Finding a Fix for Falling Scores – Kelly Milano, DC Student

National Board Scores Plummet

As National Boards are quickly sneaking up on us, it only takes one look to realize that scores have plummeted over the past year. According to LIFE’s website, the most recent National Board scores for Part One were a mere 57.4% compared to the national average of 74.8%. This number has decreased from 63.2% just six months earlier and from 82.1% just in September of 2009. These numbers are concerning to not only the students facing boards in a few weeks, but to the faculty and administration as well. Many students have felt we are ‘reliving the past’ and that we are on the fast track to another collision with the CCE.

According to Dr. McAulay, Executive Vice President, over the past two years, our first time test takers pass rates have put us in a tie for fifth place among the other chiropractic schools. He states that in the past 18 months we have been as high as third, but the ultimate goal is to be first. So what do these numbers mean? When you look at the 57.4% passing rate we currently have, it means that of the 136 students who took the test, 57.4% passed all six sections and don’t have to retake any of them. While we, as students, feel relieved to see we only have to retake one or two sections, we are hurting the overall pass rate of the school as a whole. When it comes to Parts two, three and four LIFE is sitting in a good position, surpassing the averages in both Part two and Part four. We are not out of the woods and a lot of

Dr. Numeroff and Dr. King both stated that after the initial downfall 18 months ago the school began to look at what was causing the changes and what needed to be done to correct it. A group of professors began assessing the patterns and the process of our education. They began reviewing syllabi from the professors and seeing how they lined up with the NBCE tests. Dr. Amos, has been gathering questions from professors to update and expand the National Boards Prep section of the schools website. (Didn’t know we had that? If you are registered for the National Boards Prep Assembly, go to Blackboard and to the Board Assembly section. Under Documents you will find practice tests that target some of the most difficult board questions, memory joggers, review information and items contributed from each of the professors. There is also a link to Study Stack, an online flash card program that has a chiropractic section already created.)

Dr. Numeroff also stated that one of the big things the faculty is looking at is what a Part One successful student looks like. By doing this, they are hoping to be able to create a standard to strive for and to strengthen any weaknesses in the curriculum. New teachers have been hired in the Basic Sciences Department, but it will take time for them to perfect their curriculum and to see those changes in the board scores.

While the school is working to revamp the curriculum and fight back against the dropping scores, Dr. King and Dr. Numeroff both gave several tips to help students do the best they can to pass boards. They said studying needs to start in first quarter. Dr. King stated that students need to begin putting together a binder and organizing their class notes. She states that she often tells students to keep their notes at the end of the quarter. If you’ve already thrown them away, go back to the professors and get their notes and put them in your binder for boards. Dr. Numeroff added that when you take a test, even if you get a 98%, go and look at the test. See what you missed and have the professor explain the concept to you if you don’t understand it. That topic could end up being heavily tested on boards and you will not want to miss those questions. Some of the biggest tips they gave included:

• Look at the National Boards Breakdown both on Blackboard and on NBCE.org.  Find your strengths and weaknesses and how they will weigh on the test. Study accordingly.
• Time management is crucial. It’s difficult to study for boards at the same time you are taking classes. Don’t wait until the last minute. Just because Microbiology may be mostly memorization, don’t put it off until the very end thinking you’ll remember it all. It’s one of the highest failed sections of our scores at the moment and it’s mostly because students push it off to the end.
• Rotate your study time. Don’t spend hours on one subject, but instead spend 20-30 minutes on it, then move on. Once you have a subject learned, move on and don’t come back to it.
• Know your study style and use it!  If you are a group studier, plan your group early. If you are visual, use one of the online flashcard sites.
• Keep a positive attitude!  When taking the test and you come to a question you don’t know, acknowledge it, remember that you are smart and have made it this far, and move on.
• Take boards as soon as you are eligible. The longer you wait, the more you will have to relearn.

Some other tips include that you don’t need to spend $500 on board review. Our professors have given us the information we need. They are the ones who write for National Boards and they are the ones who know what is on the exam. Use the tools they give you and study hard! If you do go to a review, remember it is a REVIEW! You will still need to put in outside study time.

Don’t try to give up caffeine if you are addicted to it. Don’t start or stop any habits or make major changes while preparing for boards. LIFE is responsible for making sure that students are prepared and pass boards, but only can assure your success! Be prepared and ROCK BOARDS this quarter!!! You are ready!

Let us know how you did. Follow us on Facebook and follow the conversation!

