Should you focus on your high school leaving exam or focus on the medical school test? This is the dilemma faced by graduates who aspire to the white coat.
Having archived the experiment of the TOLC MED online test after just one year,
the Ministry led by Anna Maria Bernini has in fact opted for a return to the past
:
we return to the national paper test, although there remains the possibility of taking it twice and maintaining the best score achieved.
At the basis, but not only, of this decision, a criticism from the TAR which forced a revision of the programs: thus
the appointment initially scheduled for April was postponed to the end of May, a month before the Maturity exam.
At this point the dates of the entrance test for Medicine and Surgery
- 28 May and 30 July
- have ended up becoming, for aspiring white coats, almost a vice around the date of the state exam set for
19 June
.
So how can we reconcile the much-feared final exam with preparation for the test?
The specialized portal Skuola.net asked
Luca De Simone, Tutor of Ripetizioni.it, the first site for online and in-person tutoring in Italy.
Preparation for the high school diploma and the medical test risk overlapping. How can I reconcile studying and manage the pressure of the two appointments?
“I am perfectly aware that the prospect of having two such important dates is not at all pleasant for students. But you can also look at the positive side
.
In view of university studies, the ability to temporally and mentally manage multiple challenges in a relatively short period of time is crucial.
In this sense, the main key is undoubtedly organization.
Organizing a planning and setting a precise timetable can be an excellent incentive,
given that it would lead to the achievement of many small goals.
Without forgetting, however, to take into account any unforeseen events along the way, studying an alternative plan and avoiding panic should they arise, upsetting the roadmap created".
New compared to last year is that the questionnaire will contain questions extracted from a public database of at least 3,500 questions published at least 20 days before the tests. How do you recommend using this database to practice quizzes?
“At the risk of becoming excessively obvious, but training your memory is fundamental to say the least. However, this is not the only reason to study the database in depth. In fact, having a mind trained to visualize the questions that will be present in the test can help the candidate to understand how the questions and their answers are structured. And this can be extremely useful when combined with good theoretical preparation."
We return to the previous mix of subjects, and the logical reasoning section reappears, separate from the mathematics one. Advice for tackling the 5 questions in this part of the questionnaire?
“Logical reasoning can be really tricky for many candidates. The first advice I would like to give are the most obvious ones, that is, do not underestimate the study of logical reasoning in general and familiarize yourself with concepts such as the syllogism.
Furthermore, to train, many students take (rightly I would add) quizzes from previous years.
However, this is a double-edged sword because, although it is important to train, this risks negatively influencing the student's mood should there be difficulties given the aforementioned difficulty.
In this sense, my advice is to slowly get used to them, even at the cost of concentrating a lot on a single question in order to understand it completely and only then worrying about how quickly it is carried out.
A further general piece of advice I give is to never take anything for granted in questions like those.
If A implies B, often and B does not imply A.”
Unlike last year, you will not have a set time to complete the various sections, but you will have 100 minutes in total to solve 60 questions. How to manage the time available?
“With this traditional method, the main risk is to "drown" in the sea of questions that are asked, resulting in a loss of precious time. To better manage time, the best procedure is to quickly browse through the questions the first time, immediately answering those to which you immediately know the answer. In this way there are already points in the safe and the time saved can be dedicated to the more difficult questions. Furthermore, by viewing all the questions immediately you can already have a reference, a sort of compass which at times, even unconsciously, can guide the progress."
We return to paper mode: does this affect the strategies to be used to complete the questionnaire or not?
“In my opinion, no
.
Being a multiple choice quiz, the objective remains to choose what you believe is the correct alternative from the answer options provided
.
And ultimately, doing this with a pen or a mouse has a truly negligible impact considering the importance of the general context.”
Let's now come to the study method: would you recommend giving priority to the study of theory or focusing on practice?
“
General knowledge is obviously the basis you can count on the most.
But what you will have before you is a test that greatly rewards resistance to pressure, coolness and speed of execution.
And these are qualities that are refined only with training rather than with study, to quote Leopardi, 'crazy and very desperate'
What are the most frequent mistakes made by candidates?
“The most common mistake is to start too quickly, and then "drown" in the sea of questions.
Another mistake is to expect yourself to know the correct answer immediately, then becoming anxious when you don't know.
But there are also other ways to get there, such as the exclusion technique or thinking about it for a moment.
The biggest difficulty for candidates is to keep their nerve, even if it is really, really difficult to do so given how much is at stake.”
It often happens that you feel unsure about an answer given: what to do in these cases? Is trying your luck an option?
Given the penalty for incorrect answers, you should avoid answering unless you are certain of your answer. But it's not a universal rule. For example, if you are 90% sure of the answer you are giving, I would say that it is actually worth a try. But here too, it is a decision to be left to the student, when having to make this decision.
In addition to all this, it is important to avoid getting stubborn about the questions that I call 'time-eaters', that is, those apparently simple questions but which actually project you into a state of total indecision without making you realize that a lot of time has passed.
The minutes available are not many and must be used wisely.
Better a question left unanswered, if perhaps it leads to two correct answers."
Multiple choice quizzes always hide several pitfalls: how to recognize them?
“There are two ways to recognize pitfalls. The first is to train with tests from previous years,
so that on the day of the competition you arrive already prepared.
During the test, as much as possible, keep your nerve.
Pitfalls feed on anxiety and haste"
This year too, students will have two attempts available: how important is it to make the most of the second chance?
“Having already made an attempt, you need to be aware that you have another chance, and use it to reduce anxiety and tension during the test as much as possible, in order to reduce errors.”
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