 Hello, everybody. Andrea Terevsky here with Dental Oil Tutoring. We had just moved, so I'm sorry about the boxes behind you. It looks a little bit messy, but soon they will be gone. In the video today, I would like to talk to you guys about how to start studying for the board exam. So this is for dental hygiene and dental assisting students. This is literally when it's hopefully at least a few months before the board exam and you're thinking, okay, I have to start studying, but I don't know how or where or what to get started with. So this is for you who just has no where or you do not know where to start, okay? And remember, I was a student once too. I had the same thing. I took the board exam actually before I had graduated. So I took the board exam a few months before. So I was studying for the board exam while I had clinic, tests, assignments, projects, you name it, it was crazy, but I started studying about three months before the board exam. And I've been tutoring now for about 13 years, and I have a course called the Board Exam Prep Academy where students are able to sign up a year even before they take the board exam because I like saying that, because I actually want you all to study a little bit over time, because what I've learned over my 13 years of teaching experience is if you study a month before the board exam, you will not be as successful as somebody who has studied at least three months before. Even a year before the board exam can't hurt anything, because everything that you're learning for the board exam, you have to know for the real world also. So even if you're technically studying a year before, all of that information that you're learning, you have to know it anyway. Whereas three months before the board exam, you pretty much have to study specific to the board exam because you don't want to study too much, you don't want to study not enough, and there is such a thing as studying too much, and there is such a thing as studying not enough. So if you're not a part of my board exam prep academy, I will tell you guys where to start, and I say this because within the board exam prep academy, I will actually show you guys exactly where to start depending on when you had signed up. So it is outlined actually by modules, modules and topics. So it makes it easy to study. So you go through module one, study all of that, go through module two, study all of that, and then move on, right? Plus I have mock exams, I love mock exams because that's the best way to test your knowledge. I have lecture videos that are about an hour long because we do our live tutoring sessions online about twice a month. So there's lots in there for you, so you will never be thinking to yourself, what do I study because it's all right there. But if you're not part of the course yet because you should be, but if you're not, what I want you guys to start off with is your notes from school. I say your notes because if you start off with your textbook first, you get overwhelmed very, very fast. I've known so many students who pretty much try to start off with chapter one of their textbook and then they realize, oh my god, like this is boring. We learn this first semester, I've been studying this for four hours and I know nothing, oh my god, this is horrible. So that's what happens and then students stop studying, students get angry, they get upset, they get discouraged and then they just don't study until a couple months before the board exam. But then at that point, they feel like they have to hurry, hurry, hurry and rush, rush, rush to get everything in there. So I do highly suggest not looking at the textbook, but look at your notes in school because they are typically easier to read and look at each topic. Now if you're not sure where to start, I suggest starting with radiography and if you haven't seen them yet, I do have a few videos on YouTube about x-rays, processing errors, the history of radiography and there's another one too, I just can't think of it now, but I have lots of them. So do a search on YouTube, I have tons that you don't have to pay for. So have a look you guys. So that's a topic that I do suggest starting with. My puppies have decided to play behind me, so I'm sorry if you can hear that too. But another one is oral pathology. Now oral pathology though is one topic where I do suggest looking in your textbook because the notes you took in school probably aren't quite up to par as what's in the textbook, but it depends on your instructor. Your notes might be amazing, right? So have a look at that, but you do need to know the lesions, know all of the lesions. I'm talking like the macules, the papuels, the lesions inside the mouth, all of that. So again, if you're not sure where to start, start with radiography and oral pathology and go from there. And you should be studying at least two hours a day up to six hours a day. Don't study more than that and don't study less. If you don't feel like you have the time to study two hours a day, make the time. And if you feel like six hours isn't enough, it is enough. Trust me, I've been doing this now for 13 years. I have seen students who study 10 hours a day and don't pass. It's because there is such a thing as studying too much. You need to take it easy sometimes. You need to take a break. You need to get enough sleep. So there is such a thing as studying too much. And if you need help, I am always here to help, especially if you have taken the exam once before and you were not successful, you should be asking for my help. Because if you didn't pass the first time, it's not likely because you don't know the material, but it's because you did not study properly. You need help with multiple choice type questions. So that's where mock exams are excellent too. I have tons of them because I find after you study a topic, even if you think to yourself, okay, I know that pretty well, you don't know, you know it until you take some mock exam questions to test your knowledge. And you don't know what types of questions to ask yourself. So even if you're studying with a partner, you don't know sort of what questions that they should be asking you. But I have all of them down there so that you know that if you do a good job on the mock exam package that you will pass. Because how could you not? So if you need help, let me know. And I should say too, with the mock exams and questions, look at them after you study a topic. Because if you look at a mock exam package first, you will look at the questions and get easily overwhelmed because they will be hard for you. Because if you haven't studied it yet, then you don't know the information because you have to remember that I was a student once too. So I had to learn something for the first time. The first time I learned something, I didn't know it. I had no clue. In fact, I remember learning the teeth numbers for the first time in dental assisting and I was kind of like, what? I'm never going to know this, you know, but it's easy, right? So we all learned something for the first time. It's a matter of keeping up with it and keeping in mind that the first couple of times we learn something, we don't know it. Like we just, it's, you know, in one year out the other, that's normal. But after the 10th, 11th time of doing something, you're like, okay, we're starting to get the hang of this. So that's very, very normal. So start there first. Start with your notes from school and then if you must have a look in the textbook afterwards and do a topic a day, I'd say. So two hours of study minimum up to six hours every single day. Thank you guys for watching and I'll see you guys in the next video.