Awhile back, a student wrote to me asking for suggestions. She has dyslexia and was struggling to pass the exam.
I’m posting my response to her here because I think the techniques will help everyone.
A little background, because of her dyslexia, she was given a person to read her the questions which she did find helpful, but it wasn’t enough.
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I’ve thought it through, and I have a few ideas for you.
Unfortunately, right now, I don’t have the time to work with you directly.
First, it sounds like your doing everything really well. You seem intelligent, and I agree content is probably not the problem.
Here are a few problem areas and solutions I came up with for you.
– Keeping a paragraph of detail in your head while someone reads it is incredibly difficult. (At least for me)
Possible solutions
– Have them read the answer choices first. Hopefully, you can quickly eliminate at least one of them as they read the question. If you can, then there is less to hold onto, and without your knowing it your brain will be going to work on the questions while you listen.
– Use an extremely shorthand or picture version for key terms. As they are read to you jot them down on your dry erase board.
– BP with one up arrow or two to indicate high or very high doesn’t worry about the actual numbers.
– Just right an x for antibiotics instead of abs
– Fever is F with an up arrow
– Murmur is mr
– and son on. Whatever works for you.
– Fatigue seems to be a major issue with anything I read about your situation. I think everyone should be on guard against mental fatigue, but you’re an edge case.
– Stop studying two days before. More studying won’t help you nearly as much as a well rested brain. Play basketball, go for a hike, get outside. Plan those two days to be doing something active to keep you from studying. (this is a huge one don’t ignore it)
– Get 8 hours at least of sleep all week before your exam. If you do enough physical activity the day before you should be tired enough to get some sleep the night before.
– You have to think of your mental energy like the battery in your phone. It needs to be at 100% when you sit down to take your test. Not 98% but 100%.
– Keeping with that analogy if a question on the exam is too long just skip it. Expending 10% of your brain battery on 1 question will cost you 10 questions at the end of the day. It’s not worth the trade-off. Pick an answer and come back if you want, but If it were me I would skip it and totally forget about it. That would conserve the most energy.
– Use your breaks wisely, find an activity you can do that refreshes you. Listening to a specific song, handstands, jumping jacks something.
– One thing on dyslexia I noticed. People tend to struggle to keep there place when reading. Can you try using the board to cover part of the screen or using your finger to keep your place while you read?
I use my finger to trace the words If I’m speed reading something. It’s quicker and easier than having your eyes bounce around and get lost.
-Brian
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There’s a lot packed in this email. You might want to check through and start making a list of things to do when it’s time for you PANCE. Things like make sure you’re getting enough rest as you lead up to it, don’t let really tough questions sap all of your energy, and so on.
And one of the best ways to conserve time and energy during the PANCE is to know your key terms really, really well.
There’s no better resource for that then The Final Step 2.0. It’ll be ready and available before you know it. Stay tuned.
Brian Wallace