Coming out today? Kinda nervousssss. This test was brutal!
NBME CBSE Scores July 2016
- Thread starter Fisher123
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It was my first attempt. To be honest it was really a blur. I felt like I didn't have time to think that much, like most of the questions were kind of just snap association but maybe that's just me. Many fewer multi step problem solving type questions compared to uworld I thought. If I were to study for a second attempt I would focus the bulk of my efforts on rote memorization of all of pharm and micro.
I got the easiest question wrong that I'm still salty about. It was a biochem question that I could have answered in eighth grade, but I associated the question with a similar but obscure answer that was from u world and chose the wrong one.
I was more surprised that the format changed. Did everyone else get a break too?
I know which one you're talking about... I even remember which possible uworld question screwed you over. DNA is like so middle school
That's how it usually is. Even uworld tends to do that. I just read the answer choices first and then the last sentence. Try that out for next time.
There were a lot of questions that wanted straight up MOA of drugs. Hope you got the ointment question right
I know which one you're talking about... I even remember which possible uworld question screwed you over. DNA is like so middle school
That's how it usually is. Even uworld tends to do that. I just read the answer choices first and then the last sentence. Try that out for next time.
There were a lot of questions that wanted straight up MOA of drugs. Hope you got the ointment question right
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Has anyone got their results yet?
Nope. Any idea what time they're supposed to come out?
nooooooi heard it came out on tuesday once
My friend said he got his score on a Monday due to it being some sort of Jewish holiday on the testing Saturday (could have been weather problems too). Those who didn't take it on that Saturday had to take it on the following Monday. I just checked and there were no major religious holidays this time around and everyone had awesome weather. No hurricanes, snowouts/rainouts, typhoons, sandstorms, blizzard or earthquakes.
I misspoke. I meant to say it was some sort of Persian holiday. There were times when it came out Thursday or Friday so I don't think Jewish test takers used their sabbath as an excuse.
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Sabbath card?
I still don't have anything
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same, nothing
That's an awesome score!it's out! i got a 74
I would most likely retake if I had the time and wanted to do a 6 year program. For a 4 year, I think you are definitely set.
For programs requesting an "official score report" sent directly to them, is it just a printed PDF copy of our score report, or is there an actual website where we have to pay and submit a request for an official score report?
For those who are interested, my CBSE breakdown.
CBSE Score: 86 on 2nd attempt (68 on first)
Preparation time: Approximately 3 months for first attempt and two months on second attempt
Resources:
1) UWORLD (most important). I finished all questions my first attempt and then did them all again on my second attempt. This takes A LOT of time but it is the most high yield and important study tool. Read every explanation for every question. I ended with a 65% cumulative score on my second attempt. I did all questions under tutor/untimed. I did not use UWORLD to simulate the exam, but rather solely as a study tool.
2) SketchyMicro and SketchyPharm. It's like $160. I would have paid $1000. SO amazing and great especially if you are a visual learner. They have some free videos to check out if you want to see if you like the style. This is the Pathoma of micro and pharm.
3) Pathoma. I went through all videos my first attempt. During my second study attempt I only watched the sections I felt like I needed to. First time at normal speed, second time at 1.7x. Very high yield pathology concepts.
4) First Aid for USMLE. I read it a few times the first time I took the exam. I barely touched it the second time except for the high yield principles in the back. Most people swear by it, but I felt it was just so much information. You should still read it at least once though.
5) DON'T FORGET THE EASY STUFF! The first time I took the exam I totally neglected all of the stupid formulas that you will need to know to calculate things like specificity, sensitivity, odds ratio, relative risk, etc. The second time, I memorized them right before the exam and immediately wrote them all down on my marker board that they give you. This guaranteed got me like 10 questions correct that I otherwise would have gotten wrong. I also put down some diseases that I always struggled remembering...such as glycogen storage diseases and the lysozomal storage diseases.
