Many dental students will be taking their last semester of classes while preparing for their board exams. It’s generally recommended you begin preparing months in advance, in order to pass it the first time. These exams are not just the culmination of years of education and preparation, they’re an important screening process to ensure you can safely care for patients.
Passing the dental boards may not be anything like taking a final in high school or college. They’re already invested in your success and may have advice to share from years of helping students prepare, as well as their own personal experience. Your professors and advisors can be another valuable resource as you face the dental exams. A simple online search for “NBDE practice questions” presents a variety of helpful resources, including the American Dental Association’s 40 question practice test exemplifying the four major disciplines of the dental board exams.
Of the many online resources available to help dental students, practice tests may be especially valuable although not all are available free of charge. Studying for eight hours a day over a few weeks probably may not be as practical as consistently studying for smaller blocks of time over a period of several months. Look at the recommended total study hours, then compare that with your schedule and the amount of time you have left before the exam. When planning your routine, consider keeping your goals realistic. According to a Forbes Magazine interview of 29 top students at some of the nation’s more prestigious universities, diligent time management, including social media blackouts, was a key to test preparation. Along with preparation, consider these ten study strategies to help prepare you for the NBDE the first time you take it:ĭeveloping and sticking to a routine can be a helpful time management tactic and a way to prioritize studying. If you hope to take and pass the NBDE, preparation is typically the key. Students must score at least 75% to pass. The NBDE is typically structured as two 400 question tests taken over three days and covers various aspects of dentistry such as dental anatomy, endodontics, microbiology, oral surgery, pathology, periodontics, and pharmacology. The National Board Dental Examination or NBDE is a two-part test required to practice dentistry in the United States. For dental students, one particularly dreaded part of this phase may be taking the National Board Dental Examination.
The years of studying and training required to become a professional dentist may present some of the most difficult challenges of your professional life.