Released ADA Exams vs Actual NBDE 1

[student1985]

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For those who have already taken it or heard from people who did....

(1) How indicative are the released ADA exams of the actual NBDE 1? How were you scoring on the old exams compared to how you did on the actual exam?

(2) Were there a lot of repeats or similar concepts?

(3) Up to which year is it worth reviewing for the released exams? I mean, I have exams from the following years: 1986, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2004, and 2006. I'm thinking of only using the years 1997-2006 (don't have much time to review others, anyways). Is it even worth looking at the ones from the late 80's and early 90's?

I should add that I'm not necessarily looking to "rock" the exam, just to pass comfortably.

Thanks in advance.

 

[live]

Hey, sorry I can't be of much help b/c I haven't taken the exam yet; however, I was wondering where you got the 2006 test from? The latest one I could find was 2005. Please let me know and good luck studying!

 

[student1985]

however, I was wondering where you got the 2006 test from?

From my school.

C'mon, guys! Almost 65 views and not a single person out there (previous test taker, or otherwise) can help in answering the above questions? 😛

 

[neosmile]

You must learn all the released papers by heart whether the old ones or the very new ones. You can't afford to skip even a single one.

There are lots of repeats in the exam from them.

Roughly you should get a 320 plus to have a good score. By the way, what good, just passing the exam would do??

For those who have already taken it or heard from people who did....

(1) How indicative are the released ADA exams of the actual NBDE 1? How were you scoring on the old exams compared to how you did on the actual exam?

(2) Were there a lot of repeats or similar concepts?

(3) Up to which year is it worth reviewing for the released exams? I mean, I have exams from the following years: 1986, 1987, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2004, and 2006. I'm thinking of only using the years 1997-2006 (don't have much time to review others, anyways). Is it even worth looking at the ones from the late 80's and early 90's?

I should add that I'm not necessarily looking to "rock" the exam, just to pass comfortably.

Thanks in advance.

 

[small]

I just took the exam last week, so I don't have my scores yet, but here are my observations:

Not so many verbatim repeats from old tests, but a good 1/4 of the questions on my test seemed to be reworked old questions. Maybe they had a slight change in the wording to lead to a different answer, or maybe just new distractors, but they were familiar enough for me to be glad I reviewed released tests.

I did look over some tests more than 10 years old, and while most of the information these really old exams test is still relevant, the style of the questions has changed enough that I felt like my time would be better spent with other things. I had 1998, 2002, and 2004 and would take them (in sections) multiple times. Obviously you'll memorize the answer; the value in repeating a test comes in forcing yourself to justify why the other answers are incorrect.

Good luck with your studying! Give yourself ample time to prepare and keep your study time productive (avoid checking Facebook every 10 mintues!) and you'll go into the test wondering what all the hype was about.

 

[student1985]

I just took the exam last week, so I don't have my scores yet, but here are my observations:

Not so many verbatim repeats from old tests, but a good 1/4 of the questions on my test seemed to be reworked old questions. Maybe they had a slight change in the wording to lead to a different answer, or maybe just new distractors, but they were familiar enough for me to be glad I reviewed released tests.

I did look over some tests more than 10 years old, and while most of the information these really old exams test is still relevant, the style of the questions has changed enough that I felt like my time would be better spent with other things. I had 1998, 2002, and 2004 and would take them (in sections) multiple times. Obviously you'll memorize the answer; the value in repeating a test comes in forcing yourself to justify why the other answers are incorrect.

Good luck with your studying! Give yourself ample time to prepare and keep your study time productive (avoid checking Facebook every 10 mintues!) and you'll go into the test wondering what all the hype was about.

Thanks for your response, small.