Passed on 1st attempt
I took the INBDE June 29/30th 2026 as a D4, got my results back within ~2 weeks and I passed!
I studied using Booster for about 4 weeks very passively while balancing clinic and courses and 2 weeks prior to my exam date I locked in. Here’s a breakdown of what helped me:
- Watched Booster videos on topics I felt like I needed to re-fresh. They’re fairly quick and digestible
- Read ALL of the Booster study notes/cheat sheets and annotated/highlighted so that I really understand the material. The notes are dense but so worth it
- After watching videos/ reading notes, I would do the practice questions that correspond to the topic I just studied
- After doing each practice set, I went back to review the explanations for ALL questions even if I got them right. And if I had more questions, I used the AI feature on Booster to help. If there was anything that I found important/ helpful from the explanations, I would write it into the notes/cheat sheets
- Did the practice sets and case-based scenarios 2x before doing the mock exams
- Did mock exams once and made sure to review all my flagged/wrong questions. Make sure you understand why you got it wrong!
- Booster also has a game mode where you can do questions and compete against other users - I did this when I knew I should study but didn’t really feel like studying too hard, it was pretty fun
- I didn’t really make or follow a study schedule, just studied when I could. This worked for me, but if you need a schedule to follow, Booster has a feature to help make a schedule that works for you
- Make sure to finish everything and hit the benchmarks!! I didn’t focus too much on my scores for each sections the first time, but the second time I did all the questions I made sure that I made progress and tried to hit beyond the minimum benchmark
- The weekend before my exam, I took it easy and reviewed the cheat sheets with all my annotations especially for oral med, pharm, anatomy, and research
- I finished day 1 early and took the day off to rest for day 2. I was mentally drained from day 1 and didn't have the energy to review anymore
- I recommend coming to the testing center early, bringing water and snacks. Make sure to review the documents you need for your center ahead of time!!
Aside from the healthy amount of nervousness, I felt pretty confident going into the exam. I think Booster did a great job of covering all the topics and some of their questions were harder than the actual INBDE, which isn’t a bad thing. I also couldn’t tell which questions were pilot questions on the actual exam because so much was covered in Booster. A decent amount of questions I had on my exam were pretty similar if not identical to Boosters. The biggest piece of advice is understanding what study methods work for you, tailoring the program to your needs, and reading the questions/answers properly. Don’t let the nerves get to you, have confidence in yourselves and all the work you put in, good luck!!!
