NBDE part 1 results and breakdown

[jigabodo]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to SDN. I couldn't have done it without all these useful information.

I took part 1 on 7/19/10. I studied a little bit over 2 months and put in about 5 hours each day. That's about 300+ hours total. The week before the exam I did nothing but old tests pretty much.

Raw scores:
- Anatomical science: 86
- Biochem/physio: 84
- Micro/path: 78
- DA/occlusion: 90

Composite score: 93

What I used to study:
- First aid for the NBDE, 1x
- Dental decks, 2x
- Old lecture notes/texbooks from various subjects
- Internet

How I studied:
I started out with the first aid book, which I thought wasn't particularly helpful. There are also some mistakes in it so beware. When I was done with first aid I moved on to the decks, and did it twice, as detailed as I can. Personally, I like decks a lot better because it explained things. I tried to go through everything as thorough as possible, and whenever I got confused about something, I would always refer it back to my old texts/notes/internet. It does take a while to do things this way though.

If I were to do it again (and thank God I don't need to), I would probably start with the decks first before going through first aid. First aid has a lot of facts without much explanations, which I thought I would have an easier time remembering had I gone through the decks beforehand, since the decks offer pretty good explanations.

The old/practice tests which I've gone through:
- Released exams: 1989, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, N and I-M . These are probably the most helpful.
- Crack the boards: 3 tests, and I get 89 to 91 on all the practice tests. These are a little bit harder than the actual NBDE.
- First aid Q and A book: 2 tests, with explanations at the back of the book. The explanations aren't always very clear though.

When I got my score back, I was actually pretty surprised. I did better than I thought, but I also know that path/micro was holding me back. That section has never been my strong point, but needless to say that I am pretty happy with my results.

I will stay around for the few days, if y'all have any questions, please feel free to ask.

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[DrReo]

Congratulations! Are you planning on applying to a residency? Also, after these few days are you retiring from SDN

Did you feel like there was a fair amount of oral histology/development on the exam?

I remember your help from back in the day and it was greatly appreciated. Good luck with everything.

 

[playa2652]

Was Crack the NBDE worth buying and do you think going over the past exams was good enough or if you should do more. I know you did great, congrats, but I guess how did you know how prepared you were?

 

[jigabodo]

Residency as in GPR or AEGD? If so, then no, I don't plan on doing those. There are some specialties that I maybe interested in though.

Honestly I didn't recall a whole lot of oral histology/development questions on my test. However, one of my friends did state that she got a case study full of developmental age related problems.

Hope it helps.

Congratulations! Are you planning on applying to a residency? Also, after these few days are you retiring from SDN

Did you feel like there was a fair amount of oral histology/development on the exam?

I remember your help from back in the day and it was greatly appreciated. Good luck with everything.

 

[jigabodo]

Was Crack the NBDE worth buying and do you think going over the past exams was good enough or if you should do more. I know you did great, congrats, but I guess how did you know how prepared you were?

Crack the NBDE was a decent investment. It wasn't great though. What it did was it sort of scared me a little bit as I was taking the exams, and kicked me into gear. If I had more times, I would definitely do more questions. I did a ton of questions and I think that helped me quite a bit.

Honestly I never felt 100% prepared. I went in with enough confidence knowing that I will do decent, but not a 93.

 

[emmy44]

Hi, Thanks so much for sharing. Would you mind sharing how well you scored (raw score?) on the asda exams? Did you find that the difficulty level of the real exam was on par with the asda exams? Thanks in advance!

 

[jigabodo]

Hi, Thanks so much for sharing. Would you mind sharing how well you scored (raw score?) on the asda exams? Did you find that the difficulty level of the real exam was on par with the asda exams? Thanks in advance!

My scores on the released exams ranged anywhere from 330 to 365. I did better on the exams released back in the 90's than the more recent ones.

I would say the actual test is probably a little bit harder than the released exams, but not by much. I scored maybe 5 to 10 points higher on average on the released exams compared to the real one.

 

[wdent]

Congrat jigabodo on ur score ...
Ur feedback is great...
Just ahve one quest. how did u find biocemstry ! twisted question !! and aproximately how many Quest. from ASDA !!

