{"id":1499,"date":"2017-11-13T13:57:22","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T18:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/?p=1499"},"modified":"2017-11-29T18:23:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T23:23:56","slug":"test-taking-evaluation-how-do-i-approach-problem-solving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/2017\/11\/13\/test-taking-evaluation-how-do-i-approach-problem-solving\/","title":{"rendered":"Test-Taking Evaluation: How do I approach problem-solving?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03b8\u03b9

\u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03b8\u03b9 \u03c3\u03b5\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd<\/p><\/div>\n

In our last blog<\/a>, we discussed how conducting a periodic personal inventory, whether for your life or career trajectory, is a worthwhile exercise.\u00a0 Specific to the experience of aspiring ultrasound professionals, much of your angst is focused on credentialing<\/a> exams<\/a>.\u00a0 Career paths are opened or closed based on the outcome, so it naturally looms large in our minds.<\/p>\n

The ancient Greeks offered the aphorism \u201cknow thyself<\/strong><\/em>\u201d and Chinese philosopher Laozi (Lao-tzu) observed that \u201cMastering yourself is true power.<\/strong><\/em>\u201d\u00a0 This concept has relevance in your approach to successfully<\/a> scheduling and challenging board exams.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that if you don\u2019t grasp the core material and underlying concepts, you shouldn\u2019t schedule your certification exam(s).\u00a0 However, in my experience nearly half those who sit for a board certification are prepared<\/a> in terms of subject knowledge.\u00a0 The missing piece is quite often either test-taking anxiety or under-developed test-taking skill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A good exercise in self-awareness involves assessing whether you are \u201cDeliberate<\/strong>\u201d or \u201cDecisive<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 Where you fall on that scale has an impact on which test-taking skills<\/a> you need to refine.\u00a0 The distinctions are worth exploring.<\/p>\n

DECISIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"fork_decision_image\"Usually, people prefer to visualize themselves as decisive.\u00a0 It is seen as a quality possessed by great leaders, and the most cutting criticism for a military commander is to be labeled indecisive (e.g. Gen. George McClellan<\/a>).\u00a0 However, in the medical field being decisive is never as important as being right, so accordingly much of our training is channeled toward making good observations that lead to accurate conclusions.<\/p>\n

Test creators often intentionally construct question distractors with either true-but-irrelevant, or partially-true statements to seduce overly impulsive test-takers.\u00a0 It is these types of traps that must receive special attention for personality types driven by predisposed \u201ccertainty\u201d.<\/p>\n

DELIBERATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"the-thinker\"

Paralysis by Analysis ?<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of the synonyms associated with \u201cdeliberate\u201d have negative connotations.\u00a0 People today want quick answers (Thanks, Siri\u2026Alexa\u2026Google).\u00a0 Uncertainty is almost never praised; it is considered a sign of \u201cweakness\u201d.\u00a0 In our field, however, we ideally want all the information before we draw conclusions.\u00a0 Yet time is often a consideration, especially in critical or emergency situations.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, credentialing<\/a> exams<\/a> are time-based, specifically to mimic \u201creal life\u201d circumstances where you can\u2019t pass around test results for two or three days, waiting for a consensus to emerge.\u00a0 So individuals prone to \u201cparalysis by analysis\u201d have their own unique challenges to overcome in this environment.<\/p>\n

———————————-<\/strong><\/p>\n

My point in raising these considerations is to open a self-examination process for you internally.\u00a0 We have found that well-designed exam simulations have utilities allowing you to analyze the nature of those questions you answer incorrectly.\u00a0 Here, it is important to understand what led to the error.\u00a0 Was it sheer sloppiness?\u00a0 Math-conceptually based<\/a>?\u00a0 Inattentiveness to an inverted question?<\/p>\n

\"Pass_Stamp\"The value in qualifying the source of your errors can raise future awareness to the types of questions you may stumble upon.\u00a0 As I have stated in lectures, and in previous blogs<\/a>, the differential between passing and failing often comes down to 5-7 questions answered right or wrong.<\/p>\n

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\u2013Frank Miele, MSEE <\/strong>, President of Pegasus Lectures, Inc.<\/a>\u00a0 Frank graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a triple major in physics, mathematics, and engineering. While at Dartmouth, he was a Proctor Scholar and received citations for academic excellence in comparative literature, atomic physics and quantum mechanics, and real analysis. Frank was a research and design engineer and project leader, designing ultrasound equipment and electronics for more than ten years at Hewlett Packard Company. As a designer of ultrasound, he has lectured across the country to sonographers, physicians, engineers and students on myriad topics.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our last blog, we discussed how conducting a periodic personal inventory, whether for your life or career trajectory, is a worthwhile exercise.\u00a0 Specific to the experience of aspiring ultrasound professionals, much of your angst<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,16],"tags":[23,21,32,20,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1559,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499\/revisions\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}