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First off, Congratulations to all of those who have been accepted to the classes of 2014!! Just thought I would give you guys a heads up on how they test material at my medical school, and likely your medical school, and a few questions on the subject boards were like this too.
Type of exam questions you might be used to...
What is the capitol of Missouri?
A) St. Louis
B) Columbia
C) Carson City
D) Springfield
E) Jefferson City
Credited Response --->(E) Jefferson City
Example of a Med School "equalizer" type question
Which of the following statements about your patient's experience in Missouri is least likely to be true?
A) While in Missouri, the patient stopped in Kansas City to see his brother's new house.
B) The patient took a helicopter tour of St. Louis and informs you that the famous Gateway Arch is the tallest habitable structure in Missouri.
C) Your patient recently moved 120 miles west from his house in Jefferson County to a ranch in Cole County, just outside of Jefferson City.
D) Missouri and Tennessee are each bordered by 7 states, more than any other state in America.
E) Your patient was found unconscious just north of St. Louis where the Missouri River, the longest river in the United States, empties into the Mississippi.
Answer Reasoning
A) This is a baseline answer in which if you choose this answer choice it tells the instructor that you clearly have no clue about the geography of Missouri, as Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri. But it's still not 100% true, because Kansas City extends into Kansas, and if the patients brother's house is in the part that extends into Kansas, it could be an incorrect answer. So you star this answer choice just in case all of the rest of the possible answer choices are 100% true, which would then make this answer choice the least likely to be true.... get it? 🙂
B) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false (aka least likely to be true) you need to know that: the famous arch in St. Louis is called the Gateway Arch; the arch is in fact habitable; it is 7 feet taller than One Kansas City Place.
C) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false you need to know that: Jefferson City resides in Cole County and not Jefferson County (which is in eastern Missouri); Cole County is ~120 miles west from Jefferson County; There are ranches in Cole County.
D) This is the credited response. While you may have remembered that Missouri and Tennessee each have more border states than any other, the total number of border states is 8 for each, not 7. Thus the answer is false. Answer justification --- Missouri is bordered by Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois --- Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
E) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false, you need to know that: The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River and empties into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis; the Missouri River is known to be the longest river in the US as it is ~220 miles longer than the Mississippi River (commonly mistaken as the longest river in the US)
Edit: I removed my opinions on why these types of questions are given in order to prevent thread digression. This thread was meant solely to give matriculants an idea of how questions are structured in med school. Please post your own interpretation of med school type questions 😀
Type of exam questions you might be used to...
What is the capitol of Missouri?
A) St. Louis
B) Columbia
C) Carson City
D) Springfield
E) Jefferson City
Credited Response --->(E) Jefferson City
Example of a Med School "equalizer" type question
Which of the following statements about your patient's experience in Missouri is least likely to be true?
A) While in Missouri, the patient stopped in Kansas City to see his brother's new house.
B) The patient took a helicopter tour of St. Louis and informs you that the famous Gateway Arch is the tallest habitable structure in Missouri.
C) Your patient recently moved 120 miles west from his house in Jefferson County to a ranch in Cole County, just outside of Jefferson City.
D) Missouri and Tennessee are each bordered by 7 states, more than any other state in America.
E) Your patient was found unconscious just north of St. Louis where the Missouri River, the longest river in the United States, empties into the Mississippi.
Answer Reasoning
A) This is a baseline answer in which if you choose this answer choice it tells the instructor that you clearly have no clue about the geography of Missouri, as Kansas City is the largest city in Missouri. But it's still not 100% true, because Kansas City extends into Kansas, and if the patients brother's house is in the part that extends into Kansas, it could be an incorrect answer. So you star this answer choice just in case all of the rest of the possible answer choices are 100% true, which would then make this answer choice the least likely to be true.... get it? 🙂
B) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false (aka least likely to be true) you need to know that: the famous arch in St. Louis is called the Gateway Arch; the arch is in fact habitable; it is 7 feet taller than One Kansas City Place.
C) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false you need to know that: Jefferson City resides in Cole County and not Jefferson County (which is in eastern Missouri); Cole County is ~120 miles west from Jefferson County; There are ranches in Cole County.
D) This is the credited response. While you may have remembered that Missouri and Tennessee each have more border states than any other, the total number of border states is 8 for each, not 7. Thus the answer is false. Answer justification --- Missouri is bordered by Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois --- Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.
E) In order to exclude this answer choice from being false, you need to know that: The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River and empties into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis; the Missouri River is known to be the longest river in the US as it is ~220 miles longer than the Mississippi River (commonly mistaken as the longest river in the US)
Edit: I removed my opinions on why these types of questions are given in order to prevent thread digression. This thread was meant solely to give matriculants an idea of how questions are structured in med school. Please post your own interpretation of med school type questions 😀
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