Pbl

[MarkND]

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I just started D1 at a PBL school and hate the PBL already! I think it is a waste of time! We could use the time (wasted on PBL) much more wisely to catch up on important stuff.

If you are in a PBL school and/or have any experience with it, would you please tell me what you think of it? Thanks.

 

[stdmufin27]

Sorry to hear you don't like IU. Your not the first one I've seen on SDN to go through the transition. Another couple of months and the IU way will be more natural to you I'm sure. But hey, I'm not there and haven't experienced PBL. Just wanted to give a little encouragement. 👍

 

[MarkND]

Sorry to hear you don't like IU. Your not the first one I've seen on SDN to go through the transition. Another couple of months and the IU way will be more natural to you I'm sure. But hey, I'm not there and haven't experienced PBL. Just wanted to give a little encouragement. 👍

Thanks for the encouragement. Actually, I like the school, just not too happy with the PBL thing.

 

[Hysteria24]

I just started D1 at a PBL school and hate the PBL already! I think it is a waste of time! We could use the time (wasted on PBL) much more wisely to catch up on important stuff.

If you are in a PBL school and/or have any experience with it, would you please tell me what you think of it? Thanks.

Not what I need to hear with a month to go before I start at USC.

 

[MONKEYBOY]

Try having 5+ hours of your day spent having profs read you powerpoints word for word.

The distraction of having 'story time' of profs reading us their poor ppts prevents me from getting much done in class.

We sit and stare ... and surf internet at stuipid sites like facebook, myspace,...

I honestly wonder about the quality of America's doctors with this as the norm.

 

[Turnerjo13]

^^^ This happened in one of my classes. Unfortunately it was our super course of Physio, biochem and neuro all rolled into one which was like 8 hrs per week. After a few weeks most people just stopped coming. I think most found that they did better if they did not attend class and studied on their own during that time. I skipped only if I had something better to do like going fishing if the fishing was good.

 

[Siafu]

Sorry to hear that. I am a second year student at USC, and PBL here is absolutely worthless. We have all been through lecture based programs for our undergrads, and whether we liked it or not, IT WORKED! We all graduated with a solid base of knowledge and that is why we got into dental school.
I don't really understand the point of PBL. Why not just look up the topics for the part one boards and read the textbooks and save tens of thousands of dollars (or hundreds of thousands if you are attending USC). I am currently studying for the boards and it is horrible. We have never been exposed to the majority of the information (with the exception of a 6 week head and neck anatomy course).

I would suggest that you start studying for the part one a year in advance. I would also suggest that you get the decks and start going through them.

 

[MarkND]

Sorry to hear that. I am a second year student at USC, and PBL here is absolutely worthless. We have all been through lecture based programs for our undergrads, and whether we liked it or not, IT WORKED! We all graduated with a solid base of knowledge and that is why we got into dental school.
I don't really understand the point of PBL. Why not just look up the topics for the part one boards and read the textbooks and save tens of thousands of dollars (or hundreds of thousands if you are attending USC). I am currently studying for the boards and it is horrible. We have never been exposed to the majority of the information (with the exception of a 6 week head and neck anatomy course).

I would suggest that you start studying for the part one a year in advance. I would also suggest that you get the decks and start going through them.

👍 Thanks for your input. I see I'm not the only one suffering from PBL crap!

 

[uvaGirL07]

Sorry to hear that. I am a second year student at USC, and PBL here is absolutely worthless. We have all been through lecture based programs for our undergrads, and whether we liked it or not, IT WORKED! We all graduated with a solid base of knowledge and that is why we got into dental school.
I don't really understand the point of PBL. Why not just look up the topics for the part one boards and read the textbooks and save tens of thousands of dollars (or hundreds of thousands if you are attending USC). I am currently studying for the boards and it is horrible. We have never been exposed to the majority of the information (with the exception of a 6 week head and neck anatomy course).

I would suggest that you start studying for the part one a year in advance. I would also suggest that you get the decks and start going through them.

So then... what DO you learn through PBL? 😕

 

[KOM]

Why does a school such as USC charge so much for tuition when their PBL curriculum essentially requires that a student study on his/her own? Is it laziness, proven science, or a complete scam?

 

[Siafu]

Why does a school such as USC charge so much for tuition when their PBL curriculum essentially requires that a student study on his/her own? Is it laziness, proven science, or a complete scam?

Because they can. They have the name and the location.
As far as the "scientific" aspect of PBL, administration claims that since we do so well on our boards then PBL must be working! Well here is the catch...USC has a very large applicant pool, therefore they can pretty much accept the top students from around the country. These students are for the most part, fairly intelligent and very motivated. Once it comes time to study for the boards, we study our butts off, just like we did in undergrad. I do not know of one person that uses PBL materials to study for the boards. In fact I am using a lot of my undergrad notes to study. So our high board scores are not a because of PBL, but because USCSD can accept students who will do well on the boards with or without the help of the school.

 

[Hysteria24]

So our high board scores are not a because of PBL, but because USCSD can accept students who will do well on the boards with or without the help of the school.

