How to study for the national dental boards / INBDE exams
What is INBDE?
INBDE stands for Integrated National Board Dental Examination (INBDE) is a new written, to replace the current National Board Dental Examination (NBDE) Part I and Part II
People at JCNDE have been working since 2009 on creating this new exam. SO just rote learning is not going to help. It combines didactic knowledge with clinical applications of dentistry. They are testing you as a dentist.
Good news is INBDE with only 500 questions. So less stress. YAYYY. Questions are quite direct. Do not worry.
Day 1 : 360 questions
Day 2: 140 questions
First 300 questions might be direct questions, and rest would be questions that will have a patient scenario with the C/c , pts medical and dental history and some photo or radiographs as well. And you would have to answer based on that.
Now since part 1 is cancelled you still have until the July of next year 2022 to attempt it. If you haven't taken part 1 then your only option is INBDE.
You can give the exam 5attempts in total within 5 yrs, and each attempt should be at least 3months apart.
Scoring : Pass/ Fail
All attempts for each exam are reported. They aren't hidden from schools.
Now in order to study properly for the exam we need to know exactly
which topics to concentrate on :
INBDE Concentrates on the following according to percentages:
56% is based on clinical content. Out of that 56%
Diagnosis and treatment planning: 36%
Oral health Management 42%
Practice and profession 21%
Rest is foundation Knowledge: 44% including basic sciences, Pharmacology, Ethics, Research, Evidence Based dentistry
How to study for INBDE? :
The most important thing you need to do for such exams more than just reading is RECALL and REVISE. And how you do this is QUIZ. WRITE THIS DOWN IN CAPS AND you may hang it on your STUDY BOARD. RECALL RECALL RECALL, QUIZ QUIZ QUIZ.
How I used to study was, I would actually read the quizzes first and then to answer them. That way I would know how many I got wrong. Then I would check the correct answers. Then I would read the subject matter. Because you have already gone through this from your textbooks at least once or more during your dental school days.
So remember this, once you identify what you DON'T KNOW then you concentrate on memorizing and recalling those things. That way you won't waste time going over the same things again and again.
You know as a student in a dental school you have to attend so many lectures and practicals and this exam basically tests you on all aspects of that. Make sure you are prepared well. Find your weak areas and read, learn, revise, make mnemonics and remember that way.
Practice a lot of practice tests. One quick way to do this is read your material and then discuss it with your friends. Ask each other questions., Hide the answers on your decks and quiz each other.
I remember when I was studying I actually did part1 and 2. But one of the hardest subjects for me was Pharmacology and the other one which wasn't much of my favorite was microbiology. So I made sure I paid more attention to these. You can use TUFTs PHARMACOLOGY for this. Its a short read. So you can probably finish it within 4-5 days or a week and can probably find it online.
You may also use your text books if you are a textbook person But trust me it wastes a lot of time at this point preparing for the final test. Most people use dental decks because they are almost like flash cards and easy to remember. Short and sweet and precise.
Some people also use some channels here on youtube. For eg. mental dental videos.
But let me tell you this Youtube is like this website for wonderful information right at your fingertips. Most people retain stuff better with videos. But some people remember stuff they read better. And you can easily get distracted here on youtube and you would not realize how much time you wasted. So when I studied I would rather stick to my books or decks. But for everyone it can be different. So I am not saying don't do youtube, I am saying that follow few people that you like and listen to their advice while you travel or as a way of revision on multiple x speed and have like maybe an hour or more allotted to that in a day and don't go on it apart from that.
SO whatever you do, remember to have 1 book as your baseline. For me it was my First aid. Add whatever extra info you get from decks or anything else you add to it with sticky notes or in the margins etc. Most often if you have e-copies you can attach a notes page to the documents and it is even easier to search stuff just that way rather than writing it down manually.
- Mastery INDBE app provides over 3,000 FK questions with patient boxes to help you train you for the type of case-based questions that appear on the exam. I have heard that there is one downside: they do not have many questions with images or x-rays attached (these are the type of Qs that appear a lot on the actual test). I hope they improve this.
- ADA practice Qs are very similar to those that appear on the test.
- Aim for atleast 3-4 months study. If you are working then maybe need 5-6 months. Please take an exam date. Because as humans we tend to procrastinate a lot and most people tend work better under pressure. So once you have a date you will notice you will get determined to study.
- Plan your day
- Study at least a minimum of 2hrs per day or more if possible.
- Everyone’s grasping and retention capacity is different. So everyone may need a different amount of time. You have already gone through the basics in your school days.
So if you are a fresh graduate then it will be easier for you. If you are an international graduate who has done it a long time ago, it may take longer.
So for international grads,
For preparation of part 1 subjects set a goal of about 3 months , which would be enough and part 2 prep time of 2 months would be enough. I would recommend using mainly your Dental decks and ASDA released exams for this as the main resources.
Ethics and jurisprudence is not very hard but definitely do not ignore.
What to expect on the day of the exam? Schedule of the INBDE exam.
- On both days you will start with a 15 min tutorial.
- 15 min optional breaks included after every 100 questions on day 1 and after 70 questions on day 2.
1st day is 8hrs
2nd day is 4hrs
I would recommend you take at least 1-2 of those breaks to relax your mind and use the restroom or something. Do not read any more in those breaks. Cramming at the last minute is not helpful. Usually just set an alarm and close your eyes and relax yourself in the meantime.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, it is very natural to feel like you did not do as well as you actually did after the exam. When solving practice quizzes on the app, you may feel like you scored around 70-80% correct . Retake the same practice exams again and keep improving your score. And THAT'S all my friend how you study for INBDE.
Now remember that the INBDE can be taken only in the US or Canada and you would need to visit these countries for the same as international dentists. So apply for your passport and visas in advance.
All of the links for these books are listed below.
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