{"id":1966,"date":"2019-03-27T13:49:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T18:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/test.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/?p=1966"},"modified":"2019-03-27T16:22:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T21:22:43","slug":"a-statistical-look-at-what-students-do-and-dont-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/2019\/03\/27\/a-statistical-look-at-what-students-do-and-dont-know\/","title":{"rendered":"A Statistical Look at What Students Do and Don\u2019t Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

A STATISTICAL LOOK AT WHAT STUDENTS DO AND DON’T KNOW (follow-up to\u00a0LEARNING FROM \u2018FAILURE\u2019 \u2026 ?<\/a> )<\/p>\n

\"usa-icon\"Discussing statistics<\/a> will generally glaze over more eyes than Krispy Kreme<\/a> glazes donuts, and is unquestionably less sweet, but it has been a particular fascination of mine because it appeals to both my mathematics and engineering background<\/a>.\u00a0 A couple weeks back, I wrote on the subject of \u2018Learning from Failure\u2019<\/a> as a preview to Pegasus Lectures\u2019 February**<\/strong>\u00a0Office Hours<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As referenced previously, Pegasus has labored compiling anonymized data<\/a> from individuals and institutions to better prepare exam candidates<\/a> for ultrasound credentialing and board exams for many, many years.\u00a0 This analysis is valuable in identifying what test-takers<\/a> trip up on most frequently.\u00a0 The benefit to you individually, if preparing for a credentialing exam<\/a>, is to learn from other students\u2019 adversity rather than personally experiencing the pain.<\/p>\n

While many people took advantage of the presentation last month, as well as those in attendance at the 2018 SDMS<\/a> Annual Conference in Orlando<\/a>, I was asked to summarize my presentation here in four or five \u201ctake-aways\u201d.\u00a0 As always, I encourage College Instructors<\/a> and Program Directors<\/a> to call our offices to discuss<\/a> and consult on how Pegasus Lectures can make your program more successful and impactful in the professional lives of your students or staff.<\/p>\n

What Studying Focus Results in the Greatest Score Improvement? <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"the-thinker\"By facilitating the administration of practice exams<\/a> to individuals, corporate clients, and college programs<\/a>, Pegasus Lectures has the ability to analyze thousands of scores.\u00a0 By cross-correlating scores on subject topics between the different practice exams<\/a>, it is possible to determine what area of study would most improve student scores.\u00a0 Because of the presence of physics concepts in all specialty<\/a> exams, and because of the difficulty people often have with physics concepts, improving physics knowledge has the greatest impact on success. Studying to improve the physics score also improves the scores on the specialty<\/a> exams, in essence, as the adage goes, \u201ckilling two birds with one stone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the SPI Practice Test Results*, which Topics Produced the Lowest and Highest Percentage Correct Answers?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

For the purposes of this statistical study, we divided questions into the following categories: Artifacts, Attenuation, Doppler, Mathematics, Transducers and Waves<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Questions relating to Artifacts scored the highest percentage correct. That Artifacts scored high (\u2248 60%<\/strong>) was not particularly surprising because Visual Learning is (by a plurality) considered the most common learning style.\u00a0 Sadly, questions relating to Doppler, Mathematics and Transducer concepts<\/em><\/strong> resulted in the lowest percentages, clustering around 43-44%<\/strong> correct.<\/p>\n

While it came as no surprise that Doppler and Mathematics were challenging subjects for test-takers<\/a>, the weakness on Transducer concepts was unexpected.\u00a0 The implication, and an important take-away for prospective ultrasound test-takers<\/a>, is that this subject may be under-appreciated as a vulnerability.\"transducer-results\"<\/p>\n

Within Doppler-related Questions, which Sub-Topics Produced the Lowest and Highest Percentage Correct Answers?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"doppler-image\"Again, consistent with a higher percentage of Visual Learners, Color-flow Direction and Spectrum Interpretation produced the best results for test-takers<\/a> (\u2248 60%<\/strong> again, coincidentally). Questions based on a student\u2019s understanding of color frame rate, PRF and temporal resolution were the poorest results at nearly 30%<\/strong>.\u00a0 Note these particular sub-topics associate with mathematical calculations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Within Mathematics-related Questions, which Sub-Topics Produced the Lowest Percentage Correct Answers?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I have written and spoken about this consistently over the past twenty years, this should surprise no one \u2026. lower levels of math comprehension<\/a> are the single greatest factor in poor outcomes on ultrasound certification exams.\u00a0 The overall scores on math-related topics within our practice test study was around 44%<\/strong>.\u00a0 It is the figurative anchor dragging students under the \u201cPass line<\/strong>\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0 Even worse, scoring on the sub-topics of Dimensional Measurements (distance, area, and volume) and Logarithms\/Decibels was under 30%<\/strong>!\"math-results\"<\/p>\n

\"fmiele\"I don\u2019t want to close this discussion on such a sour note, though.\u00a0 Pegasus Lectures\u2019 20+ year commitment to individual customers, to college instructors<\/a>, and to program directors<\/a> is in facilitating math comprehension<\/a> (and Physics<\/a>\u2026but that\u2019s a story for another time) which quite often is merely refreshing concepts previously learned in high school.\u00a0 Most of the apprehension felt toward mathematics<\/a> by people isn\u2019t related to intellectual incapability, but more likely a lack of exposure and practice … or simply the passage of time.\u00a0 It\u2019s an easier fix than you imagine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“<\/strong><\/em>Success is not final. Failure is not final. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is the courage to continue that counts.<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

– Winston Churchill<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

*<\/sup><\/strong>\u00a0Average score on SPI practice tests was 48%<\/strong><\/p>\n

**Watch for the posting of the full Office Hours lecture on our Free CME page. <\/em><\/strong>https:\/\/test.pegasuslectures.com\/freeCME.php<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2013Frank Miele, MSEE\u00a0<\/strong>, President of Pegasus Lectures, Inc.<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Frank 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":"

A STATISTICAL LOOK AT WHAT STUDENTS DO AND DON’T KNOW (follow-up to\u00a0LEARNING FROM \u2018FAILURE\u2019 \u2026 ? ) Discussing statistics will generally glaze over more eyes than Krispy Kreme glazes donuts, and is unquestionably less sweet, but it has been a … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,16,1],"tags":[7,15,23,21,32,3,20,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966"}],"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=1966"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2015,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966\/revisions\/2015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pegasuslectures.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}