I go to a dental school that does not prepare one very well in the basic sciences so I mostly had to learn everything from the bottom up. We also are not given any dedicated study time in any way, shape or form. The fact that I was able to do well is not a testament to how smart I am but rather the fact that I had to put in 5 months of studying all together to do well. I felt pretty good when I started studying the second time around since I had done a ton already. The major difference is I added Sketchy to my study routine. Having already gone through UWORLD and Pathoma already, I was able to really learn the nitty gritty details that I had missed on the previous exam.
In the end, you just need to put in the time (a lot of time) and focus on getting through UFAP+sketchy. I think this is all that is necessary to kill the exam. If you don't score as well on you first attempt, that is ok because it really gives you a good foundation to improve upon. I am more than happy to field any questions from those who are interested.
Hope this helps.
CBSE Score: 86 on 2nd attempt (68 on first)
Preparation time: Approximately 3 months for first attempt and two months on second attempt
Resources:
1) UWORLD (most important). I finished all questions my first attempt and then did them all again on my second attempt. This takes A LOT of time but it is the most high yield and important study tool. Read every explanation for every question. I ended with a 65% cumulative score on my second attempt. I did all questions under tutor/untimed. I did not use UWORLD to simulate the exam, but rather solely as a study tool.
2) SketchyMicro and SketchyPharm. It's like $160. I would have paid $1000. SO amazing and great especially if you are a visual learner. They have some free videos to check out if you want to see if you like the style. This is the Pathoma of micro and pharm.
3) Pathoma. I went through all videos my first attempt. During my second study attempt I only watched the sections I felt like I needed to. First time at normal speed, second time at 1.7x. Very high yield pathology concepts.
4) First Aid for USMLE. I read it a few times the first time I took the exam. I barely touched it the second time except for the high yield principles in the back. Most people swear by it, but I felt it was just so much information. You should still read it at least once though.
5) DON'T FORGET THE EASY STUFF! The first time I took the exam I totally neglected all of the stupid formulas that you will need to know to calculate things like specificity, sensitivity, odds ratio, relative risk, etc. The second time, I memorized them right before the exam and immediately wrote them all down on my marker board that they give you. This guaranteed got me like 10 questions correct that I otherwise would have gotten wrong. I also put down some diseases that I always struggled remembering...such as glycogen storage diseases and the lysozomal storage diseases.
I go to a dental school that does not prepare one very well in the basic sciences so I mostly had to learn everything from the bottom up. We also are not given any dedicated study time in any way, shape or form. The fact that I was able to do well is not a testament to how smart I am but rather the fact that I had to put in 5 months of studying all together to do well. I felt pretty good when I started studying the second time around since I had done a ton already. The major difference is I added Sketchy to my study routine. Having already gone through UWORLD and Pathoma already, I was able to really learn the nitty gritty details that I had missed on the previous exam.
In the end, you just need to put in the time (a lot of time) and focus on getting through UFAP+sketchy. I think this is all that is necessary to kill the exam. If you don't score as well on you first attempt, that is ok because it really gives you a good foundation to improve upon. I am more than happy to field any questions from those who are interested.
Hope this helps.
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How many hours a day was that?
Thanks
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Highly doubt that. If you look @alexeb91 post, he or she clearly put in over 300 hrs of work to get that score.
No everybody has that kinda work ethic.
During the week it was maybe 3-4 hours including studying over lunch and the evenings. I have 100% clinic attendance requirements so I couldn't study from 9-12 and 2-5. Plus I had all the fun lab work that goes along with clinic. The weekends I would put in probably 8 hours each day. During my first attempt I had winter break where I was able to study a lot more, but for my second attempt it was definitely a lot more restricted.
In the end, you need to study for yourself. You know what kind of learner you are, so if it took me 500 hours of studying, it may take you 1,000 or 200 to get the same or better results.
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it also doesn't hurt when your dental school curriculum is set up so you complete M1 and M2 years. Not all dental schools are like this. The ones that are will have applicants applying with 80+ on the cbse simply because they take the same classes their first two years as medical students.
