As a current 1st year, my experiences have deviated SIGNIFICANTLY from what the normal 1st year experience at Adelaide BDS would be like due to COVID. However, most of the principles will remain roughly the same.
I definitely agree with many points raised by
Jnhjns with regards to preparing for dental school. OneNote is great to use as a compiling tool. However, I personally don't use it since I find trying to revise on OneNote very hard since the formatting options on it isn't as great compared to Word. I use Anki flashcards instead since I find it a much more effective learning tool. Regarding dental ergonomics at Adelaide BDS, this is covered through an online video which you watch in your own time. Obviously, this would be highly advised since having good ergonomics is quintessential to you maintaining your career as a Dentist but having bad posture can also result in you getting poor marks in clinic + sim clinic (since you get assessed pretty much everytime on posture in those settings). Regarding loupes, generally people in Adelaide BDS don't get loupes until late BDS2 or early BDS3 (can't really comment much on why) and they are flipping expensive.
I, like Jnhjns, felt the practical component a much easier component for me than theory mainly due to my prolonged experiences with lots of online gaming (since I was 5yo), participation in a lot of hand sports (basketball + table tennis in particular) as well as having done 1 year of physiotherapy in 2019. However, experience is only 1 half of the story. Reflection is perhaps the most important part of dental school, and going forth as a graduate. No matter what happens, you will never be perfect in Dentistry especially if you are doing it for the first time. In Adelaide BDS1-5, we have reflection books which we keep and fill out at the end of each clinic/sim clinic session where we write about how we felt about our session (strengths + weaknesses + how to improve next time). The tutor then writes their own feedback and so you get the best of 2 worlds. You ABSOLUTELY have to keep reviewing this book to limit the chances of you making the same mistakes in future sessions. I have some pictures of my sim clinic sheets from my very first session VS my final session in semester 2 as a way of emphasising how important experience and reflection is.
Moving onto personal insights, something I absolutely encourage is actively participating and actually attending all classes F2F or Zoom sessions especially if they are dental-clinic content. We have biodental science review sessions but generally they are a waste of time in most situations (at least in my experience). BDS1 is an amazing opportunity for you to start interacting with the upper years since they can give valuable resources and experiences. There are GILS (group + individual learnings) hosted outside of the dental school by the AUDSS (dental students society) for each year level to help and supplement students with their learnings and workshops (eg. rubber dam). Personally, I have found the clinics (where you work on other students in groups of 3 -> rotating roles between dentist, dental assistant and patient) more stressful compared to sim clinic especially from a time perspective but generally that is a common experience felt by every almost student in my year.
Something which I find imperative in sim clinic and clinic is that you HAVE to take initiative for your own learning. If you are struggling with a particular procedure or problem, ASK EARLY. If you want tips on how you can fix your ergonomics or want to know your tutor's preferences for a particular procedure, ASK EARLY. If tutor asks you to critique your work, don't walk around the fence and pretend your work is great when there are errors. Be as specific as possible in your feedback (ie. don't say something like "could work more on smoother finish on the tooth surface". Write instead "mesial cusp incline of the 46 tooth is rough -> use tip of hollenback carver and carve more parallel") because it makes it easier for you to visualise your mistakes when you try and reflect on it. Ideally, you want to know your mistakes and how to solve it before your tutor does it for you. To help with that, it is imperative that you prep beforehand. We get given guides and sheets a few days to a week before our clinic/sim clinic which outline what we will be doing during the session. You HAVE to do prep before every one of those sessions because you get assessed pretty much everytime you are in the clinic or sim clinic. Yes, it sounds stressful but the reality is that once you go out into the workforce as a dentist, you are ALWAYS being assessed by your patients, your employer, your dental assistant (ie. your public reputation). What I find helps out significantly is to not view these sessions as "oh sh*t, I am getting assessed, if I screw up I am absolutely done for". Having this mindset is very detrimental to your performance and only acts to give you more stress which makes you perform worse. Rather, I felt that these sessions as an opportunity to learn and really have fun. Sure, I make mistakes but my mindset when I do make them is "hell yes, f*ck my marks I don't give a sh*t. At least I get to learn something and work towards a goal and perfecting a mistake". Honestly, I felt that these practical sessions were like me playing online video games. I felt very elated and happy to be in the clinic/sim clinic environment because I viewed it as a way to problem solve and really apply my hobbies into a practical career that I really enjoyed. You will slowly begin to realise that your marks are generally correlated with how much you enjoy the activities and how much more calm (not stressed) you are.
Hopefully that outlines my experiences of my 1st year at Adelaide BDS. Very practically-focused but hopefully it is a more personal insight than what is given on the Admissions guide