One of the steps of the STATMed Test-taking process (the one I think of like the unsung hero of our method) is the Status Check. This means, quite simply, that AFTER you read the passage neutrally and AFTER you identify your most valuable clues, you get to ask yourself what you think might be going on in the question. You may have a specific diagnosis in mind or something more general, or you may be able to rule one or two things out. One of the most potentially confusing things we tell testers, though, is that they are allowed to anticipate but not to predict at this point. So what does that mean?
On The STATMed Podcast: Test-Taking Misses or Knowledge Misses — What’s Derailing Your Scores on Medical Boards?
“My view is test-taking methods,won’t cover or bridge these knowledge gaps. Test-taking does not hack the test. Test-taking is about cleaning up the user interface so you can clearly show what you know, but you have to know enough. And that’s addressed, through augmented streamlined st
On The STATMed Podcast: What Makes a Good Test-Taker — Nature Vs. Nurture Pt. 1
“When we talk about test-taking at this level, I’m not interested in test-taking tricks or deductive reasoning strategies. That stuff is all invalid in my book. Test-taking at this level should be about cleaning up the test-taker’s ability to interface with and show what they know on boards. Being a good test-taker means you consistently plug into a question and read it accurately, without adding or losing key information while drawing the correct inferences using the parts of what you know. In some manner, the good test-taker narrows the choices by eliminating options that are partially false and then choosing the safest remaining answer choice.”
The Click — A Common Med School Test-Taking Mistake
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how well a theory or an answer matches up with any one clue; what matters is whether it matches up with ALL the clues.
“If not for STATMed Learning, I would struggle in medical school.”
“I learned how to retain information, how to attack a test with a strategy and methodology, and eliminate my test anxiety. The results have been amazing.” – Marshall S.
Test-Taking Strategy: Shield of Neutrality
We teach our STATMed Boards Test-Takers how to build and maintain what we call the “shield of neutrality.” This strategy helps protect them from self-doubt, twisting, rounding down, or thinking they have to know everything about an answer option.
On the STATMed Podcast: I Failed My Board Exam – What now?
“I think sometimes it’s easy to think that what we’re talking about is that we’re going to teach you some “hacks” to get past the test-taker, to read the mind of what they’re doing, to “beat the test”. That’s not what we’re talking about. These tests are not something where we can institute two hacks, and all of a sudden our scores are improving.” – David LeSalle
Oh no! I Failed My Boards!
We can help by redesigning the way you take tests. This means looking at the way you read and navigate questions, narrowing your choices, and selecting your answers using the parts of what you know. We also look at redesigning how you study (including time management, generating workflow, and tracking progress).
Bad Test-Taking on Medical Boards Doesn’t Have to Be the End of the Road
“I wish I had found this earlier in my medical career rather than just for my internal medicine boards! The strategies they presented were so helpful and helped me to understand that I was doing my testing strategy all wrong!” — Ingrid Y.
On the STATMed Podcast: Study Group Best Practices
“You can learn an awful lot more from your failures and mistakes, right, than those successes. I think that’s a huge part of problem solve.” – Dr. Jim Culhane