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- Feb 3, 2002
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Anyone else take the NBDE I today? What did you guys think? It was exhausting. There were two three and one half hours sessions to do 200 questions in each session. We had a half hour lunch break in between.
Each section had 100 multiple choice questions. The instructions indicated that upto 15% of the questions could be experimental, meaning that it doesn't matter if you get them right or not. But they don't indicate which 15% is experimental, so you have to attempt them all. The exam began with Anatomical Sciences which wasn't too bad. I recognized a bunch of stuff from the released exams or the decks. Most of my classmates and I found it manageable. However, the next section was Biochem-Physio which was unanimously HARD! No idea where the questions were from.
After lunch was Micro-Path. I didn't think this was as bad as Biochem-Physio, but many of my classmates said it was difficult. I can see why, a number of the items they tested weren't really covered on the Dental Decks or old exams. Maybe those will be experimental. I had read the Micro & Path sections in First Aid for the USMLE (the book med students swear by for their boards) and found it to be helpful. There were at least 6 or 7 questions I knew from reading First Aid and not from the decks or old exams. However, I'll know for sure when scores come. The last section was Dental Anatomy. This section was not as difficult, just very tiring. There was a lot of thinking involved in this section and all I wanted to do was finish. At times I felt like I was taking the PAT - the part where you have to rotate the objects to fit them into the holes. Questions with tooth drawings require some mental rotation like the PAT.
Now summer can finally start! All four and a half weeks of it! Scores will be mailed in 6 to 8 weeks, by then school will have started again...
Each section had 100 multiple choice questions. The instructions indicated that upto 15% of the questions could be experimental, meaning that it doesn't matter if you get them right or not. But they don't indicate which 15% is experimental, so you have to attempt them all. The exam began with Anatomical Sciences which wasn't too bad. I recognized a bunch of stuff from the released exams or the decks. Most of my classmates and I found it manageable. However, the next section was Biochem-Physio which was unanimously HARD! No idea where the questions were from.
After lunch was Micro-Path. I didn't think this was as bad as Biochem-Physio, but many of my classmates said it was difficult. I can see why, a number of the items they tested weren't really covered on the Dental Decks or old exams. Maybe those will be experimental. I had read the Micro & Path sections in First Aid for the USMLE (the book med students swear by for their boards) and found it to be helpful. There were at least 6 or 7 questions I knew from reading First Aid and not from the decks or old exams. However, I'll know for sure when scores come. The last section was Dental Anatomy. This section was not as difficult, just very tiring. There was a lot of thinking involved in this section and all I wanted to do was finish. At times I felt like I was taking the PAT - the part where you have to rotate the objects to fit them into the holes. Questions with tooth drawings require some mental rotation like the PAT.
Now summer can finally start! All four and a half weeks of it! Scores will be mailed in 6 to 8 weeks, by then school will have started again...