- Joined
- Sep 1, 2006
- Messages
- 66
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Right. I just took my part 1. Heres my entire breakdown:
I studied for 4 months. Never more than 6 hours a day. Maybe I did 6 hours+ in the last 2 weeks. Yes, i still went out with my friends and watched TV. I am a Graduated Dentist, so it has been 5 years since I studied Biochem, Physio, Anatomy etc. My current knowledge is more clinical based.
I registered with the kaplan course (so i had the book) and I got the Dental decks. The Kaplan course includes the 5 past test papers. I also had the 2004 pilot.
In my opinion you need both the decks, past papers and Kaplan book for REFERENCE ONLY. Theres no way you can read that entire book and retain all of it. Its only good for expanded knowledge on decks and concepts you don't really know. The decks are ESSENTIAL and past papers are ESSENTIAL to test your knowledge.
Let me first start by saying that it was very challenging. When I first went through the first 200 questions I probably was unsure about 60 questions (I highlighted them for later). Right away I can say that 60% of the questions are pretty easy if you did the decks and past papers.
30% of the questions are hard, tricky and require lots of lateral thinking. You really need to put your concepts together to answer them. I remember one questions was "What does it mean when ph = pka?" Its pretty simple, but the answers were hard. It was options like: The acid is fully dissociated, or the base is completely titrated etc. You essentially know the concepts, but the options they give are pretty tough making you even more confused.
10% are impossible. Questions like "What is the Dentist most concerned about if a patient had his spinal cord cut below T4?" or "What is least likely to cause ovarian cancer - early sex, sex with a circumsized partner, etc" or "Ehler Danlos causes all except - skin thats easily stretchable, joints that easily dislocate, pigmentation in the eyes" etc. I probably couldn't answer these questions if I had the Kaplan book in front of me! The detail is just ridiculous! Theres nothing you can do except take the pain!
If i were to rank the sections in difficultly I would say Biochem was the hardest, followed by Dental Anatomy, Anatomy and Pathology. But thats just my opinion. It all depends how you study and what are your strengths.
Dental Anatomy, I though was very difficult. Tons of questions that you won't find in any textbook. Stuff like "what is the smallest cusp on a primary first lower molar?" or "what does the glenoid fossa influence on the molars- central fossa, buccal and lingual cusps, mesial and distal cusps" etc. There were tons of questions on TMJ ligaments, movements and anatomy so know that well. I guess the big mistake is to underestimate Dental Anatomy. You really gotta know the most smallest detail of every single tooth if you wanna answer these questions. They are VERY detailed and Very hard to find in text books.
Thats about all. It's really pretty hard to tell how I did. All I can say is, I FOR SURE got a least 10-15 wrong in each section. Just cause I guessed or I didn't know the answer. Absolutely nothing I can do about it now. And thats not counting the ones I probably got confused on and wrote the wrong answer down. Take that as you will. Some people think thats really good, but others say "if you think you got 15 wrong you probably got 30 wrong." I have no clue. All i can do is wait.
Thats all my humble advise. I hope I haven't scared anyone. And please, don't private message me asking for more questions. I really don't remember. Thanks.
I studied for 4 months. Never more than 6 hours a day. Maybe I did 6 hours+ in the last 2 weeks. Yes, i still went out with my friends and watched TV. I am a Graduated Dentist, so it has been 5 years since I studied Biochem, Physio, Anatomy etc. My current knowledge is more clinical based.
I registered with the kaplan course (so i had the book) and I got the Dental decks. The Kaplan course includes the 5 past test papers. I also had the 2004 pilot.
In my opinion you need both the decks, past papers and Kaplan book for REFERENCE ONLY. Theres no way you can read that entire book and retain all of it. Its only good for expanded knowledge on decks and concepts you don't really know. The decks are ESSENTIAL and past papers are ESSENTIAL to test your knowledge.
Let me first start by saying that it was very challenging. When I first went through the first 200 questions I probably was unsure about 60 questions (I highlighted them for later). Right away I can say that 60% of the questions are pretty easy if you did the decks and past papers.
30% of the questions are hard, tricky and require lots of lateral thinking. You really need to put your concepts together to answer them. I remember one questions was "What does it mean when ph = pka?" Its pretty simple, but the answers were hard. It was options like: The acid is fully dissociated, or the base is completely titrated etc. You essentially know the concepts, but the options they give are pretty tough making you even more confused.
10% are impossible. Questions like "What is the Dentist most concerned about if a patient had his spinal cord cut below T4?" or "What is least likely to cause ovarian cancer - early sex, sex with a circumsized partner, etc" or "Ehler Danlos causes all except - skin thats easily stretchable, joints that easily dislocate, pigmentation in the eyes" etc. I probably couldn't answer these questions if I had the Kaplan book in front of me! The detail is just ridiculous! Theres nothing you can do except take the pain!
If i were to rank the sections in difficultly I would say Biochem was the hardest, followed by Dental Anatomy, Anatomy and Pathology. But thats just my opinion. It all depends how you study and what are your strengths.
Dental Anatomy, I though was very difficult. Tons of questions that you won't find in any textbook. Stuff like "what is the smallest cusp on a primary first lower molar?" or "what does the glenoid fossa influence on the molars- central fossa, buccal and lingual cusps, mesial and distal cusps" etc. There were tons of questions on TMJ ligaments, movements and anatomy so know that well. I guess the big mistake is to underestimate Dental Anatomy. You really gotta know the most smallest detail of every single tooth if you wanna answer these questions. They are VERY detailed and Very hard to find in text books.
Thats about all. It's really pretty hard to tell how I did. All I can say is, I FOR SURE got a least 10-15 wrong in each section. Just cause I guessed or I didn't know the answer. Absolutely nothing I can do about it now. And thats not counting the ones I probably got confused on and wrote the wrong answer down. Take that as you will. Some people think thats really good, but others say "if you think you got 15 wrong you probably got 30 wrong." I have no clue. All i can do is wait.
Thats all my humble advise. I hope I haven't scared anyone. And please, don't private message me asking for more questions. I really don't remember. Thanks.
