Stepping into the dissecting room the first time and getting hit by that smell, seeing your very first patient on your own or the first time you assist with a surgical procedure: all of these are frightening (but exciting) first experiences with which all medical students will be confronted. Those impressions will stay with them for the rest of their lives. However, these have nothing on the actual most frightening and terrifying experience a medical student will have to face. That is the Progress Test. Four hours. Two hundred questions. Hundreds of other students squeezed into a freezing room. The most fun part: you will not even understand most of the questions, especially in the first year. Personally, I have attended a full sixteen of these tests (passed them all) and thought I would share some tips & tricks which I have learned so you do not have to spend the next five years of your life learning the ins and outs of taking Progress Tests. Some of these might seem a bit obvious to the veteran Progress Test takers but be sure to go through the whole list still because every single one of these tips & tricks is guaranteed to make your test-taking life easier.
Tip #1 – Playing the statistics game. Hans would be proud of you.
As Hans would say: “Hello I am Hans Burgerhof, and I work as a statistician in the UMCG.” We should all aspire to be like him, especially when it comes to the Progress Test. Passing is not a matter of having medical knowledge, it is a numbers game. First, you need to understand how points are assigned. A correct answer gives a full point. Not answering gives zero points. Answering wrong is more complicated (see the table). As you can see in the table a question with 4 options causes 1/3rd of a point to be subtracted if you answer it wrong. This means that if you answer two of these questions wrong, and one correctly you get 1/3rd of a point. So, answering more questions is always better. Therefore, a general rule of thumb is that if you can eliminate one answer, then you should just guess the answer to the question. This way you can still feel a little confident about your answer, and you are still statistically more likely to get a positive point total in that question. May the odds be forever in your favor.
Tip #2 – Intuition: not just a caveman’s game
Maybe you like to think yourself a rational being who has gotten where they are based on smarts, good looks and hard studying and that might even be true. However, these things are completely irrelevant for the Progress Test. It is about knowing stuff on the level of: ‘Oh, I think I remember reading or hearing about that somewhere, but I am not really sure… I guess it is C. Probably…’ This might seem amateurish and it is not the black and white way of knowing things you are used to on regular tests. This is what you call intuition. Because chances are: the answer is actually C. So the tip here is that you should not go back and change answers after you have filled them in. Except of course when the answer to a question is hidden in another question.
Tip #3 – Wait, how many questions SHOULD you be answering?
For first timers, I guess I will keep it short. The first test I filled in 30 questions of which 18 were correct, and 12 were incorrect. I scored above average that way. So I guess you will be fine with answering like 20ish questions for the first test. But answering more is always better. So after that first test, which can be a little intimidating, focus on the first two tips. Answer more questions and trust your intuition.
Tip #4 – Eat breakfast. Seriously.
I think this tip speaks for itself. The test starts at 9 AM, and you are allowed to keep working on it until 1 PM. So worst case scenario you are sitting there for four hours. Most people cannot function that long without breakfast and even if you can you will not be doing the best you can. But then you say: “I do not want to get up that early, Professor.” Well, you really don’t have to. Just make breakfast the night before, it is not like you have anything better to do anyway. You can even keep watching Netflix while preparing it. If that is too much of a task for you just take some fruit with you and eat it on the bicycle.
Tip #5 – No. Seriously.
SERIOUSLY, EAT BREAKFAST. NO EATY MEANS NO THINKY.
Tip #6 – Progress Test essentials checklist: what to take with you to the test.
Well, this is the most boring tip. Bring a pencil (or two), an eraser, a bottle of water and a snack (a cookie or whatever, I think technically you are not allowed to take food but everybody does it). Maybe bring a spare pair of pants because one time I ripped pants on the way to the Aletta Jacobshal. Maybe that was a little bit too much information…
Tip #7 – Take a break, but not too much. Or: the story of how I almost fell asleep during a Progress Test
Four hours is really waaaaaaay too much time to spend on a Progress Test. You could get away with finishing the test, spilling your water on it, forgetting the answers you have filled in and redo the entire test in that amount of time. Therefore, (if you do not drop the water on your test) you have more than enough to take it easy. Take a break every now and then. I take a break every 50 questions and then I just sit there for five minutes doing absolutely nothing. Just relax. And if you want a big break just go to the toilet, you are allowed to go there, freshen up and come back in your own time. This will help you with not stressing out during this Herculean feat.
Tip #8 – Haters gonna hate. #YOLO.
This is another tip about not stressing out. Some people seem to be done in 30 minutes and some seem to take the entire four hours. However long you take the other people always seem to be doing better because either they are finished real quick or taking their time. Well, just do not worry about how others are doing. Just take it easy, take your time and do not change your answers. Haters gonna hate, you are your own person.
Tip #9 – Analysing your performance: the ONLY effective way to prepare for the next test.
Seriously do not do anything else for preparation than what I am telling you here. When the results come out, you can go to the website: http://prof.ivtg.nl/prof. Here you can check how you did compared to the rest of the Dutch faculties or just the students in your LC. But the most important thing is pressing on the domain button and looking through the different options. For example, when sorting through the domains you can see that I am TERRIBLE at anatomy and great at paediatrics and geriatrics. This tells me I should either study anatomy real hard or just give up on it altogether and never answer an anatomy question ever again. Just generally studying for the Progress Test is impossible without the aid of something like our Professor Progress Test articles and you should not attempt it if you want to stay sane.
Tip #10 – “You know the rules and so do IIIII” Rick Astley knows what’s necessary to pass the year, do you?
I saved the best for last. What do you need to do to pass the year? Well, you will find the answer here. As an example, we will just use the first year, but it is the exact same for all years just with 4 more knowledge levels per year. To pass the first year’s Progress tests with a pass (P or V) you need to have: attended 4 Progress Tests (so you can never skip one without advance permission), finish at least one test at knowledge level 3 and another separate at knowledge level 4 and the very last test needs to be at least at knowledge level 1. So technically you only need to pass the last test of the year with a knowledge level of 4 and any other test at knowledge level 3 and you are fine. So do not stress if the first and/or second tests do not go so hot, you can still easily make up for it. For the really smart people, you need to have 2 G’s at knowledge level 4 in the last three tests of the year. Of course, you also need to pass the other tests in that year at level 1 at least.