@alexeb91 may not go to one of those dental schools and might be the exception to the rule. But the majority of those getting high 70's, or even 80's and 90's are coming from places like UConn, Harvard, Columbia where D1 and D2 year are really M1 and M2
@alexeb91 may not go to one of those dental schools and might be the exception to the rule. But the majority of those getting high 70's, or even 80's and 90's are coming from places like UConn, Harvard, Columbia where D1 and D2 year are really M1 and M2
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Hi guys,
I been using this forum during my prep, and thought I would share how I studied for this beast. I didn't obviously get an amazing score at 80, but this is my first attempt, and I thought it might be worth while to share my experience if you are in similar situation as I am.
Background: graduated with DMD back in 2012, my school sent us to med school for the first two years, so I think my medical foundation was there. But obviously to do an exam as crazy as this 7-8 years after that was a bit tough. I am in the military, and was on parental leave when preparing for the exam, so was able to really devote myself to preparing it (other than daily diaper changing duties, baby bathing tasks and occasional baby soothing missions).
I gave myself 4 months to study them knowing I have been out of school for a while, and would probably needed the time to re-establish some of my basic knowledge. (I cracked down when I was reading about DNAs and RNAs... I have a BSc and MSc in Biochem)
With that, I thought I need to have books that will "brief" myself back in so I bought the FA Gen Prin and Organ System along with FA 2016 edition, FA Q & A, Uworld Q banks and Pathoma.
FA Gen prin and organ system: I think these two are pretty much a waste of money because they are actually too shallow in terms of contents, and I always needed to google for further details. I think these two books would be great if you are in first or second year medical classes and just annotated on them as you go along. Otherwise, stay away.
After the first 4-5 weeks, I finished FA Gen Prin, but I noticed how I could not retain too much information from the book even with huge amounts of highlights. That's when I started to really dig for ways of studying, and here is what I adapted:
End of April-early May: I figured I needed to ensure I can retain things that I have studied, I adapted the Anki way. Which I have to say is very very helpful as it just keeps reinforcing the ones you are about to forget.
I stopped reading FA 2016 faithfully and I completely did not use FA Q & A because I found it to be inconsistent (more importantly, it doesn't have any chart to say how well you score... so it's a waste of time). What I did though was going through UWorld Q bank by subjects, I did not care how much time it took, I just slowly went over them. After each wrong question, I would go back to the pertinent section in FA and make an Anki card by merging the pointers from FA and explanations from UWorld. This ensured that I don't get similar question wrong again.
I gave about 5-6 to 8-9 days per organ system depending on the nature of the system (MSK and pulm were straightforward, so I finished both in 6 days, but CV and Neuro took me about 9-10 days each). My day would always consist of several hours of questions (I must say I was pretty slow at 40-50 Qs/day, but would get better at 80 - 100 Qs toward the end of the block because you've gotten to know more about the system) followed by a fair share of Anki time. Sometimes I was so behind my Anki schedule, I had accumulated 500+ cards, and obviously that's not possible to finish in a day. So while I attempted to do my daily Anki review, every once in a while (usually after finishing a block), I would devote a full day to Anki just going through cards.
My original plan was to leave out a good three weeks so I could spread some NBME mock tests in there to see where I stood. But that did not happen.
So about mid July, I was just about done all 2000+ questions with almost daily doses of Anki. At that point, I was not very confident about my performance just because I have created 1600+ Anki cards, and I was not quite sure if I can go through them, and more importantly, committed them to memory. This was where mock exam became a great tool, because it gave you an idea of where your weak points were.
On 23rd July, I first used UWorld Self-Assessment 1 to see where I stood mainly because I have gotten used to the format of the questions, so it turned out okay with an 83. Now obviously people online tend to believe how UWSA would overestimate your score, so while this score was decent, I was probably sitting at 77-ish. Timing of when you take it also made a difference, I took it at around 9PM after a quick nap and just wanted to see where I stood. But ideally you wanna do it in the morning to simulate your real thing.
So again on 27th July, I kept that in mind when doing the second mock using NBME's newest form, form 18. And man, what a disaster it was... I was rushed in the morning trying to get myself ready so I can "simulate" the real experience, but I was completely drenched from lack of sleep and all that. I could not focus, and was spending way too much time on some questions. The whole experience was very discouraging but I also knew this would probably be the closest thing you get on the real deal. Pulled a 73, and was rather in shock especially after going through the questions, as I had absolutely no idea why I chose some of the answers. Now the forum tended to think Form 18 was a brutal MF, so I took in comfort knowing that I could have probably done better.
