How to Fail
Alternatively, for those of you who wish to donate large sums of money to the college coffers in a tax-deductible way, there are a series of tried-and-true techniques for failing the primary. These factors are common among trainees who have had repeated unsuccessful attempts:
- Leave gaps in the curriculum
- Don’t distinguish between the things you ought to know in great detail and the things where a superficial knowledge is sufficient
- Don’t identify where the “one thousand hours” of study is going to come from
- Don’t use several resources
- Don’t ask questions when you don’t know the answers
- Accept other people’s answers for MCQs
- Don’t practise SAQs
- Don’t practise vivas until after you get an invitation
- Only ask “nice” people for assessments
- Don’t seek out a past or current primary examiner in your region
- Don’t buy any books
- Buy lots of books but don’t read them
- Mistake familiarity for knowledge
- Don’t have a plan or, if you do, don’t stick to it
- Don’t decide on the purpose of a study group before embarking on it
- Don’t think about how any of what you study might influence your clinical practice
- Don’t cultivate any curiosity you might have about your chosen specialty
References
- Reeves, M. A Primary for the Primary FANZCA Examination. 2018.