HOW TO SUCCEED AT MCQs EXAM???As a medical and dentist student, you'll sit a lot of MCQ exams, and even when you graduate, you won't be free of them - postgraduate exams are often MCQ based too. For this reason, it's vital to get the hang of taking MCQ exams at an early stage in your medical career.

Many students experience difficulties with MCQ-type exams; often not because of a lack of knowledge or preparation, but simply due to poor MCQ-answering technique. And yes, believe it or not, there is a technique to answering MCQs: it's not just a case of fact recall and box-ticking ability.

A common mistake made by the MCQ novice is believing that MCQs are only a test of memory, and if you have perfect recall of everything you've been taught, you can't fail. However, although they do test your ability to recall facts, MCQs can also test your ability to interpret information and apply knowledge to both familiar and unfamiliar scenarios. Success in MCQ tests is not simply a case of memorising everything you've been taught.

So how do you prepare for an MCQ exam? We've compiled a list of tips:

Revise everything, and don't try to 'question spot'. MCQ exams can cover an awful lot of material - that's the point.

Make sure your knowledge is sufficiently specific. MCQs can be highly specific, so a general knowledge of an area might not be enough.

However, a good broad knowledge is helpful when attempting to deduce the correct answer to a question you're unsure of.

Practice, practice, practice and then do some more practice. Gather together as many questions as you can lay your hands on.

Make sure your practice MCQs cover material that's relevant to your course; there's no point in learning things you won't be asked.

Pile on the pressure by practising under exam conditions. This will help you become accustomed to answering questions against the clock, and allow you to accurately judge how much time you can allow for each question.

If you try to recreate exam conditions when you practice, you'll find your memory will be triggered under similar conditions in the exam hall.

Revise the things you don't know. Sounds obvious, but you're actually more likely to spend time on topics you already know - it's more fun and can be better for morale. Be brave, and tackle your weakest areas (neurology?!) first.

Revise with friends; it's easier to stay motivated - and much more fun! You can share knowledge this way too. Make sure you revise with friends of a similar ability - there's nothing more depressing than finding everyone else knows more than you do. Alternatively, if you relish a challenge, try revising with the best and brightest - they may inspire you to raise your game.

On the day of the exam, make sure you're clear about the exam format: how many questions are there? How long have you got? Will there be negative marking?

practice your MCQ exam answering technique

Good preparation is only half the battle in an MCQ exam, and technique is equally important. MCQs can be deliberately tricky, with the aim of sorting the 'wheat from the chaff'. You may get the feeling that the examiners are trying to trip you up - this is because they are, and you need to be wise to their strategies.

To this end, we've complied another list of tips, this time to help you perfect your MCQ answering technique:

Most importantly, READ the questions. Careless reading results in needless - and potentially costly - mistakes. If you miss the word 'not' in the stem (which of these is not a symptom of...) you could end up with a score of - 5 for just one question!

Pace yourself and don't spend too long on one question. If you don't know the answer, move on and return to the question at the end. If you leave a question, be extremely careful to leave the corresponding answer

box blank: if you put the wrong answer in the wrong box, you'll get all the questions wrong!

Trust your instincts: your initial answer (or guess) is most likely to be right. An educated guess or an attempt to deduce the right answer is often better than

leaving it blank. The student BMJ recommends always answering at least 90% of the questions in an MCQ exam (see 'analysing your score for more information on this).

Be on the lookout for double negatives (not uncommon, not infrequently both mean often).

Answers that contain words like always and never are less likely to be correct (there are very few certainties in medicine). Statements that contain sometimes, may or might are more likely to be correct.

Beware of the word typically; this means 'usually'. There might be an option given that's correct, but rare - this is not 'typical'.

Other 'intermediate' words include characteristically, mostly and sometimes, but how should you interpret these intermediate words? We've made some suggestions...

All, always, invariably, characteristically: 100%

Usual, mostly, very frequently: >75%

Often, common, frequently: 50-75%

Sometimes, occasionally: 25-50%

Rarely, very occasionally: <5%

None, never: 0%

Longer, more specific answers are more likely to be correct (that's more likely, not definitely).

Beware also of completion statements containing more than one piece of information - make sure both bits are correct.

Answers containing numbers (25% of patients experience...) are most likely to either be correct, or completely wrong. If you know that a symptom is very common, then 25% is likely to be wrong, but if you now that roughly 1 in 4 patients will display this symptom it's likely to be correct. Be wary of very precise figures - 19.3% of patients... they are unlikely to be correct.

Leave time at the end of the exam to check for glaring errors - but don't go changing answers you're not sure about, remember, your first guess is most likely to be right.

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by: Atiqah Zalfakhar