NBDE – National Board of Dental Examination New Rules and Regulations from Jan 2012.

This is an Entrance examination for Foreign trained dentists who want to practice as a Dentist in USA.

Portion and Question Distribution in NBDE part I – Click here

The Rules which have been changed from Jan-2012:

NBDE part 1 new regulations Jan 2012

Rule 1 — Numerical Scores will not be Disclosed:

  • Earlier to 2012 the result was disclosed in the form of Numerical Scores, with above 75 as Pass and below 75 as Fail.
  • But from Jan – 2012 The result will be given only in Pass or Fail, the numerical score will not be disclosed to the Student and the University as well.
  • The Students who have appeared for NBDE part 1 before Jan – 2012 will retain their Numerical Scores.

How will this effect the intake criteria for Universities ?

  • The Universities will now be seeing your Graduate Academic Scores for admissions
  • Students applying to postgraduate programs will be required to submit with their ADEA PASS application a Personal Potential Index (PPI). The PPI is “a web-based evaluation system designed to provide a more complete picture of an applicant’s potential for success in an advanced dental education program—beyond grades, test scores and recommendation letters

Rule 2 — Retest is Cancelled

  • A Student who has Passed the NBDE part 1 examination will not be allowed to take a retest.

For Failed students:

  • You will be allowed to take Retest with a gap of 6 months for 2 Failed attempts.
  • From the 3rd Failed attempt, the student will have to appear for Retest after 12 months.
  • Only 5 Retest attempts are allowed.

These new regulations are effective from January 2012.

All other Rules and Regulations are the same without any change. These rules have been put forward by “Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations”

ASDA – American Student Dental association has  justified the change of evaluation into Pass/Fail from numerical scores is to assess the candidates in all round performance rather than just in Academics and IQ aspect. For which it has included2 new assessing Solutions:

  1. Personal Potential Index (PPI)
  2. National Postdoctoral Dental Qualifying Examination (NPDQE)

With inclusion of  “PPI and NPDQE” ASDA states that:

“The switch to a pass/fail NBDE will make non-cognitive personal dimensions more important. Using the PPI and possibly a national postdoctoral entrance exam, program directors hope to boost their abilities to identify applicants who will be most successful in their specialty. And with these new forms of evaluation, the best candidates may not be those with the highest IQ, but those who are well-rounded, personable and caring, in addition to clinically and scientifically competent.”