You may be a terrible test taker. That doesn’t make you a bad practitioner, a bad student, an idiot, or the spawn of Satan.
It is not a judgment on your entire life – your character and integrity, your skills and compassion.
None of those things matter here.
Carol Dweck illustrates this perfectly with a story in her book Mindset…
***
Phil 14 was working on a project with his dad when he dropped s bucket of nails all over the place.
“Sorry, I’m so clumsy” said Phil
Dad “That’s not what we say when the nails spill”.
Phil “What do we say?”
Dad “We say the nails spilled. I’ll clean them up.”
***
That self-condemnation is so programmed in we don’t even know it’s happening. But it is happening.
My mom always told me if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say anything at all. I think that applies to yourself as well.
You did bad on a test. You’ve done bad on a whole bunch of tests.
Do you say, “I’m a terrible test taker,” and then repeat the exact same steps on the next exam?
Or do you say, “I did terrible on THAT test. I need to talk with people who do well on tests and see what they are doing different?”
Do you beat yourself up for some imagined skill that you weren’t born with, or do you grow and improve in order to do better next time?
One way to do better is to use The Final Step. I wrote questions all throughout PA school, and then again before my PANRE. The Final Step is the polished version of those same questions. Quick and punchy. To the point.
These questions build confidence, test taking skills, and a solid knowledge base.
Get your copy here:
Brian Wallace
P.S. Speaking of getting better, next week I’m going to be putting out some training that will help you get better at some very specific and very relevant skills:
– Job hunting – find the perfect job not just the first one who pays you.
– Applying – yes there’s a three step method I recommend that changes everything. And I’ll eat my hat if you’ve ever been shown this way of making yourself stand out.
– Resumé writing – you don’t have a lot of experience as a new grad. I’m teaching how to make what you’ve got shine.
– Interviewing – You’ve been doing this all wrong. You’re worried that they might ask you to read an x-ray or interpret a lab result. That’s not how to handle the interview. I’m going to show you how to be a rockstar-candidate that they’re drooling over. They’ll start selling you the job right there during the interview.
– How to do all of that well as a no-experience new grad.
See you next week.
