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Ok, so now that I've gone through the WREB experience successfully, I figured I should relay my experiences back to SDN. Hopefully this helps somebody. Speaking to other students here at MWU, it seems that the only failure that I have heard about is Endo, and usually due to crown/root fractures, seperated files (don't know how this happened since you're using brand new files), crazy overfills.
Perio-Prosth-PATP written WREB:
The perio/prosth written exams were pretty easy. After taking NBDE part 2, you should be ready to dominate this part of the exam. I used the Board Buster WREB book to prepare for the written portion but I don't think it was at all helpful. I would go as far as saying that there is no real way to prepare for this test as much of it is common sense/common clinical knowledge. I was expecting a lot of questions on materials/ RPD design but there were a lot of pictures of (poorly) prepped plastic teeth and you're asked what the prep error is i.e. reduction, ditched margin, undercut/draw etc. There also seemed to be a lot of emphasis placed on whether you understand the difference between Implant Retained Dentures vs Implant Supported Dentures with regard to the number of implants needed for each.
The PATP was much better than I thought. My pictures were more than sufficient, the radiographs were clear enough to see obvious interproximal lesions. The weird thing about the PATP is that there are no books or classes to teach how to treatment plan for the WREB. In real life you don't have to list treatment modifications or design a RPD on a single page. My advice is to error on the side of expansiveness and additional mods if you are on the fence on what to include. The penalty for missing a key point or mod seems to be worse than adding additional unnecessary mods/ expansive Tx.
Perio SRP:
-I think this is the least failed part of the exam. Don't leave calculus, and don't have a patient rejected. Pick a patient with tons of radiographic calculus and 5-6mm pockets. You have all the time in the world to get this section done and you can take additional BWX to check for calculus before you submit the patient for grading. Also, I believe this section is combined with your written perio test for grading purposes. So basically there is no excuse for failing this. I suggest scheduling your perio patient on your endo day, because you are guaranteed to have time to finish this section in under 4 hours.
Operative:
-I felt like this was way easier than I thought it was going to be in terms of procedural stuff. Every time you send your patient to graders (approval, denied mods from floor examiners, grading) it takes about 30 minutes. I had 3 patients denied for class 2 lesions being too small, one was sooooo clearly into dentin that I was befuddled that it was denied for overtreatment. However, there is nobody to complain to, so the best thing you can do is have back up patients and back up back up patients, and most importantly DO NOT panic. The Floor examiners were kind and calm and helpful. They do not expect you to speak the language of the WREB "Wrebenese" fluently and they are willing to answer questions and speak plainly about mods without much formality.
Endo:
-This section is the most time crunched. Not much to say here, but clearly the most important component of the section is tooth selection which is totally up to you. I didn't see anyone get a tooth rejected outright, but there were people with mounting errors so take the time to mount your teeth perfectly! The red mounting gel that I got from Columbia was really exothermic. This softened my mounting putty which made my tooth sink about 2mm during mounting. I realized this when I was mounting so I pulled out the tooth before the gel was completely set and remounted using a long cue tip and sticky wax to hold the tooth in position. The WREB examiners were not concerned with voids in the putty as long as the apex was covered in putty with 2mm of clearance. Another big tip is to not use the rubber dam clamp on your tooth because it increases the likelihood of crown fracture; clamp the plastic teeth in the sextant.
After the exam it took almost 3 weeks for WREB to send the email to let you know your exam results.
Anyways I hope this is at all helpful, and good luck on your future boards!
Perio-Prosth-PATP written WREB:
The perio/prosth written exams were pretty easy. After taking NBDE part 2, you should be ready to dominate this part of the exam. I used the Board Buster WREB book to prepare for the written portion but I don't think it was at all helpful. I would go as far as saying that there is no real way to prepare for this test as much of it is common sense/common clinical knowledge. I was expecting a lot of questions on materials/ RPD design but there were a lot of pictures of (poorly) prepped plastic teeth and you're asked what the prep error is i.e. reduction, ditched margin, undercut/draw etc. There also seemed to be a lot of emphasis placed on whether you understand the difference between Implant Retained Dentures vs Implant Supported Dentures with regard to the number of implants needed for each.
The PATP was much better than I thought. My pictures were more than sufficient, the radiographs were clear enough to see obvious interproximal lesions. The weird thing about the PATP is that there are no books or classes to teach how to treatment plan for the WREB. In real life you don't have to list treatment modifications or design a RPD on a single page. My advice is to error on the side of expansiveness and additional mods if you are on the fence on what to include. The penalty for missing a key point or mod seems to be worse than adding additional unnecessary mods/ expansive Tx.
Perio SRP:
-I think this is the least failed part of the exam. Don't leave calculus, and don't have a patient rejected. Pick a patient with tons of radiographic calculus and 5-6mm pockets. You have all the time in the world to get this section done and you can take additional BWX to check for calculus before you submit the patient for grading. Also, I believe this section is combined with your written perio test for grading purposes. So basically there is no excuse for failing this. I suggest scheduling your perio patient on your endo day, because you are guaranteed to have time to finish this section in under 4 hours.
Operative:
-I felt like this was way easier than I thought it was going to be in terms of procedural stuff. Every time you send your patient to graders (approval, denied mods from floor examiners, grading) it takes about 30 minutes. I had 3 patients denied for class 2 lesions being too small, one was sooooo clearly into dentin that I was befuddled that it was denied for overtreatment. However, there is nobody to complain to, so the best thing you can do is have back up patients and back up back up patients, and most importantly DO NOT panic. The Floor examiners were kind and calm and helpful. They do not expect you to speak the language of the WREB "Wrebenese" fluently and they are willing to answer questions and speak plainly about mods without much formality.
Endo:
-This section is the most time crunched. Not much to say here, but clearly the most important component of the section is tooth selection which is totally up to you. I didn't see anyone get a tooth rejected outright, but there were people with mounting errors so take the time to mount your teeth perfectly! The red mounting gel that I got from Columbia was really exothermic. This softened my mounting putty which made my tooth sink about 2mm during mounting. I realized this when I was mounting so I pulled out the tooth before the gel was completely set and remounted using a long cue tip and sticky wax to hold the tooth in position. The WREB examiners were not concerned with voids in the putty as long as the apex was covered in putty with 2mm of clearance. Another big tip is to not use the rubber dam clamp on your tooth because it increases the likelihood of crown fracture; clamp the plastic teeth in the sextant.
After the exam it took almost 3 weeks for WREB to send the email to let you know your exam results.
Anyways I hope this is at all helpful, and good luck on your future boards!
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