 Hello everybody, Andrea Mayesky here with Dental Tutoring. I will be talking to you guys about how to pass the board exam the first time. If you're taking the board exam for the second time, that's okay. Then this is for you on how to pass the board exam the next time. So just a quick recap about me, about 30 seconds here. So I've been tutoring for about 14 years now. So I've been tutoring dental hygiene and dental assistant students for 14 years. I have taught countless number of students helping them to pass the board exam. Even when they thought it wasn't possible. Online tutoring is a thing, okay? I know that I can help you. So some tips on passing. Do not study all day every day. That will not help you because you will quickly become exhausted trying to read the same things over and over again that when you're studying is just not, you're not going to remember anything. I say take, you know, shorter periods. So it is perfectly fine to study two hours one day, six hours the next day, three hours the next day, eight hours the next day even, but just don't always do those eight, eight hours. So I typically say study two hours minimum every single day up to six hours maximum and make sure to take a break. Do not study for six hours, you know, in total, right? You need to eat, you need to sleep, you need to get outside and take a day off during the week where you're not studying at all. And that's a nice thing that I like to offer my students is if they feel like, okay, I have just read too much, then they can listen to me teaching them. So I do offer mock exam packages. I do offer module type of studying where it's like reading a textbook, but a lot more exciting because it's in a PowerPoint format. I do offer that, let's say you want to hear me teach you pharmacology. You just have to look for the video that says pharmacology and then there you go. So I do kind of offer different types too, so then that way you're not always just reading a textbook. That's the worst thing you can do is read your textbook because you have been there, you have done that, you need to read different types of things to challenge your mind a little bit because if you're constantly reading the same chapter, whether you know it or not, you're able to memorize that. But even when you take the board exam and you see the questions in a different way, you might have thought you knew all about oral pathology, but then on the board exam when they ask you an oral pathology question in a different way, that's not outlined in the textbook. You're like, uh-oh, I don't know this. So you need to see things in a different way. I can help if you need help. Another thing is, as I had said, make sure to take time off. Every day, or sorry, not every day, every single week, take a day off. Honestly, if you're taking the board exam in a month, okay, maybe don't take a day off, I would be studying every single day up to that point. But if it's like three months out, it is okay to take a day off during the week. If you work full-time, take some time off so you're not constantly like study, study, study, and then you have to work, study, study, study, and then you have to work. If you're still in school, well, that makes it a little bit harder, right? Because you'll be constantly thinking about dental stuff, right? It does make it harder, but just remember to take breaks. Take mock exams is my next tip. So that brings me to kind of my last point. Where I said it's one thing to read through the textbook and think you know all about oral pathology. But when you take a mock exam package on oral pathology, let's just say you see questions in a different way. You will see different types of answers where two answers are the most correct. So here you think you know all about oral pathology, but when you see things differently, you go, oh geez, I don't know what this question's even asking. And that's okay, but that tells you you need to study oral pathology again. But do not go back and read that boring textbook. You need something else to kind of look at. So you're not just reading the textbook. That's the worst way to study is reading the textbooks. Inside my course, I have a mix. So mock exam packages on every single topic. I have, we tutor together with my students twice a month. So we're always talking about a different topic, different case studies, different mock exam questions. So you're not always just oral pathology, oral pathology, oral pathology. You're studying different topics. So make sure to do that too. Study different topics. Do not take week one and just do oral pathology. No, take day one and do oral pathology, nutrition, but not just one topic. Take even a couple topics. Day two, do pharmacology and prevention. You know, something like that. Mix it up. That's another good key point is to mix it up. For your studying, study at least three months in advance. Even six months, I would say is better. But three months at least, there is nothing worse than trying to study two weeks in advance. If people have told you that they passed the board exam and they were only able to study two weeks before, they're lying, okay? They're lying. It's impossible because you have to take everything you learned in school, put it all together and pass. No pressure, right? Seriously, I learned everything after working a couple of years in school. It just kind of felt like I was going through the motions, memorizing that was it because that's all I had time for. But let me help you actually understand. I can make things exciting for you guys, as silly as that might sound. But I can make dental hygiene and dental assisting topics exciting. I really, really can. So if you haven't looked into the Board Exam Prep Academy yet, have a look because it's everything you need to know to pass the board exam. Mock exams, case studies, lectures, tutoring. There's a private community online to actually talk to other dental hygiene and dental assisting students so you can all share this very, very stressful time. You know, like talk to each other, network. You know, it's a lot more exciting that way. What else? Those are the main tips, but those are the main things that I find a lot of students aren't doing is either they're studying too much, like eight hours every single day, not good. They're not taking any mock exams. You have to take mock exams to know if you're actually on the right track. And if you need help, seek tutoring help. It is totally worth it because if you don't pass, then you'll be saying, I wish I had tutoring help, you know, because then I would have passed. If you get tutoring help, you know you can pass because I am telling you and showing you exactly what to study, how to study without studying too much, but only studying what you have to study. So thank you guys for watching. Good luck. Happy studying. Take a break. And I will talk to you guys in the next one.