Good luck..lookin to hear from u..

 

[Kasper99]

hi, congratulations on your score. it is amazing!!!
i am taking my exam next week and i recently bought crack the nbde. i am scoring really well on it -- i did the first two exams and the second was much harder than the first. however, my scores on the released asda exams are awful - in 70s. i want to know what you found more reliable to predict your score for the actual exam. i cant tell if im doing well or not.

gl

 

[jigabodo]

Congrat jigabodo on ur score ...
Ur feedback is great...
Just ahve one quest. how did u find biocemstry ! twisted question !! and aproximately how many Quest. from ASDA !!

Good luck..lookin to hear from u..

Could you explain what you mean by twisted questions?

I didn't see much biochem repeats from the released exams though, if that is what you are asking. There are definitely some though, but not much. By doing the released questions and making sure you understand the concept, however, is very helpful in my opinion.

 

[jigabodo]

hi, congratulations on your score. it is amazing!!!
i am taking my exam next week and i recently bought crack the nbde. i am scoring really well on it -- i did the first two exams and the second was much harder than the first. however, my scores on the released asda exams are awful - in 70s. i want to know what you found more reliable to predict your score for the actual exam. i cant tell if im doing well or not.

gl

Thanks Kasper, I appreciate it.

If 70s are your sectional raw score on the released exams, I wouldn't sweat about it. If you are scoring 70s as a composite score, then that's something to worry about.

Crack the NBDE is a good measuring stick for the actual test, imo. It is slightly harder than the actual test. Most of my classmates that I talked to scored on average 1 to 2 points higher on the actual test compared to crack the NBDE, myself included.

My scores on the released exams correspond to my actual score pretty well. I got slightly below a 340 on the actual test, and my released exam scores ranged anywhere from 330 to 360ish. So that is a decent indicator as well.

 

[wdent]

Could you explain what you mean by twisted questions?

I didn't see much biochem repeats from the released exams though, if that is what you are asking. There are definitely some though, but not much. By doing the released questions and making sure you understand the concept, however, is very helpful in my opinion.

What i meant by twisted questions is that were the question s asked in an indirect way,, or staight forward !! let me put it this way : the quest. that we need to answer takes a lot of analysing , conclusion ,,or how!!

Thanks dude,,
u be good now and enjoy ur victory

 

[jigabodo]

What i meant by twisted questions is that were the question s asked in an indirect way,, or staight forward !! let me put it this way : the quest. that we need to answer takes a lot of analysing , conclusion ,,or how!!

Thanks dude,,
u be good now and enjoy ur victory

Most of the questions were pretty straight forward I believe. The ones that would be more "indirect" were probably the case study questions. A lot of those were either you know it, or you don't kind of questions.

Hope this helps.

 

[emmy44]

thanks so much for all the helpful advice. My exam is in exactly ONE week...is it worth it to buy crack the NBDE in your opinion? Will I learn anything new, or will it basically just gauge my score?

Also, just to make sure I'm not buying the wrong thing...you buy it online, correct? at cracktheNBDE.com?

Thank you!

 

[jigabodo]

thanks so much for all the helpful advice. My exam is in exactly ONE week...is it worth it to buy crack the NBDE in your opinion? Will I learn anything new, or will it basically just gauge my score?

Also, just to make sure I'm not buying the wrong thing...you buy it online, correct? at cracktheNBDE.com?

Thank you!

You will learn new things, as long as you get back to what you got wrong and look them up. To be honest though, I don't feel that Crack the NBDE was as helpful as the released exams.

It is a good gauge so you know roughly where you will stand on the actual test. If you aren't short on cash I would suggest you buy the standard edition and go from there.

And yes, cracktheNBDE.com is the correct site.

 

[OrangeStorm]

congrats on your accomplishment. What do you think about the microbio portion of the exam? Is the scope of microorganisms covered similar to the ones on the released exams? Thanks a million!

 

[nadiya]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to SDN. I couldn't have done it without all these useful information.

I took part 1 on 7/19/10. I studied a little bit over 2 months and put in about 5 hours each day. That's about 300+ hours total. The week before the exam I did nothing but old tests pretty much.