I've actually heard this more than once on these boards from USC students. At least with boards going pass fail in a little while, this stress/effort will be reduced. 🙂

But I have also heard from students that it is easy to do well there. The cut off for an A is 80%, and since a majority of your grade comes from your work/participation in case, a lot of students don't even take midterms and finals that seriously. That has got to relieve some stress. And aren't a lot of the midterm/final questions taken from old board exams? It seems like there would be some advantage to that when it comes time to take part 1's.

I'll find out first hand in a month or so, but these are just some of the tings I picked up along the way.

 

[dentstd]

For those of you who are playing on the internet while in class, it's your damn fault you're not learning. If professors are ranting about personal stories and you don't want to hear it, read an NBDE review guide or something during those stories. Pay attention again when the stories stop.

PBL's goal is increased information retention, not "improved" learning. You're supposed to learn mostly on your own. The process of synthesizing information helps memory retention. If you're not into it and prefer the traditional lectures, buy a study guide. Buy the BRS series and compare it with your lecture notes. USE the information presented in the BRS to help solve the case scenarios they present you with in PBL.

I'm assuming most those who're at USC are those who didn't get into other schools for whatever reason. The minority are those who preferred it enough to warrant paying 85k/yr or those who got a scholarship. For those who didn't get into other schools, whether or not you have issues with PBL, you weren't offered a choice to an alternative. Deal with it the best you can and move on.

 

[Hysteria24]

I'm assuming most those who're at USC are those who didn't get into other schools for whatever reason. The minority are those who preferred it enough to warrant paying 85k/yr or those who got a scholarship. For those who didn't get into other schools, whether or not you have issues with PBL, you weren't offered a choice to an alternative. Deal with it the best you can and move on.

I have a feeling that this is where a lot of the resentment of PLB comes from. Things may be different if these school were made up of students motivated by this learning style and who made an active choice to undertake 4 years of PBL. (Like at Harvard perhaps). I for one did make that choice, and only time will tell how that turns out. However I do know that some of the people in my future case groups (or a majority as stated by dentstd) are probably not fit for PBL and were basically forced into it by default because of only one acceptance.

PBL's goal is increased information retention, not "improved" learning. You're supposed to learn mostly on your own. The process of synthesizing information helps memory retention. If you're not into it and prefer the traditional lectures, buy a study guide. Buy the BRS series and compare it with your lecture notes. USE the information presented in the BRS to help solve the case scenarios they present you with in PBL.

I'm one step ahead of you. Already have two NBDE review books, and dental decks to follow along as I hit those topics during case.

By the way, what is BRS?


.

 

[aphistis]

I have a feeling that this is where a lot of the resentment of PLB comes from. Things may be different if these school were made up of students motivated by this learning style and who made an active choice to undertake 4 years of PBL. (Like at Harvard perhaps). I for one did make that choice, and only time will tell how that turns out. However I do know that some of the people in my future case groups (or a majority as stated by dentstd) are probably fit for PBL and were basically forced into it by default because of only one acceptance.



I'm one step ahead of you. Already have two NBDE review books, and dental decks to follow along as I hit those topics during case.

By the way, what is BRS?

Board review series.

 

[zoothslooth]

At my school we did PBL a couple of times and traditional lecture the majority of the time. My problems with PBL: 1) if you get someone a little overbearing or a little "crazy" who likes to hear themselves talk yet has no knowledge of the topic being discussed- it gets old, real fast. 2) Some of the mediators had very limited dental background- when applying some of the basic sciences to the dental situations some mediators struggled to keep up with us and sometimes couldn't tell us if we were right or wrong- kind of a problem when it comes to "that one question on boards" that happens to be the question that never got cleared up. 3) Being graded on participation is like paying someone for how quickly they can fix your car, not how well they can do it, besides, just because I don't voice what I know doesn't mean I do or don't know the material.

In theory I can see how PBL was become the buzz-word of dental school- it doesn't work for me. I feel that every hour of studying on my own is the equivalant of 3-4 hours of PBL- it is too ineffecient. Give me a book or powerpoint, it has worked for 20 year of education so far- why screw it up now? CONCLUSION: You know what the school does before you put your money down- learn to deal with it.

 

[shabu2]

Many medical schools have a PBL component, but I am not sold that this is the best way to teach in Dental schools. I personally don't like it, but there is something to be said about looking everything up yourself I guess.

 

[akb22]

I don't really understand the point of PBL. Why not just look up the topics for the part one boards and read the textbooks and save tens of thousands of dollars (or hundreds of thousands if you are attending USC). I am currently studying for the boards and it is horrible. We have never been exposed to the majority of the information (with the exception of a 6 week head and neck anatomy course). .

In order to get into dental school you were exposed to almost ALL this information in way more detail during your undergrad. If you have your degree in anything science related you would agree. The first two years are primarily review with some new information (mainly the dental anatomy). I am studying for the Part I now and am more overwhelmed by amount of topics and not the depth you need to know in each one.

Whether or not you are forced to go to a school that is PBL you can make it work for you.