Hey all!
I took that baby last weekend and it was a great experience! The examiners were nice, helpful, respectful, and completely laid back. I'm Y4 at Tufts, where both the NERB and WREB are offered. I helped out for the NERB and I can say, these two exams are like night and day!
1) The fact that you have 2 and a half days is really nice. Take your time and be cautious to keep the big picture in mind (don't go crazy chasing caries without asking for a mod).
2) If a patient falls through, don't sweat it! I was on externship at a prison the entire month b4 the exam so I could really screen and on the morning of the exam my C3 fell through and my perio and C2 (same pt) decided to go away for the weekend and I was left without any backups. But, I used other peoples backups : ) and everyone went home with a permanent restoration in their mouth (no outright failures for me!).
3) *****Be fast with endo!**** A lot of people ran out of time and took deductions for going over the time limit. Just get there, be organized, blast a nice access w/ a 4 or 6 round, refine with 44C, see the canals, get in there, debride, obturate.
4) Endo: You don't have to take an x-ray every step of the way, I had my start, guide file and then the next one I took was my master cone.
5) Endo: with the molar, make sure you pick a canal that's going to be easy to get in and out of. For example, with #30, the easier canals to see are the Distal canals. If I could do it again I would have done the extra work to find a premolar for my posterior tooth.
6) The floor examiners approve the modifications so you can ask ANY of them. (There were two floors of people taking the exam at my school and you could ask anyone, it wasn't floor specific.)
7) Relax, it helps keep the patient relaxed : )
My perio patient didn't want anesthesia...that was a little stressful b/c I was like "you're going to appreciate it", he still didn't want it so I told him I would be more comfortable if he had it (which is true)
I think that's it, any other ?'s just ask!