NBDE Part II - Done!

Well, if you've been following my blog, you knew that I took boards a few weeks ago, the day after Christmas to be exact, well, the results are in, and I PASSED!! I briefly celebrated on Friday by going out (oh so briefly before calling it an early night due to a long first week back : /) and also popped open a beer I've been saving up for the past few months (Kasteel Rogue)... it's my tradition to go out and buy a bottle of cherry beer and drink it when I know I passed boards... 2 for 2.. let's make it 3 for 3, although the next time I pass boards, I will be popping some champagne and probably treating myself to a 12 course meal somewhere... why? passing the next boards will be what makes me a licensed dentist in California and many other states.... I can't believe that is coming up so soon... I'm just not ready to leave this school life yet.. :(... but alas.. I'm ready for those new adventures... life is going to get a lot more challenging...starting... NOW.

I don't know how many of you actually read my blog, and how many dental people will come across it. One of the things that I know is that I don't really advertise well that I have a blog, especially to my friends, and people at school. I'd still want to keep this semi-private or have people who are actually interested, discover it themselves. My classmates know that I love to cook, but to what extent, I have no clue. I may be like many other people who love cooking, but I LOVE cooking. I would gladly spend my weekends cooped up in my kitchen waiting for bread to rise.. or meat to get tender... and then spend the next 15 minutes staging the scenary for a picture.... and after 258 posts (a years worth is private)... I think part of me secretly likes blogging as well... I want to take it to another level, but I will keep it as it is for now... maybe when I graduate I will have more time, and money to invest into this blog, money as in, trying new foods, and using more quality ingredients. I try to stay on a loose budget while at school. I think it'll be interesting to note that I spend around 100 dollars a month on groceries, and eat out once a week..I'd say I spend 100 bucks eating out every month, and that's probably including going out every weekend (minus cab fares : / ) ... I'd say that's pretty good for a San Franciscan... or you could say.. I'm not eating out enough.... and you are probably correct.... I say that amount will greatly change in the next few months when I start knocking things off my "must eat while in the city" list - gonna inch my way to the very top restaurants in the city!

If you're here for boards advice... keep reading... food people.. I'm sorry!

If you found my blog through looking for NBDE advice,  here are some tips for the NBDE Part II. I've read forums where people study for months... day and night... that made me feel so uneasy about my preparation. Note, I don't study well, I have problems focusing especially when I don't sense an urgency. I am very easily side tracked, and for the days that I think I studied 6 hours... I probably studied 3-4... and for my super intense days.. I probably did study for 6 hours.... I think I ended up studying intensely the last 2 days, and the rest of the week ( 5 ish days) I just read a section, and cooked and baked...kept it super chill... so I don't have some sort of panic attack... because really it's just a test, all you have to do is pass... they're not out to trick you, and if you feel tricked.. then trust me.. (mostly) everyone else will feel the same way.

- Board busters (reviewed prosth, operative, oral path, perio, and pedo) - I found this book to not be so engaging since I love pictures and color.. and there weren't any.. this book also used a lot of the released exam q's as their content, so when it came time to take that practice test... I surprisingly knew a lot of the answers... so that was bad...I got excited that I knew the answer but quickly realized I just read about the same question in Board Busters... now that's not real learning is it?  Regardless, since I didn't have time to go through all the released exams, this book was adequate. I flipped through it a lot... and I gotta love the book format.
- Dental Decks  (oral surgery, perio, prosth, endo) - I liked the decks for these topics, didn't review the others because I didn't have time... whoops... should have reviewed x-rays...
- Mosby's - ( Pt. management, and endo) definitely pt. management.. I don't really remember learning anything about these research terms in dental school, I guess my bachelor's degree that was half  psychology finally came to good use...
- Tuft's pharm - went through this 3 times, memorized everything, this. is. golden.
- Released exams - 1993, perio from the 1980's... and well that's it... didn't have time for much.
- First Aid NBDE Part II - this was too brief, but I just flipped through the whole book once.. for fun... sometime last summer... yes I tried to study in advance... totally backfired, but that was expected. I can't study when school is going on as well.

And that's it! That's how I got through all the material in a week :) If I can do it.. YOU can do it... really now... You need to see all the wonderful pictures of things I baked and cooked that week... Hooray to finishing NBDE Part I and II within the same year!.. Can't believe exactly 3 years ago... I got that call for the interview for this dental school...who would have thought things move this quickly?!.. Now time to tackle those requirements!