Raw scores:
- Anatomical science: 86
- Biochem/physio: 84
- Micro/path: 78
- DA/occlusion: 90

Composite score: 93

What I used to study:
- First aid for the NBDE, 1x
- Dental decks, 2x
- Old lecture notes/texbooks from various subjects
- Internet

How I studied:
I started out with the first aid book, which I thought wasn't particularly helpful. There are also some mistakes in it so beware. When I was done with first aid I moved on to the decks, and did it twice, as detailed as I can. Personally, I like decks a lot better because it explained things. I tried to go through everything as thorough as possible, and whenever I got confused about something, I would always refer it back to my old texts/notes/internet. It does take a while to do things this way though.

If I were to do it again (and thank God I don't need to), I would probably start with the decks first before going through first aid. First aid has a lot of facts without much explanations, which I thought I would have an easier time remembering had I gone through the decks beforehand, since the decks offer pretty good explanations.

The old/practice tests which I've gone through:
- Released exams: 1989, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, N and I-M . These are probably the most helpful.
- Crack the boards: 3 tests, and I get 89 to 91 on all the practice tests. These are a little bit harder than the actual NBDE.
- First aid Q and A book: 2 tests, with explanations at the back of the book. The explanations aren't always very clear though.

When I got my score back, I was actually pretty surprised. I did better than I thought, but I also know that path/micro was holding me back. That section has never been my strong point, but needless to say that I am pretty happy with my results.

I will stay around for the few days, if y'all have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Hi
Congratulations for ur result...
m an intern jus completing my BDS in sept 2010..I need to give NBDe exam..so can you please suggest me what should i study n how can i make it...??Do u still have the study materials which u had read??
I wil be thankful 2 u if u help me in this...

 

[jigabodo]

congrats on your accomplishment. What do you think about the microbio portion of the exam? Is the scope of microorganisms covered similar to the ones on the released exams? Thanks a million!

It's similar, but a little bit more detailed. If you know the micro section on the decks you should be more than OK.

 

[jigabodo]

Hi
Congratulations for ur result...
m an intern jus completing my BDS in sept 2010..I need to give NBDe exam..so can you please suggest me what should i study n how can i make it...??Do u still have the study materials which u had read??
I wil be thankful 2 u if u help me in this...

Here are a list of the material that me and my classmates used, I mainly focused on the decks/first aid though.

- Dental decks
- Dental board busters
- Kaplan dentessentials
- First aid for the NBDE
- Mosby

Then, when you think you are ready, go ahead and do some old exams so you know what other aspects you need to focus on.

Good luck!

 

[shafaq nomani]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to SDN. I couldn't have done it without all these useful information.

I took part 1 on 7/19/10. I studied a little bit over 2 months and put in about 5 hours each day. That's about 300+ hours total. The week before the exam I did nothing but old tests pretty much.

Raw scores:
- Anatomical science: 86
- Biochem/physio: 84
- Micro/path: 78
- DA/occlusion: 90

Composite score: 93

What I used to study:
- First aid for the NBDE, 1x
- Dental decks, 2x
- Old lecture notes/texbooks from various subjects
- Internet

How I studied:
I started out with the first aid book, which I thought wasn't particularly helpful. There are also some mistakes in it so beware. When I was done with first aid I moved on to the decks, and did it twice, as detailed as I can. Personally, I like decks a lot better because it explained things. I tried to go through everything as thorough as possible, and whenever I got confused about something, I would always refer it back to my old texts/notes/internet. It does take a while to do things this way though.

If I were to do it again (and thank God I don't need to), I would probably start with the decks first before going through first aid. First aid has a lot of facts without much explanations, which I thought I would have an easier time remembering had I gone through the decks beforehand, since the decks offer pretty good explanations.

The old/practice tests which I've gone through:
- Released exams: 1989, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, N and I-M . These are probably the most helpful.
- Crack the boards: 3 tests, and I get 89 to 91 on all the practice tests. These are a little bit harder than the actual NBDE.
- First aid Q and A book: 2 tests, with explanations at the back of the book. The explanations aren't always very clear though.