Between the two, I said the NBME one is probably more realistic, and would serve a better job at predicting your true score had you gone in fully prepared.
Several good points I learned from my two exams:
1.You don't have to know EVERYTHING... you would like to, but you know you can't. So the two exams were really helpful in directing me to focusing on the areas that I should commit my memory to.
2. Having a hard mock is actually a good thing, depending on how you did, you would know where you stood even if you f-up.
3. Whatever you do, remember to come in to the game/preparation aiming for a high mark. I did not notice there are historical data on how OMS applicants performed, but I know there are data for how medical students performed, and they usually have higher mean than we do. It's not until perhaps a few days before the exam I realized 73 was still a decent mark. But that said, if you are going into the 6-yr program, I would think we should expect ourselves to perform equally well so as to really represent the bridge between medicine and dentistry. So aim high!!
Final notes: you might be wondering what happened to pathoma?? I honestly think it would be a great tool had I had the time to use it, and it would definitely enhance my understanding for some of the pathology, which ultimately would probably boost my score even further. But from however much time I could gather, simply doing what I did would be sufficient. I came in 7-8 years after medical school, and have been out of dental school for 4 years, I pretty much had to rebuild everything I used to know.
I apparently am a slow learner as I could only go over ~50 cards per day (sometimes less if I got hung up on some mechanism, e.g. Basal ganglia movement coordination). So I would say if you are in my situation, I would recommend a solid 4 months to study. Start right at the UWorld Q banks, going through it block by block. Use FA along with explanation from UW to make your anki cards. If you have extra time, go through all pertinent Pathoma texts and videos for that block and make appropriate additional cards if needs be.
Do this, and make sure you stick to your Anki schedule. Do a couple mock exams to pinpoint your weaknesses, I am sure you will do just fine.
With a score of 80, based on historical data, it's already pretty sufficient. Even though I know I am not going to be the top candidate (as we military dudes always would strive to be), but you don't have to because you just need to find one program that likes you, and that you like to make it happen.
All in all, I contemplated about writing this a few days back, but knowing my score wasn't the highest on this forum I was a bit hesitant. But hey, I am just hoping my two cents could perhaps click with you.
Happy planning, and preparing for your CBSE!
I been using this forum during my prep, and thought I would share how I studied for this beast. I didn't obviously get an amazing score at 80, but this is my first attempt, and I thought it might be worth while to share my experience if you are in similar situation as I am.
Background: graduated with DMD back in 2012, my school sent us to med school for the first two years, so I think my medical foundation was there. But obviously to do an exam as crazy as this 7-8 years after that was a bit tough. I am in the military, and was on parental leave when preparing for the exam, so was able to really devote myself to preparing it (other than daily diaper changing duties, baby bathing tasks and occasional baby soothing missions).
I gave myself 4 months to study them knowing I have been out of school for a while, and would probably needed the time to re-establish some of my basic knowledge. (I cracked down when I was reading about DNAs and RNAs... I have a BSc and MSc in Biochem
)With that, I thought I need to have books that will "brief" myself back in so I bought the FA Gen Prin and Organ System along with FA 2016 edition, FA Q & A, Uworld Q banks and Pathoma.
FA Gen prin and organ system: I think these two are pretty much a waste of money because they are actually too shallow in terms of contents, and I always needed to google for further details. I think these two books would be great if you are in first or second year medical classes and just annotated on them as you go along. Otherwise, stay away.
After the first 4-5 weeks, I finished FA Gen Prin, but I noticed how I could not retain too much information from the book even with huge amounts of highlights. That's when I started to really dig for ways of studying, and here is what I adapted:
End of April-early May: I figured I needed to ensure I can retain things that I have studied, I adapted the Anki way. Which I have to say is very very helpful as it just keeps reinforcing the ones you are about to forget.
