Study Method for CBSE

[sb21992]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi everyone,

So I just started trying to study for the CBSE exam coming up in August. I bought FA and FA Q&A. I'm planning on getting Pathoma and Uworld closer to test day. I've started reading through FA and trying some practice questions, and I feel overwhelmed because I'm not retaining anything.

When you guys studied, or for those who are studying now, did you finish reading FA first before attempting questions, or did you do questions in each section to accompany the material? Also does anyone have tips on how to retain all this material (assuming most of it is not taught in your dental school basic science curriculum)? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Tufts R Us]

Feeling overwhelmed is normal. Just keep at it. Read through FA multiple times and it will eventually start sticking.

 

[MetroHealthOMFS]

You're doing it all backwards! Haha. Start with pathoma and dig into uworld questions ASAP. Pathoma is extremely high yield and it provides the best understanding of the material. The lecturer is excellent in explaining the material which provides a great baseline in pathology and some physiology.

I recommend starting on the questions early too because you learn what to look for in your studying. There are things you may think are too in depth to worry about but then you see them over and over in uworld and you know they are relevant. The questions also have great explanations associated with them.

A lot of people like the goljan lectures as well and I personally think it's a good adjunct for passive learning while driving or when you need a break from the books.

First aid is a necessity but is worthless without baseline understanding. You could go into that test with first aid in hand and do terrible. It's a lot of charts and memorization without the underlying importance of them. Do that along side pathoma and as you work your way through the questions and you will see what's imprtant and how to best utilize first aid.

The test is daunting and I promise you that you will not understand and learn all of it in 6 months. But that's not the key. Learn as much high yield as possible and learn how the questions work and you can crush the test.

 

[agent2362]

I agree that questions early is key. Ideally you should go through UWorld 2x. I also found a digital copy of first aid with search capabilities to be very useful for searching key words and associations. The digital copy makes it extremely useful for annotating and making digital flashcards (because 90+% of micro and pharm is straight out of FA). Nothing is better than Pathoma if you are rusty on the basics of pathology.

1st time: review corresponding section in First aid and pathoma, then do all the correlated questions (I prefer tutor mode, untimed). Make annotations in FA as needed to clarify information. Flashcards are helpful also at this point. I would take an NBME 1/2 through and and at the end of the studying. Goljian lectures are useful when you feel too tired to do questions or driving, working out, ect. % correct in U world is not very important as long as you are learning (well I might be concerned if you're only getting 30% correct. I ranged 45-80% with an average close to the med students average of 55-60%).

2nd time through U World: Do either just marked/ incorrect Qs if running short on time. Also best to do everything on random, timed at this point. I also went through Pathoma on 2x speed a week or two before the test and that helped alot.

I actually haven't even read all the way through FA and have done okay (69 on last NBME) and didn't even get to the second review of UWorld, but all the med students recommend this method. Don't underestimate how good Uworld is. I regret not having starting it as soon as possible. Just reading FA is so dry and hard for most to retain anything significant, especially if you are learning it for the first time. Hence the qbanks helped to solve that problem for me.

Lastly, I think it's key to review what you get wrong. This is easy to ignore due to the overwhelming amount of information. Just getting through all the information and qbanks 1x is very challenging, much less reviewing incorrect answers.

 

[Bereno]

Everyone has a different approach lol.

Here is what I would do*
Read First Aid once over quickly, and mark the areas that you are not familiar with. Then read it again much more slowly to try and remember as much as you can from it. Maybe even read Pathoma and annotate a little from it. They key is to then start questions. I preferred to do them on random, but you might decide to do them differently. Annotate as much as you can from UWorld into FA! If you can go through all of UWorld, look at your weak areas! Note the areas in FA that you have a hard time remembering. I stopped doing questions and read all of FA again the week before the exam, and I am happy I did (I was able to also read my FA annotations). I wish I had more time, since I was only able to go through 80% of UWorld.

*will not work for everyone

 

[agent2362]

Everyone has a different approach lol.

Here is what I would do*
Read First Aid once over quickly, and mark the areas that you are not familiar with. Then read it again much more slowly to try and remember as much as you can from it. Maybe even read Pathoma and annotate a little from it. They key is to then start questions. I preferred to do them on random, but you might decide to do them differently. Annotate as much as you can from UWorld into FA! If you can go through all of UWorld, look at your weak areas! Note the areas in FA that you have a hard time remembering. I stopped doing questions and read all of FA again the week before the exam, and I am happy I did (I was able to also read my FA annotations). I wish I had more time, since I was only able to go through 80% of UWorld.

*will not work for everyone

I think that study methods will vary the most depending on whether one has had a rigorous basic sciences training (e.g. dental school assoc. w/ med school curriculum) or not. Most dental school curriculums have really crappy basic science classes; most could pass the NBDEs just studying dental decks for a week. I haven't taken the basic sciences in 3 + yrs, hence different study methods. Nevertheless, I think we can all agree on the "PUFA method" (Pathoma + U World + FA) that most med students espouse. Just reading FA is pretty passive for me, so doing questions is helpful to reduce wasting time.