Marginal Gains

I came across this article on the OUP Blog, which I think is very pertinent. Entitled Exam preparation: More than just studying? the article discusses several aspects of exam preparation, and compares passing the exam to sporting success. The author, Caroline Whymark, points out that success requires “prioritisation, motivation, focus, support, time management, and importantly, life management”. And she is trying to sell you her book; I don’t know if it’s any good, but if it’s anything like as good as her article, I think you should really think about buying it.

This touches on another of the themes I had been meaning to bring into these posts, which is the theme of marginal gains. I came across this theme when watching this video, with Tim Harford, one of my favourite writers and broadcasters. Harford discusses the success of the UK Olympic Cycling Team, and a man called Matt Parker, whose job it is to create tiny improvements in all aspects of a cycling team’s performance.

The lesson we can take from Parker and Harford (and probably Whymark) is that every single little improvement in your performance helps, from the way you sleep, to the way you eat, to the way you write, to the way you speak, to the way you dress.

The video is fun and entertaining, but the bit I am recommending is only the first 4-5 minutes or so. Watch it, and take a good look at all those little marginal gains you can give yourself.

Aidan.

 

Code Breaking and Exam Preparation

In Bletchley Park during the Second World War, the codebreakers were able to crack the German Enigma cypher. The Enigma machine was a mechanical coding machine of enormous complexity, which required the application of considerable intellectual force to crack. The Bletchley codebreakers used cribs to help them crack the code. Cribs are the “rules of the game”– they were the physical and mechanical limitations of the machine, together with the habits of the German High Command in sending specific patterns of coded text. The Bletchley codebreakers were able to exploit those rules to their own ends, wedging open those tiny cracks in the Enigma edifice to get a foothold.

Harder than the FANZCA: Enigma machine

This exam has cribs too, though they might not appear obvious. Cribs are the rules and mechanisms of the exam. They apply equally to every candidate– therefore using cribs to your advantage is not cheating.

One obvious example is multiple-choice questions. The scoring system will award you one point for a correct answer, and zero for a wrong answer. So far, so good. However, it will also award you zero for missing a question completely. Therefore it is in your interests to answer every question, even if you don’t know it. (Where negative marking is in use, different cribs apply!).

Another crib is that the College itself shows you what the exam will be like. It gives examiners’ reports going back over several years, which not only tell you the written questions which were asked, but then (in detail) how they should be answered.

This information is pure gold. You might think that this material (since it isn’t syllabus material as such) should just be skimmed through. Instead it should be read and re-read, very closely. You will, when you read it, get a flavour for the sorts of questions which may be asked. You will get a feel for the sorts of answers which will work (and more importantly, what sorts of stuff to leave out of your answer). It also tells you important things not do (e.g. write your answer across a double page).

The College also provides example MCQ papers, and even example viva videos. These are linked from the College webpage here. You should use this material to your advantage.

Aidan.

 

Good Handwriting

This may seem like a very tangential topic, but I’ve been chewing it over and I thought I would write something here.

I listened to this episode from one of my favourite podcasts, Freakonomics Radio. Incidentally, I highly recommend subscribing to the podcast, as well as reading the books, but save this until after the exam!

In it, the presenters (correctly) mention that handwriting is a dying art. Large areas of the US are no longer teaching children cursive script, but only printing, since (basically) the keyboard is all they need these days.

Can this really be so? That handwriting has become obsolete? We don’t need to be able to write by hand any more?

I still have all my old notes from the Part 1. This is the alveolar gas equation.

As a writer myself, I abhor the idea that handwriting is dying. Of course, I use keyboards all the time, but I still write in pen and ink every single day. I think that the almost universal teaching of reading and writing to everyone (rather than just an educated elite) is one of the pinnacles of human achievement.

But over the last few years, the number of people taking notes on their laptop on our course is rising. (And when I visited my friend, a professor in Canada, more than half of his students were making notes on their laptop or tablet rather than on paper).

But why should you care? Right now, all you care about is passing the exam. So let me put it to you this way.

(1) The SAQ exam is still a written exam. That means you need to be able to express your thoughts by writing them down by hand (and drawing diagrams, which is a different skill, which we shall also attempt to address on the course). Whether you like it or not; whether it’s right or wrong, the exam will not change between now and August. That means you need to be good at writing, and that SAQ is a marathon for even the best writers.

(2) There is some evidence that people who write neatly do better in exams than people who don’t. This was expressed in the podcast. Of course, it isn’t because those people are smarter, but because they write neatly, they are perceived as better than those who can’t. There may also be a component of their writing being easier to read, which makes it easier to mark their scripts. I can certainly attest to this from personal experience.

(3) There is some evidence that people who take notes by hand learn the material more effectively than those who type it out. Again the podcast mentions why this is (in some detail). In brief, because you can’t write so quickly, you process what you write rather than just transcribing what the speaker says. If you process it, it sticks more and is easier to learn.

(4) Handwriting is a learned motor skill. You might say: “But my writing has always been terrible”. And you might be right. Nonetheless, while it may not be possible to make it perfect, practising it will definitely make it better.

(5) Being able to make legible clinical notes by hand is a core skill for medical practitioners. We don’t yet have paperless hospitals. They may yet come. But while we still have paper and pens, you will still need to write neatly in the notes. And if it comes to court, and the court (or worse, you) can’t read what you’ve written, the temperature of the water you are in will rise sharply. Trust me; I have been in court.

So, overall, I recommend to you in the strongest of terms that you become used to writing things down by hand. There is evidence that it helps you learn. There is evidence that neatness improves your chance of a good mark. And there is evidence that many doctors’ handwriting is basically dreadful.

After the exam you can burn your paper notes (though I advise that you don’t!) or scan them all into your laptop. You can cast away your pens and get back to your voice-recognition dictation software. But for the next six months, get those pens out, and get scribbling.

Aidan.