So let's forego why you want to study medicine; suffice to say that if you're willing to pay $400 to sit the exam with less than a 20% chance of success then you must want it for some reason. Instead let's look at getting better value for your money....ie; if you've already paid $400, you might as well pass right?!
If you've decided that this is path for you, you need to find a way to be better than 8 out every 10 people around you in the exam hall. The reality is that it's a competition. I'm afraid I can't condone violence, incapacitation, cheating or mischief; you can only win by lifting yourself up, not by dragging the competition down.
5 Ways to be better than everyone else:
- What is the exam testing? This seems obvious, but I hear of so many candidates who seem to omit this fundamental idea in their preparation (there are a lot of you who are franatically trying to learn biology, physics and chemistry to a post-doc level......please stop). Read the ACER website carefully, understand what the exam is testing and then do just a handful of questions to get a feel for what this means.
- Practice what you're supposed to: As I keeping harping on....it's a reasoning exam....not a knowledge exam. You can acquire as much knowledge as you'd like, but without developing your reasoning skills you're wasting your energy. You're not going to study architecture because it's not necessary, nor are you going to study ancient Greek. Learn uni level chem, organic chem and biology and year 12 physics, then learn to solve a problem (it's called problem based learning for a reason).
- Have immaculate exam technique: As I've said, it's a tough competition. World records rarely get broken by wide margins....in reality, one point may be the difference between an interview and no interview. Good technique will help you juice every possible mark out of the exam.
- If it ain't working, do something else: If you've sat the exam and your score wasn't great, it's time to change something. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe you have to work harder, develop your physics, read more fiction or work on your problem solving. Just make sure you do something different.
- Go with the crowd or stand out? This is an interesting concept and it's entirely statistical. In the exam your chances of success are about 20%. In the interview your chances are 66.6%. In the exam you have to stand out if you want to succeed. In the interview, the goal is to be as much like everyone else as possible.
Ultimately you can and must be better than everyone else if you want to make it, just make sure you're a gracious winner. Good luck with your preparations.
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