I stopped reading FA 2016 faithfully and I completely did not use FA Q & A because I found it to be inconsistent (more importantly, it doesn't have any chart to say how well you score... so it's a waste of time). What I did though was going through UWorld Q bank by subjects, I did not care how much time it took, I just slowly went over them. After each wrong question, I would go back to the pertinent section in FA and make an Anki card by merging the pointers from FA and explanations from UWorld. This ensured that I don't get similar question wrong again.
I gave about 5-6 to 8-9 days per organ system depending on the nature of the system (MSK and pulm were straightforward, so I finished both in 6 days, but CV and Neuro took me about 9-10 days each). My day would always consist of several hours of questions (I must say I was pretty slow at 40-50 Qs/day, but would get better at 80 - 100 Qs toward the end of the block because you've gotten to know more about the system) followed by a fair share of Anki time. Sometimes I was so behind my Anki schedule, I had accumulated 500+ cards, and obviously that's not possible to finish in a day. So while I attempted to do my daily Anki review, every once in a while (usually after finishing a block), I would devote a full day to Anki just going through cards.
My original plan was to leave out a good three weeks so I could spread some NBME mock tests in there to see where I stood. But that did not happen.
So about mid July, I was just about done all 2000+ questions with almost daily doses of Anki. At that point, I was not very confident about my performance just because I have created 1600+ Anki cards, and I was not quite sure if I can go through them, and more importantly, committed them to memory. This was where mock exam became a great tool, because it gave you an idea of where your weak points were.
On 23rd July, I first used UWorld Self-Assessment 1 to see where I stood mainly because I have gotten used to the format of the questions, so it turned out okay with an 83. Now obviously people online tend to believe how UWSA would overestimate your score, so while this score was decent, I was probably sitting at 77-ish. Timing of when you take it also made a difference, I took it at around 9PM after a quick nap and just wanted to see where I stood. But ideally you wanna do it in the morning to simulate your real thing.
So again on 27th July, I kept that in mind when doing the second mock using NBME's newest form, form 18. And man, what a disaster it was... I was rushed in the morning trying to get myself ready so I can "simulate" the real experience, but I was completely drenched from lack of sleep and all that. I could not focus, and was spending way too much time on some questions. The whole experience was very discouraging but I also knew this would probably be the closest thing you get on the real deal. Pulled a 73, and was rather in shock especially after going through the questions, as I had absolutely no idea why I chose some of the answers. Now the forum tended to think Form 18 was a brutal MF, so I took in comfort knowing that I could have probably done better.
Between the two, I said the NBME one is probably more realistic, and would serve a better job at predicting your true score had you gone in fully prepared.
Several good points I learned from my two exams:
1.You don't have to know EVERYTHING... you would like to, but you know you can't. So the two exams were really helpful in directing me to focusing on the areas that I should commit my memory to.
2. Having a hard mock is actually a good thing, depending on how you did, you would know where you stood even if you f-up.
3. Whatever you do, remember to come in to the game/preparation aiming for a high mark. I did not notice there are historical data on how OMS applicants performed, but I know there are data for how medical students performed, and they usually have higher mean than we do. It's not until perhaps a few days before the exam I realized 73 was still a decent mark. But that said, if you are going into the 6-yr program, I would think we should expect ourselves to perform equally well so as to really represent the bridge between medicine and dentistry. So aim high!!
Final notes: you might be wondering what happened to pathoma?? I honestly think it would be a great tool had I had the time to use it, and it would definitely enhance my understanding for some of the pathology, which ultimately would probably boost my score even further. But from however much time I could gather, simply doing what I did would be sufficient. I came in 7-8 years after medical school, and have been out of dental school for 4 years, I pretty much had to rebuild everything I used to know.
I apparently am a slow learner as I could only go over ~50 cards per day (sometimes less if I got hung up on some mechanism, e.g. Basal ganglia movement coordination). So I would say if you are in my situation, I would recommend a solid 4 months to study. Start right at the UWorld Q banks, going through it block by block. Use FA along with explanation from UW to make your anki cards. If you have extra time, go through all pertinent Pathoma texts and videos for that block and make appropriate additional cards if needs be.
