Alejandro's Tips for Balancing Work, School, and the INBDE

While studying for INBDE I had a bit going on, I was at school and also at my part-time job as a dental assistant. So time was tight.

I studied for a total of 4 months, 2 effective 0 distraction hours a day from Monday through Friday and 8 to 10 hours Saturdays and Sundays.

During the week I'd watch Mental Dental videos and do the questions on each video on bootcamp I'd pick one hard topic (like Pharm) and an easier one (like Endodontics) so I could switch between those two to avoid getting to tired of one. On the weekends I would do the videos again make notes and go through the respective bootcamp questions and quizzes to reinforce the information learned and evaluate my progress.

I was able to complete all Mental Dental videos in the first 3 months.

On the 4th month I only focused on Bootcamp and answering as many questions as possible. I almost never felt the need for additional info since all the feedback given by Bootcamp on every question is clear, easy to understand and very straightforward.

The weekend prior to the test I did the Mock exam which helped me a lot. I did the times and breaks just like I would on the test. It help me to evaluate and polish some weaker areas of my studying, it also helped me to check time and endurance.

Prepping for the INBDE

Two days prior to the test I ate well, drank a lot of water I exercised I relaxed and slept.

Day 1

That day I didn't drink that much water cause breaks are only 15 minutes. I had fruit and protein for breakfast but nothing to heavy. I brought some a Coke and some protein bars.

They way the questions are structured and the patient boxes are basically identical to the test, so you feel acquainted and comfortable when going through INBDE.

The questions are so similar in complexity if anything I found some of bootcamps harder which I appreciate, cause it gives you some extra confidence and security during the test.

The first 2 sections went smoothly when I got to the 3rd I was tired and wanted to be done so on the next break I snacked on what I had and the 4th went lighter.

Day 2

I had it the very next day, I was exhausted after the 1st section. I found it to be just like I mentioned before very similar if not slightly easier than the cases on Bootcamp, Overall I left feeling good.