyone else is like me, but I get into a zone like gross anatomy and do better if all 100 ?'s were toward gross and histo! OH well. I will know on JULY 9th. Thats when I signed up for mine on computer!!!!!! I figured about 40 people will be calling me over the weekend to get pointers after I take it!!!!
 
I called up the JCNDB to ak about the format for the Computerised exam. The lady very clearly told me that the format is EXACTLY the same as the written.......so Anat and Physio-Biochem in the morn and Path-Micro and DAO in the afternoon.....no case based ques......so all of u can relax.....all the best....am taking it on 13th July....will inform all of u how it goes!
 
Finished it yesterday and scored a 67%, which is lower than I had wanted to score. Its a good thing we have 3 weeks left. I bettter get crackin with the studying. I too made a bunch of stupid mistakes that I wont make again. 60%(maybe 55-60) seems about right for passing, especially when you add in dental anatomy to the comprehensive exam. 48-52% for biochem, anatomy, micro, and 75+% for dental anatomy and average them all out then its just below 60% for the whole thing when its put together.
 
67% on that subject material isn't bad at all.

By the way, was it just me or did nearly all of the DA questions seem to refer to primary teeth (okay, not all of them, but a MUCH higher percentage than any released exam)?
 
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