Do this, and make sure you stick to your Anki schedule. Do a couple mock exams to pinpoint your weaknesses, I am sure you will do just fine.
With a score of 80, based on historical data, it's already pretty sufficient. Even though I know I am not going to be the top candidate (as we military dudes always would strive to be), but you don't have to because you just need to find one program that likes you, and that you like to make it happen.
All in all, I contemplated about writing this a few days back, but knowing my score wasn't the highest on this forum I was a bit hesitant. But hey, I am just hoping my two cents could perhaps click with you
.Happy planning, and preparing for your CBSE!
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Disagree that those students compromise the majority of those scores.
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You may be right. Those getting mid to high 70's may not all be coming from those schools where students take M1/M2 years. BUT, I'd bet money that the few that get the scores in the high 80's and 90's are coming from these schools. Especially the scores in the 90's.
The corresponding statistics for the OMS applicants who took the examination on July 30th is a mean of 56.4, range of 22 to 97, and a standard deviation of 12.7.
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How do we submit the NBME and NBDE score report? Upload both on PASS site? Many programs say on their PASS program page "Must submit official NBDE score to the program: Yes", meaning that we have to order official copies to be sent directly to the programs? It just doesn't make sense to me since NBDE report is already part of the institutional evaluation from Dean.
NBME you upload to the CV/Resume section. From what I could figure out, the NBDE score reports are either sent directly to the school OR you supply them once you have been accepted. I don't think you upload them on pass but I could be mistaken.
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For those who got high 70+ were your practice scores pretty similar to the exam result?
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plenty good enough , especially if you go to a ranked dental school. Better to keep class rank up. I had a 68 and retook for a 73 and I don't think it was worth it other than solidifying the basic sciences facts in my head for residency
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What military branch are you in? An 80 is awesome -- you should be set. When I applied to the Army OMS, my 73 was the highest score that app cycle, still not every applicant is taking it if they have numerical NBDE scores.Hi guys,
I been using this forum during my prep, and thought I would share how I studied for this beast. I didn't obviously get an amazing score at 80, but this is my first attempt, and I thought it might be worth while to share my experience if you are in similar situation as I am.
Background: graduated with DMD back in 2012, my school sent us to med school for the first two years, so I think my medical foundation was there. But obviously to do an exam as crazy as this 7-8 years after that was a bit tough. I am in the military, and was on parental leave when preparing for the exam, so was able to really devote myself to preparing it (other than daily diaper changing duties, baby bathing tasks and occasional baby soothing missions).
I gave myself 4 months to study them knowing I have been out of school for a while, and would probably needed the time to re-establish some of my basic knowledge. (I cracked down when I was reading about DNAs and RNAs... I have a BSc and MSc in Biochem
With that, I thought I need to have books that will "brief" myself back in so I bought the FA Gen Prin and Organ System along with FA 2016 edition, FA Q & A, Uworld Q banks and Pathoma.
FA Gen prin and organ system: I think these two are pretty much a waste of money because they are actually too shallow in terms of contents, and I always needed to google for further details. I think these two books would be great if you are in first or second year medical classes and just annotated on them as you go along. Otherwise, stay away.
After the first 4-5 weeks, I finished FA Gen Prin, but I noticed how I could not retain too much information from the book even with huge amounts of highlights. That's when I started to really dig for ways of studying, and here is what I adapted:
End of April-early May: I figured I needed to ensure I can retain things that I have studied, I adapted the Anki way. Which I have to say is very very helpful as it just keeps reinforcing the ones you are about to forget.
I stopped reading FA 2016 faithfully and I completely did not use FA Q & A because I found it to be inconsistent (more importantly, it doesn't have any chart to say how well you score... so it's a waste of time). What I did though was going through UWorld Q bank by subjects, I did not care how much time it took, I just slowly went over them. After each wrong question, I would go back to the pertinent section in FA and make an Anki card by merging the pointers from FA and explanations from UWorld. This ensured that I don't get similar question wrong again.
