Ortho and Part II board scores

[Tooth]

I just got my part II score back. 83. I got an 88 on part I but didn't study much for part II. I'll be doing an AEGD and then the military for 4 years and possibly apply for ortho. Will this 83 matter to ortho residencies or should I retake and get a minimum of 85?

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[Tooth]

96 views and no reply. Nice.

 

[rarm1]

I just got my part II score back. 83. I got an 88 on part I but didn't study much for part II. I'll be doing an AEGD and then the military for 4 years and possibly apply for ortho. Will this 83 matter to ortho residencies or should I retake and get a minimum of 85?

National Boards are planned to go to pass fail in 2 years. No one knows for sure how programs will compare old grades and new grades.

Your biggest problem may be being out of an educational enviroment for 4 years... You should keep up the CE programs. The military is generally pretty good with that

 

[texas_dds]

i might retake it with an 84 - you have a lot of time to improve your score it sounds like. best wishes

 

[vorosvirag]

I just got my part II score back. 83. I got an 88 on part I but didn't study much for part II. I'll be doing an AEGD and then the military for 4 years and possibly apply for ortho. Will this 83 matter to ortho residencies or should I retake and get a minimum of 85?

I did very well on Part I, but my Part II score was much lower. Programs care much less about Part II. I was busy interviewing, was sick and tired of dental school nonsense, and just didn't care about Part II. I studied about 5 hours for the Part II exam. I studied a lot more for Part I.

If you're really concerned about it, feel free to retake it. With a little more focus you'll likely do a bit better. A great Part II score is better than an average or poor Part II score. What is the percentile score with an 83, by the way?

After your AEGD and military experience, your Part II score will be such a small part of your application.

Good luck.

 

[vorosvirag]

National Boards are planned to go to pass fail in 2 years. No one knows for sure how programs will compare old grades and new grades.

Hasn't this happened already? My understanding was that the students who've taken boards the last year or two only received a "pass" or "fail" score--no raw or percentile score. Is that right?

Maybe they still get scores, but they're all lower across the board. Is that what happened? I can't remember.

Your biggest problem may be being out of an educational enviroment for 4 years... You should keep up the CE programs. The military is generally pretty good with that

I'm not convinced this will be a problem whatsoever. Getting away from the ivory tower is not always a bad thing. Remaining teachable is important, but getting some distance from dental school, gaining real-work experience, and polishing your judgment are not cardinal sins.

Military folks are in programs all over the country. And virtually all of them spent 3 or 4 years in a branch of the service.

I'd argue these military-experienced applicants are (on average) much better dentists than those of us who jumped right into ortho out of dental school. And this experience will make them better orthodontists, all else being equal.

In my view, there is no inherent disadvantage with military service. I believe it's quite the opposite. You should be just fine, Mr. Tooth.

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[charlestweed]

As Vorovirag pointed out, the program directors usually look at part I score more than on part II score. The majority of the ortho applicants are 3rd year students and they only have part I score when they apply. If your part I score is 90 (or more), your chance of getting the interviews would increase significantly…. so if you only have time to retake one exam, you should retake the part I, not part II.

 

[texas_dds]

As Vorovirag pointed out, the program directors usually look at part I score more than on part II score. The majority of the ortho applicants are 3rd year students and they only have part I score when they apply. If your part I score is 90 (or more), your chance of getting the interviews would increase significantly…. so if you only have time to retake one exam, you should retake the part I, not part II.

yes i agree dr tweed - retaking part 1 may be better

 

[Tooth]

yes i agree dr tweed - retaking part 1 may be better

I'm hoping that in 5 years, it will be common knowledge that the new format of Part I boards does not yield as many 90+ scores and thus an 88 will be respected.

 

[texas_dds]

I'm hoping that in 5 years, it will be common knowledge that the new format of Part I boards does not yield as many 90+ scores and thus an 88 will be respected.

all im saying is that if you are trying to get into ortho, any improvements made will pay off. ive sat in on ortho selections as the one student vote - i know that any sub-90 scores hurt ones chances when there are 400 applications laying on the table and over half of them have part one scores over 93.

 

[Smile09]

I'm hoping that in 5 years, it will be common knowledge that the new format of Part I boards does not yield as many 90+ scores and thus an 88 will be respected.

Unfortunately that is not true any more. The first year the new format was given, there were far less 90+ scores. However, with the new curve, there are MANY 90+ Scores with the new format this year as opposed to last year ( I mean 97, and 98s )

I would retake part 1 for sure.

 

[Tooth]

Unfortunately that is not true any more. The first year the new format was given, there were far less 90+ scores. However, with the new curve, there are MANY 90+ Scores with the new format this year as opposed to last year ( I mean 97, and 98s )

I would retake part 1 for sure.

That's good to hear. Maybe I will retake it. Eventually.