Picture courtesy - Dr Afrah Misbah
“People Who Are Crazy Enough To Think They Can Change The World, Are The Ones Who Do.” – Rob Siltanen
My friend's advice to anyone preparing for NDBE, who is now working in Canada.
"There are 2 ways to get into the system. One method is Direct Licensure where u write 4 exams and u can start ur practice and the second one is after giving ur first exam and if ur score is good u can get into universities and study for 2 years where u will get a DDS degree.
For Direct Licensing, There are 4 major exams to clear and we have 3 attempts only for each exam
1. Assessment in Fundamental Knowledge (AFK)
The first exam is called AFK. We have coaching centres which give u material and coach u as to what is required to crack this exam— it’s usually a 3-month course and the fee for coaching institute is around $3000
So once u take the course and feel confident u can sit in the exam. The passing score required to go to the next level is 75.
And if u pass the AFK exam at this point u can decide whether u want to go to university for a DDS degree or do direct licensing.
Now for direct licensing, u will go ahead and write the 2nd set of exams, which is
Assessment of Clinical Judgement(ACJ) and Assessment of Clinical Skills (ACS)
2.Assessment of Clinical Judgement (ACJ)
ACJ is a very tricky exam, with negative marking, All clinical cases and radiographs,60 questions on clinical cases which includes medical emergencies, pharmacology, prescription, endo, ortho, LA, perio, path, and 60 radiographs to assess.. people who have clinical practice are in a better position to pass this one.
U need 75 to pass this exam as well, there are coaching centres for this as well and the fee is around $2200 and then if confident u can write this exam
3. Assessment of Clinical Skills
This exam is all clinical based, it’s a 2-day exam where u will be asked to do preparations and restorations on a dental manikin, like MOD preparations, Amalgam fillings, Crown prep, class 2,3,4 preparation, record keeping, infectious control, composite fillings, rubber dam application, endo access prep, full metal crowns. There are coaching centres that help u with this, they charge anywhere between $6-7000 for just coaching, the whole instrument set to study for this exam will be around close to $10,000 and then when u are confident u can apply for the exam.
You have 3 attempts to clear all the exam, pretty tough sets of exams but people are getting through these, some people don’t want to go thru the level and unpredictability of these exams and they join university after doing 1st exam AFK.
U need to pass these exams to be certified as a dentist and after these exams write OSCE which is a combination of all the above exam comparatively easier one..and if u pass all this u will go ahead with certifications and u will be able to practice as a general dentist here in Canada so u can either open ur clinic or get a job in a clinic..
Please think about moving here coz a lot of hard work, if u still wanna move to this side then I would definitely suggest the US is a much easier way to get into the system, Not to discourage you but Canada has lately become highly competitive and these exams are getting tougher day by day... I love Canada one of the best countries to live in other than winters.. please think twice and make a wise decision.
And yes u can come and write these exams on a visit visa as well but if u want to practice then u need to be a Permanent resident... and I think they have a centre for AFK in New Zealand as well.. u can get the rest of the info from their website."
Some Friendly Advice to Bear in Mind
These are the things you should focus on if you are absolutely certain about this: (I was and this is what I did)
1) How to get to Canada: to do this you need to be here, for you to get a PR, you can take a short course and so get a student visa and work yourself up, you can get a visa using the coaching centre as an institute (I didn’t know you could do this, but I have friends at my coaching centre that have done it that way)
2) Finances - very important to budget things and work up the cost, yes there are loans for this so you can look them up. But have to be smart about them.
3) Coaching for the exams: check out the centre’s by joining FB pages for the exam and talk to people about their experiences and decide in terms of cost and student experience what coaching centre would be best for you.
4) Accommodation and food: by location the prices change. So you would need to factor in this as well
5) Exam and coaching costs: depending on how you go about it but I would guesstimate it to be around 70,000$ at least, spread along the years you will get loans, yes, but you need to fall.
These are the helpful FB groups
Coaching Centres - some of these courses will help you with getting student visa - contact them directly.
Some videos and dentist journey