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- Feb 23, 2007
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Hi everyone. A brief intro about myself. I graduated from a college (ranked Top 25 in the US) and I'm currently a 2nd-year medical student in a US medical school (ranked Top 20). I was a biology/psychology double major. School names are omitted for privacy and political reasons, and you don't have to believe the school ranks mean anything
Make a long story short: I'm just not a multiple choice (MC) person.
My undergraduate college has such an "anti-multiple choice" atmosphere. I don't know why. During my 4 years there, after taking 100+ exams, probably 5 of them involve multiple choice questions. Shocking huh, but it's true.
My medical school, on the other hand, relies exclusively on single-best-answer answer multiple choice questions. I am just not good at it. To summarize my experience:
1. After the exam, if I feel I got 100%, it usually comes out as 95%. It was true for both my SAT math (790) and MCAT biological and physical (13 and 12).
2. After an all-MC exam, if I feel good about it it's probably not very good. If I feel bad, it's probably very bad. This is completely the opposite if it were to be an all-short-answer-question exam. My grades on all-MC exams are almost always 5%-10% lower than my expected grades.
3. For MC questions where I'm not sure about the answer and have to do a 50-50 guess, I'm right only 30% of the times at best.
4. I am fully aware of all the MC-taking techniques and seriously attempted to use them. It doesn't work very well.
5. Diligence is not a question. I work 8+ hours everyday in addition to attending classes. No breaks. Weekends + holidays (Thanksgiving and X-mas) included. I read study materials, taking serious notes. Review everything on daily basis. Review everything for the week on weekends. Study 12 straight hours before exam.
6. Timing is not a problem either. For all exams in my school, 3-4 hours are allocated for a 1.5 hours exam.
7. I'm not satisfied with my current academic performance, but it will not impair my career goal. I will still be a doctor and most likely get the residency I like. But this is hurting my self-esteem and makes me think the world is unfair (maybe the world is indeed unfair).
I really want to know what you think, especially if you happen to be a Multiple Choice master! I don't know any MC master personally, but I heard rumors about students who can easily pull off 90%+ with very fragile understanding of the knowledge, solely by using their innate talent at taking MC questions and "examology."
Thank you very much for reading my post.
Make a long story short: I'm just not a multiple choice (MC) person.
My undergraduate college has such an "anti-multiple choice" atmosphere. I don't know why. During my 4 years there, after taking 100+ exams, probably 5 of them involve multiple choice questions. Shocking huh, but it's true.
My medical school, on the other hand, relies exclusively on single-best-answer answer multiple choice questions. I am just not good at it. To summarize my experience:
1. After the exam, if I feel I got 100%, it usually comes out as 95%. It was true for both my SAT math (790) and MCAT biological and physical (13 and 12).
2. After an all-MC exam, if I feel good about it it's probably not very good. If I feel bad, it's probably very bad. This is completely the opposite if it were to be an all-short-answer-question exam. My grades on all-MC exams are almost always 5%-10% lower than my expected grades.
3. For MC questions where I'm not sure about the answer and have to do a 50-50 guess, I'm right only 30% of the times at best.
4. I am fully aware of all the MC-taking techniques and seriously attempted to use them. It doesn't work very well.
5. Diligence is not a question. I work 8+ hours everyday in addition to attending classes. No breaks. Weekends + holidays (Thanksgiving and X-mas) included. I read study materials, taking serious notes. Review everything on daily basis. Review everything for the week on weekends. Study 12 straight hours before exam.
6. Timing is not a problem either. For all exams in my school, 3-4 hours are allocated for a 1.5 hours exam.
7. I'm not satisfied with my current academic performance, but it will not impair my career goal. I will still be a doctor and most likely get the residency I like. But this is hurting my self-esteem and makes me think the world is unfair (maybe the world is indeed unfair).
I really want to know what you think, especially if you happen to be a Multiple Choice master! I don't know any MC master personally, but I heard rumors about students who can easily pull off 90%+ with very fragile understanding of the knowledge, solely by using their innate talent at taking MC questions and "examology."
Thank you very much for reading my post.