I’m pleased to report that the first in a series of four articles I wrote for the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Exam Technique was published today. The following articles will be published over the next three weeks.
In this series, I wanted to lay out a basic overview for young (and not so young!) doctors taking professional exams, based on published research and my own experience as examinee and examiner.
Today’s article is all about setting the right tone or attitude for applying the advice to follow. Without a positive and engaged attitude and a belief your own ability to achieve goals (called self-efficacy), no amount of tactics and technique will help. Now when it comes to self-belief, I always distinguish between well-founded and delusional belief.
The downside of self-belief was brilliantly portrayed by Chris Barrie in the 1990’s BBC comedy “The Brittas Empire” , in which he played Gordon Brittas, an obnoxious, utterly incompetent leisure centre manager, with an unshakable belief in his own (non-existent) abilities. This is not what I mean by self-belief!
Anyone who is undertaking a serious professional exam will have some level of abilities. And leaving aside the Mr Brittas’s of this world for a moment, the commonest problem is that people underestimate themselves. So begin by looking back at what you have achieved, where you have succeeded, and balance these realistically against any weaknesses. With a sense of your own abilities rooted in reality, you have taken the first step to exam success.
Oh, and happy Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment