Author’s Note
Before reading my overview of the CBSE for oral surgery applicants, know that it will be formatted a little differently than the rest of AccessOMFS. For the majority of other pages, I have kept the information as objective as possible. I have stepped away from that for the oral surgery CBSE guide because every test taker’s experience is different. Below is my experience and how I feel that the CBSE should be approached (I scored well, but for privacy’s sake, I will not be divulging my score. I hope you understand). You may see a different way to attack this beast of a test, and there’s nothing wrong with that. There is not a single method of studying that is best, but there is a pattern of hard work, persistence, and plain smarts that it takes to do well. I encourage those that have studied and taken the test, especially those that have done well, to share their experiences below.
Where to Begin
First and foremost, this test sucks. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying. Granted, there are some geniuses out there that have photographic memories and such, but if you’re like me, you need to get ready to dedicate some serious mental effort to taking this test. Although it is difficult, it is a reasonable test.
Step 1: Set a Goal
To get started, you need to have a goal in mind. Are you pursuing a four-year program? Six-year? Don’t know? Although there may be a minor difference (if any at all) between how single and dual-degree programs view the CBSE, this is still a very important test. Realize that you are competing against a few hundred other applicants where only about half match. If that sounds scary, it’s because it is. It can only help you to do better on this test. If you go into it with the attitude that you just want to pass (historically >65; some consider >67 now because of the change in the USMLE Step 1 passing score), and don’t take the time to prepare it could prove disastrous.
Before I scare you too much, know that people match with 50s all of the time. You don’t have to score in the upper 70s to match (although some users on SDN will tell you otherwise). It should be common sense though that there are a lot more OMFS residents that scored >60 than in the 50s, so keep that in mind. If you are ambitious, and want to set yourself apart and land a lot of interviews, a score >67 should be adequate (passing Step1). My reasoning being that the average for the past few tests has hovered around 55 with a standard deviation around 10. So, if you score a 67, you are outside one standard deviation putting you in the top 15% of test-takers. Theoretically, if there are 300 test takers per test (600 in a year; these are just a wild estimate), then you are within the top 100 scores for that year. There are ~230 positions available. With that reasoning, a score of >67 should be competitive considering your class rank and interviewing skills are up to par. Any score above that and you just became more competitive. Some programs apparently only take applicants that have scored >70, although I’m unsure of the specific programs (comment below if you know). So why not try? Set the bar high, other people are. The goal after all is to get an interview. Anecdotally, I heard that the average score for those that matched was a 64, so there’s that. Below are some conversion charts that might give you a little direction.
Step 2: Make a Study Plan
Because most dental schools give a watered-down version of the basic sciences (as oppose to some dental schools that take classes with medical students), it leaves the majority of those taking the CBSE incredibly unprepared. The best way to prepare is to start early and get organized. If your dental school is like most, then you finish your basic science classes near the middle or end of your D2 year. This is the absolute best time in my opinion to take the CBSE. Why? Because the farther you get away from those classes, the more you are going to forget. Also, having to deal with clinic requirements, lab work, and unreasonable professors during your D3 and D4 years will make it even more difficult to study.
With this in mind, find out what date works for you and work backward from there. If you are the kind of person that has to study night and day for two weeks to do average on an exam this test is going to kick your ass. I don’t want to discourage you from taking it, but you may want to set more time aside than most. Probably even six months ahead of time. However, if you can study a couple of days ahead of time and make a high B or low A, then two months of hard studying (read: really hard) may be enough. I personally studied lightly for two months, and then two months really hard after that. If you’re brilliant and have really good basic science classes, one month may be doable. It is incredibly easy to burn out, and if you study too far ahead of time you may start forgetting the information that you are learning. The key is to pace yourself and take breaks when necessary.
