Learning in Med School 101 - Video Series Part 4
In this video series, "Learning in Med School 101," we break down some key concepts about learning medical school, including skills, strategies, and techniques we share with medical students (and those in related medical fields).
In this video, we help you determine the root of your bad test-taking. Are you missing most of your questions because you just don't know the answers? Here's how you can decide if something is a knowledge or test-taking miss.
Knowledge Misses
"I've never heard this before!"
"I've seen this somewhere before but don't know what it is."
"I've seen it, and maybe even studied it… but I can't remember it."
"I learned it wrong."
Test-Taking Misses
"Oh… I knew that. I should have gotten it right! "
"I latched onto one clue and ignored the others."
"I narrow down to two and always pick the wrong one."
"I twisted the answer to make it fit."
"I got blinded by my prediction of the answer."
So, are you a bad test-taker? To find out, you have to be able to see your test-taking misses. You can only fix something if you know how it's broken. We recommend you start by figuring out what your miss ratio is. Determine what percentage of your missed questions come from a lack of knowledge and which are from bad test-taking habits. For example, if you missed ten questions, read the answers and explanations and discover how many were knowledge misses. If your miss ratio was 3:7 (knowledge: test-taking), that's pretty clearly bad test-taking. If most of your misses fall into the test-taking category, our Boards Workshop can help!
But, if you're looking at more of an 8:2 (knowledge: test-taking) ratio, this can show that your knowledge may not be where it needs to be. This could require an upgrade in your knowledge. So either just more studying or going to a review program - or overhauling and upgrading your study skills, which we tackle in our STATMed Study Skills Class.