When I got my score back, I was actually pretty surprised. I did better than I thought, but I also know that path/micro was holding me back. That section has never been my strong point, but needless to say that I am pretty happy with my results.WHAT IS FIRST AID Q N A

I will stay around for the few days, if y'all have any questions, please feel free to ask.

hi what is crack the board?What is first aid q and a and how did u get it?

 

[jigabodo]

hi what is crack the board?What is first aid q and a and how did u get it?

Crack the NBDE: http://www.crackthenbde.com/
First aid Q and A: http://www.amazon.com/First-Aid-NBDE-Part-Pt/dp/007150866X

 

[shafaq nomani]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to SDN. I couldn't have done it without all these useful information.

I took part 1 on 7/19/10. I studied a little bit over 2 months and put in about 5 hours each day. That's about 300+ hours total. The week before the exam I did nothing but old tests pretty much.

Raw scores:
- Anatomical science: 86
- Biochem/physio: 84
- Micro/path: 78
- DA/occlusion: 90

Composite score: 93

What I used to study:
- First aid for the NBDE, 1x
- Dental decks, 2x
- Old lecture notes/texbooks from various subjects
- Internet

How I studied:
I started out with the first aid book, which I thought wasn't particularly helpful. There are also some mistakes in it so beware. When I was done with first aid I moved on to the decks, and did it twice, as detailed as I can. Personally, I like decks a lot better because it explained things. I tried to go through everything as thorough as possible, and whenever I got confused about something, I would always refer it back to my old texts/notes/internet. It does take a while to do things this way though.

If I were to do it again (and thank God I don't need to), I would probably start with the decks first before going through first aid. First aid has a lot of facts without much explanations, which I thought I would have an easier time remembering had I gone through the decks beforehand, since the decks offer pretty good explanations.

The old/practice tests which I've gone through:
- Released exams: 1989, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, N and I-M . These are probably the most helpful.
- Crack the boards: 3 tests, and I get 89 to 91 on all the practice tests. These are a little bit harder than the actual NBDE.
- First aid Q and A book: 2 tests, with explanations at the back of the book. The explanations aren't always very clear though.

When I got my score back, I was actually pretty surprised. I did better than I thought, but I also know that path/micro was holding me back. That section has never been my strong point, but needless to say that I am pretty happy with my results.

I will stay around for the few days, if y'all have any questions, please feel free to ask.

what is I- M and N?

 

[jigabodo]

what is I- M and N?

ASDA released exams. N series is the most recent one, I believe. I stand corrected.

 

[bratdoc]

Yes that is true!

 

[vitapex]

ASDA released exams. N series is the most recent one, I believe. I stand corrected.

Where can I buy I-M and N? Thanks.

 

[Cindrella]

Congrats on your accomplishment.. do you think Mosby and first aid Q and A are a must ?! My exam is in a few days time and i haven't gone through either of those books ... input please

 

[DrReo]

How much would you focus on below the chest for anatomy?

Did you feel that the decks were sufficient for dental anatomy/occlusion?

 

[cons]

First of all, I just want to say thanks to SDN. I couldn't have done it without all these useful information.

I took part 1 on 7/19/10. I studied a little bit over 2 months and put in about 5 hours each day. That's about 300+ hours total. The week before the exam I did nothing but old tests pretty much.

Raw scores:
- Anatomical science: 86
- Biochem/physio: 84
- Micro/path: 78
- DA/occlusion: 90

Composite score: 93

What I used to study:
- First aid for the NBDE, 1x
- Dental decks, 2x
- Old lecture notes/texbooks from various subjects
- Internet

How I studied:
I started out with the first aid book, which I thought wasn't particularly helpful. There are also some mistakes in it so beware. When I was done with first aid I moved on to the decks, and did it twice, as detailed as I can. Personally, I like decks a lot better because it explained things. I tried to go through everything as thorough as possible, and whenever I got confused about something, I would always refer it back to my old texts/notes/internet. It does take a while to do things this way though.

If I were to do it again (and thank God I don't need to), I would probably start with the decks first before going through first aid. First aid has a lot of facts without much explanations, which I thought I would have an easier time remembering had I gone through the decks beforehand, since the decks offer pretty good explanations.

