When he was younger, I could read the little passage and check his homework. Now, he’s got a lot more reading. I go to look at his homework yesterday and he says, “Do you want to read the story?”
“Nope.”
I don’t have time. But it almost doesn’t matter. It’s 7th grade work. It’s on Homer and The Odyssey. I read The Odyssey at some point. Let’s go.
As I go through his work, it’s so easy to see the right and wrong answers. Not because I have the thing memorized. No way. Sure, if it’s asking for a date, I can’t get those right, but the written questions are easy.
It’s easy because I can see what the teacher is after. I can see what they want. I can see how they want the students to respond. I can put myself into their shoes. It isn’t hard to walk through his homework.
Later on, we were studying for social studies. They’re learning about the Mycenaean Greeks. What do I know about the Mycenaean Greeks? Nothing. But I could pass review sheet on the topic. How? Test-taking skills.
I’m not saying I could get 100%. No way. But I could pass.
I was talking with a surgeon the other day about the idea of test-taking skills.(I can’t remember how that came up in conversation). And he was saying how he could pass a test on anything if it were multiple choice.
My wife on the other hand was a Math teacher for years, and I doubt she could pass a middle school math test.
She’s got the knowledge all the way up through calculus. But what she cannot do is take tests.
The October issue of the Physician Assistant Exam Scholars newsletter can help if you find yourself in that same predicament – where you study and do the work, but it doesn’t seem to translate into the grades you want. I can’t make you any promises, but I’ve got a few ideas and techniques that I think will be worth implementing.
Join me here to get the October issue. It goes to the printer in the morning first thing, so move quickly.
Physician Assistant Exam Scholars
Brian Wallace