Board Review – Kelly Milano, DC Student

Is it Worth the Time and Money?

On September 10th & 11th, several hundred DC students went through their Part One Boards. In the weeks beforehand, many hours were spent learning, studying, reviewing and answering questions in an effort to prepare in the best way possible for these seemingly overwhelming tests.

For three weekends in a row, many of the students spent countless hours in room C-127 listening to Dr. Polley from Irene Gold Associates help in the review and studying process. Before board scores came back, the reviews were quite mixed and it didn’t seem to change much even after the scores were released.

Registration for the Irene Gold Board Review costs the student $425. For that money the student received a bound ‘review book’ that is full of acronyms, drawings and information. Some of the information is wrong and students were instructed to cross out sections and write in new ones. Many of the pages were typed in a word processor type font, showing the age of the original manuscript. Many students felt the book was outdated and needed to be replaced with one more up to date.There were pages that had been added in and never renumbered so in, for instance, the Spinal Anatomy section, you have pages 1-15, followed by another set of pages hand numbered 1-17.  Dr. Polley often had to say “In the Anatomy section, go to the SECOND page 5.” According to Diane Schwab, DC student, “I think the board review book should be more professional. There were several mistakes in there and the hand drawings could be done on a computer. That review book is a reflection of the entire process and should reflect a more accurate and professional status”.

Ron Wilcox, DC student, believed the Board Review helped him. He states, “I thought the board review was very helpful in a number of different ways, but most importantly it forced me to re-learn and review the material for 21 hours a weekend for a month leading up to the boards. I know I would have studied during those weekends; however I doubt I would have put as much time in as I did without the help of the board review.” He continues, “The review also helped with repetition of the material, ‘cause as we are always told it takes seven times to learn/memorize something, and the board review did just that, with repetition of the material weekend in and weekend out.” While several students said this same thing, none of them wanted to be quoted in this paper.

Recently, in a conversation with Dr. Denofrio, one of the Irene Gold associates who teaches some of the review sessions, he stated that Life has a great success rate with Dr. Polley and that our board scores are always relatively high. Upon learning that in the Spring of 2010, the most recent National Boards scores to have posted as of the date of this article, Life had only 64.1% passing rate, compared to 73.9% of the other colleges.) Denofrio seemed concerned. While Irene Gold offers a free retake of its course review for any student that may not pass National Boards, Life seems to not have ‘repeat customers.’  Dr. Polley prides himself on this fact. When looking at the most recent statistics, however, it shows that there was some sort of flaw in the system. Locating that flaw is a difficult task. Is it on the teaching level at Life? Is it on the review level of Board Review? There really isn’t a clear-cut answer. When questioned, many of the students who didn’t pass a section of boards didn’t feel that the board review was beneficial enough to retake, despite it being free. (None of these students were available for questioning or were not interested in having themselves quoted in this article.)

According to IreneGoldAssociates.com “Each instructor encourages visualization and understanding the material, and discourages memorization. We constantly upgrade our program to keep up with the newest material being asked by the board.” In talking to many students who took the review course, I was unable to find a single one who felt this to be true.  In fact there were many students who felt Irene Gold taught them a ton of acronyms to remember various answers (which is simply a memorization tool.) The problem seemed to be that National Boards appeared to write questions very strategically so many of the acronyms weren’t applicable. When asked about National Boards having gone through the Irene Gold book and written questions accordingly, Dr. Denofrio agreed and said that National Boards, in fact, HAS gone through the review book in the past and that it was quite possible that they have started writing questions differently. He stated that Irene Gold is interested in improving their review systems, but he also stated, “You must remember that this (Irene Gold) is a business”.
8^th quarter student, Cara Sutton-Settimi stated, “I honestly felt like the only reason I was there was because I wouldn’t have studied on my own. But I should know by now, that when I’m under pressure I can pull anything off! Wish I had saved the money.”

As you approach National Boards in the future, take a look at what you are hoping to get from the classes. Amy Herberholtz, DC Students stated, “I should have just gone through my Path One notes and Radd B notes. That would have been way more helpful.”  Truly, the professors at Life have taught you everything you need to know. Decide for yourself whether it is a better use of your time (and money) to go through the review sessions, or to sit down with all your old class notes and Ameripress and go through them again.  Dr. Rigby, Dr. Rompf, Dr. Fox and yes, Dr. Bourdeinyi, as well as the others, have taught you ALL the material necessary.