The old/practice tests which I've gone through:
- Released exams: 1989, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, N and I-M . These are probably the most helpful.
- Crack the boards: 3 tests, and I get 89 to 91 on all the practice tests. These are a little bit harder than the actual NBDE.
- First aid Q and A book: 2 tests, with explanations at the back of the book. The explanations aren't always very clear though.

When I got my score back, I was actually pretty surprised. I did better than I thought, but I also know that path/micro was holding me back. That section has never been my strong point, but needless to say that I am pretty happy with my results.

I will stay around for the few days, if y'all have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Hi congrats,Iam giving my exam in sep is it necessary to go through first aid and dentessentials and let me know if u have them I want to buy them.

 

[rightangle]

hey guys,

i am doing the I-M exam and I am finding it pretty easy and straighforward (170/200). Is the real exam this easy?

 

[jigabodo]

Congrats on your accomplishment.. do you think Mosby and first aid Q and A are a must ?! My exam is in a few days time and i haven't gone through either of those books ... input please

Sorry Cindrella, as this is probably too late.

I didn't use Mosby and I did fine, so I wouldn't say it's an absolute must. I thought First aid O and A was decent. If you have extra money I would definitely invest in that.

 

[jigabodo]

How much would you focus on below the chest for anatomy?

Did you feel that the decks were sufficient for dental anatomy/occlusion?

1. Not much, maybe 3 questions or so.

2. Decks alone were not enough, in my opinion. It would be best to use other resources. You can google a DA study guide for part 1 that USC compiled. I thought that was pretty helpful. It's floating somewhere on the internet I am sure.

 

[jigabodo]

Hi congrats,Iam giving my exam in sep is it necessary to go through first aid and dentessentials and let me know if u have them I want to buy them.

I did not use dentessentials, but my first aid is still available. PM me if you still want it.

 

[jigabodo]

hey guys,

i am doing the I-M exam and I am finding it pretty easy and straighforward (170/200). Is the real exam this easy?

It depends, but I felt that the real exam is harder than the released ones.

 

[MOALI]

CONGRATULATION ... U ARE A great man god bless u ..

VERY NICE INF.
am egyption and i wanna go for the NBDE 1 after 4 monthes and i have decks, 1st aid and released exams ... so should i do more ???
and what is the key for getting high score in ur opinon ( more hours of studying ,,, resleased exams,,, more sources ?? )

AND SHOULD I BE WORRIED ABOUT strating in NBDE 1 ?

 

[tifaaaaaaa]

hello Jigabodo ,
i'm an egyptian fresh graduate dentist and i 'm planning to take my NBDE 1 exam,
would plz recommend trusted study materials that i can depend on...
i have noticed that the decks+ ASDA released exams are the most popular books...but i don't know from where to order these online...
i'm totally lost...

 

[anniemirza]

....

 

[anniemirza]

hello Jigabodo ,
i'm an egyptian fresh graduate dentist and i 'm planning to take my NBDE 1 exam,
would plz recommend trusted study materials that i can depend on...
i have noticed that the decks+ ASDA released exams are the most popular books...but i don't know from where to order these online...
i'm totally lost...

U can order a copy online of decks and kap.@
www.kaptest.com/nbde OR www.dentaldecks.com

 

[tinman831]

check out this "nbde forum" ....its all available for free.decks,kaplan,asda evrything.otherwise u can order a copy online of decks and kap.

Actually it is NOT free. Only materials which break copyright laws are free for download, yet some shady members ere still try to sell those same "free" materials. The NBDE forum is also not the place to solicit review materials. You're supposed to do that in the classifieds section.

 

[anniemirza]

Actually it is NOT free. Only materials which break copyright laws are free for download, yet some shady members ere still try to sell those same "free" materials. The NBDE forum is also not the place to solicit review materials. You're supposed to do that in the classifieds section.

No offence....I was just trying to help him because not evryone of us can afford big bucks!Anyways I will edit it ....

 

[lhez]

Congratulations on your high score. =) Was the Dental Board BUster helpful?

 

[zizo2005]

Congratulation,

please i want to ask you if you have the released exams or not??

thanks allot.

 

[dr_raz]

NDBE 1 study materials poll

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/best-ndbe-1-study-material-poll.1194755/