I've been lurking here a while, here are my thoughts on my June Part 1 exam. I got a raw score in the mid-90s with a curve of 3 points....almost no curve at all! I was pretty fired up and scared but found the exam to be not so bad. Don't waste time memorizing lists upon lists of BS because that's not going to help. You seriously cannot expect to remember...you must gain experience and be able to accurately guess. It's about general knowledge and intuition and not rote memorization. You must be able to think your way through rather than just memorize stuff. There are repeats but no more than 10%. It's still worth doing all the released questions because it focuses your studying. The topics will be the same but the questions will be different.
-I didn't use the Dental Decks, I think they're terrible, insufficient, and give a very false sense of security.
-I used the Kaplan book mainly but it's only an OK source---the information is there but it's not real conducive to memory. You should read it twice but don't think you're done!
-Kaplan "Dent Essentials" is amazing, buy the Kaplan course or get your hands on a copy.
-NBDE First Aid is pretty average---lots of mistakes. But, when you're catching the mistakes and correcting them, that means you're making progress. It's best for anatomy only...some mistakes are pretty serious in this book and will screw you up.
-USMLE First Aid is a much better book than any other source, especially for physio and biochem. Know you physio and organ systems incredibly well.
-Dental anatomy is a joke, seriously, insultingly easy. Practically any source is OK for this---class notes or Kaplan should be fine.
-Approach studying with a curious mind to learn. Look up stuff on Wikipedia that you don't know. Make notebooks of stuff you need to clarify.
My #1 advice is to be curious. You cannot expect to memorize rote knowledge. You must gain a basic knowledge base and then be able to apply that to similar diseases and conditions---maybe some of which you've never heard of.
Good luck...this is a very fair and doable test unlike some of the naysayers seem to say on this forum.
Jack Fox
-I didn't use the Dental Decks, I think they're terrible, insufficient, and give a very false sense of security.
-I used the Kaplan book mainly but it's only an OK source---the information is there but it's not real conducive to memory. You should read it twice but don't think you're done!
-Kaplan "Dent Essentials" is amazing, buy the Kaplan course or get your hands on a copy.
-NBDE First Aid is pretty average---lots of mistakes. But, when you're catching the mistakes and correcting them, that means you're making progress. It's best for anatomy only...some mistakes are pretty serious in this book and will screw you up.
-USMLE First Aid is a much better book than any other source, especially for physio and biochem. Know you physio and organ systems incredibly well.
-Dental anatomy is a joke, seriously, insultingly easy. Practically any source is OK for this---class notes or Kaplan should be fine.
-Approach studying with a curious mind to learn. Look up stuff on Wikipedia that you don't know. Make notebooks of stuff you need to clarify.
My #1 advice is to be curious. You cannot expect to memorize rote knowledge. You must gain a basic knowledge base and then be able to apply that to similar diseases and conditions---maybe some of which you've never heard of.
Good luck...this is a very fair and doable test unlike some of the naysayers seem to say on this forum.
Jack Fox