Step 3: Study
The most common recommendation for people studying for the CBSE is UFAP. UFAP stands for the three most important study tools for the CBSE: UWorld, First Aid, and Pathoma. UWorld is a question bank that contains over 2200 CBSE-style questions. The software is very similar to that of the actual exam so on test day you’ll feel comfortable. The questions are hard, multi-tiered questions, that usually have a clinical vignette. For example, the clinical vignette will give symptoms of a patient and the question will ask, “What is the mechanism of action of the drug that is best used to treat this patient?” This means you need to be able to 1. Diagnose the patient, 2. Know how to treat the patient, and 3. Know how the drug works. Lots of studying is necessary to be able to assimilate all of the information necessary to answer these style questions. It is recommended that you make it through most, if not all of UWorld. There is also an app available so if you’re stuck waiting somewhere you can quiz yourself.
USMLE First Aid is another great resource. It is a high-quality book, and they come out with an updated edition every year. Any possible question from the CBSE could be answered with First Aid. It may be a single word in the whole book, but it’s there. In the month before I took my test, I read the book from start to finish. I made sure to highlight frequently tested topics or areas I was weak. You could easily end up highlighting the whole book though because everything in there is high-yield. First Aid should serve as your reference for your studies. I wish I had bought FA earlier and used it to follow along in my basic sciences courses. It would have been a great way to see what I was missing early.
Pathoma is a lecture-based study tool that does an incredible job of hitting the high-yield pathology that is tested on the CBSE. Dr. Sattar is an awesome teacher and explains all of the subjects very clearly. The information is not entirely comprehensive, but it really doesn’t matter because he only really tells you what you need to know. It comes with a book that is an outline of his lectures so you can follow along and take notes. The book is only ~200 pages, making it something you could read in a day or two to review before the test.
Even though UFAP is the go-to method for most, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other resources available to use. The key is to find a few that you feel comfortable with and go from there. If you try to incorporate too many tools, you’ll just get bogged down. However, there are some notable ones such as SketchyMicro (now SketchyMedical), Goljian’s lectures and rapid review, and Firecracker. There are probably a million more out there.
Be sure to check out the Resources page for links to the study materials mentioned here and more.
Step 4: Check Your Progress
When studying for the CBSE, it is very important that you realize where you stand. Otherwise, you could get to test day feeling confident and realize 10 questions in that you weren’t ready at all. Even though you could still learn from that experience, it means that you just spent $185 and tons of time studying to sit in front of a screen for four hours just to know what the questions looked like.
A good way to check your progress or establish a base line is to take a practice CBSE. You can do this either through UWorld self-assessments or NBME self-assessments. There are pros and cons to each. UWorld is cheaper overall (~$200 for >2000Qs with expanded feedback for two months) and you also get to review your answers. However, UWorld is said to overestimate your score some. The NBME self-assessments are about $60 each if you get the expanded feedback. The feedback is nice because you can see areas you are struggling or dominating (hopefully). The NBME is also supposed to be a pretty accurate score predictor. The main con is that you don’t get to review the questions in the same detail as UWorld, so it isn’t much of a learning experience.
Another way you can check your progress is by using your UWorld percentage. People tend to have different opinions about the accuracy of doing this, but I found it to actually be pretty close to my score. That could be a coincidence though so be careful. Also, in order for this to work, you will need to take the question blocks in the same format as the test: 44 (used to be 46) question blocks, timed, and random with all sections picked. If you’ve used study mode or looked up answers while taking blocks, average your last seven blocks that were taken timed, randomly. There is a conversion chart based on percentages here.
Step 5: Take the Test
The final step to finishing the CBSE is to actually take it. After tons of time studying, the day will finally come when you sit in front of that computer and start answering questions. An important thing to do about a week before test day is to make sure you have your receipt from Prometric that you have a seat, you have your necessary ID, and that you know where the Prometric center is located. On the day before, it is important to relax and take a little break from studying. If you have to cram the day before, that’s not a good sign. Eat healthy and hydrate the night before. Exercise if that’s your thing and make sure to get some good sleep. Doing simple things like these can help manage stress a lot.
When test day comes, make sure you have all of your necessary items and get to the test center a little early. Actually getting there early takes some pressure off of you too. For the actual test, I only brought my necessary ID, ticket, and ear plugs. Other than that, it’s up to you to do well. Good luck!
For a more in-depth study schedule, take a look at the 60 Day CBSE Study Guide
For additional CBSE study material reviewed, look at New(ish) CBSE Study Resources