I gave about 5-6 to 8-9 days per organ system depending on the nature of the system (MSK and pulm were straightforward, so I finished both in 6 days, but CV and Neuro took me about 9-10 days each). My day would always consist of several hours of questions (I must say I was pretty slow at 40-50 Qs/day, but would get better at 80 - 100 Qs toward the end of the block because you've gotten to know more about the system) followed by a fair share of Anki time. Sometimes I was so behind my Anki schedule, I had accumulated 500+ cards, and obviously that's not possible to finish in a day. So while I attempted to do my daily Anki review, every once in a while (usually after finishing a block), I would devote a full day to Anki just going through cards.
My original plan was to leave out a good three weeks so I could spread some NBME mock tests in there to see where I stood. But that did not happen.
So about mid July, I was just about done all 2000+ questions with almost daily doses of Anki. At that point, I was not very confident about my performance just because I have created 1600+ Anki cards, and I was not quite sure if I can go through them, and more importantly, committed them to memory. This was where mock exam became a great tool, because it gave you an idea of where your weak points were.
On 23rd July, I first used UWorld Self-Assessment 1 to see where I stood mainly because I have gotten used to the format of the questions, so it turned out okay with an 83. Now obviously people online tend to believe how UWSA would overestimate your score, so while this score was decent, I was probably sitting at 77-ish. Timing of when you take it also made a difference, I took it at around 9PM after a quick nap and just wanted to see where I stood. But ideally you wanna do it in the morning to simulate your real thing.
So again on 27th July, I kept that in mind when doing the second mock using NBME's newest form, form 18. And man, what a disaster it was... I was rushed in the morning trying to get myself ready so I can "simulate" the real experience, but I was completely drenched from lack of sleep and all that. I could not focus, and was spending way too much time on some questions. The whole experience was very discouraging but I also knew this would probably be the closest thing you get on the real deal. Pulled a 73, and was rather in shock especially after going through the questions, as I had absolutely no idea why I chose some of the answers. Now the forum tended to think Form 18 was a brutal MF, so I took in comfort knowing that I could have probably done better.
Between the two, I said the NBME one is probably more realistic, and would serve a better job at predicting your true score had you gone in fully prepared.
Several good points I learned from my two exams:
1.You don't have to know EVERYTHING... you would like to, but you know you can't. So the two exams were really helpful in directing me to focusing on the areas that I should commit my memory to.
2. Having a hard mock is actually a good thing, depending on how you did, you would know where you stood even if you f-up.
3. Whatever you do, remember to come in to the game/preparation aiming for a high mark. I did not notice there are historical data on how OMS applicants performed, but I know there are data for how medical students performed, and they usually have higher mean than we do. It's not until perhaps a few days before the exam I realized 73 was still a decent mark. But that said, if you are going into the 6-yr program, I would think we should expect ourselves to perform equally well so as to really represent the bridge between medicine and dentistry. So aim high!!
Final notes: you might be wondering what happened to pathoma?? I honestly think it would be a great tool had I had the time to use it, and it would definitely enhance my understanding for some of the pathology, which ultimately would probably boost my score even further. But from however much time I could gather, simply doing what I did would be sufficient. I came in 7-8 years after medical school, and have been out of dental school for 4 years, I pretty much had to rebuild everything I used to know.
I apparently am a slow learner as I could only go over ~50 cards per day (sometimes less if I got hung up on some mechanism, e.g. Basal ganglia movement coordination). So I would say if you are in my situation, I would recommend a solid 4 months to study. Start right at the UWorld Q banks, going through it block by block. Use FA along with explanation from UW to make your anki cards. If you have extra time, go through all pertinent Pathoma texts and videos for that block and make appropriate additional cards if needs be.
Do this, and make sure you stick to your Anki schedule. Do a couple mock exams to pinpoint your weaknesses, I am sure you will do just fine.
With a score of 80, based on historical data, it's already pretty sufficient. Even though I know I am not going to be the top candidate (as we military dudes always would strive to be), but you don't have to because you just need to find one program that likes you, and that you like to make it happen.
All in all, I contemplated about writing this a few days back, but knowing my score wasn't the highest on this forum I was a bit hesitant. But hey, I am just hoping my two cents could perhaps click with you
Happy planning, and preparing for your CBSE!
