- Read the stem and consider why each piece of information has been included
- Read the question – MOST important diagnosis (ie cancer) is different from MOST likely ie (bronchiectasis)
- If you are having difficulty with a question, it may be helpful to consider how you would manage this patient in your own clinical practice setting.
- Time management is critical – candidates should not spend too long on questions they consider to be difficult. Questions can be flagged for review later during the exam, time permitting. Candidates should be sure to check the time and their progress on the computer screen at regular intervals.
- There is no negative marking for incorrect answers in the AKT, so candidates are encouraged to select an option rather than leave any questions unanswered.
Remember:
- Read the clinical scenario carefully and pay particular attention to specific pieces of information that should assist in answering the question.
- Read the question carefully and make sure you understand what is being asked.
- Attempt to answer the question first without looking at the answer options.
- Select the option that best fits the clinical scenario provided and the question being asked.
- Answer the question in the context of Australian general practice.
Tips for answering AKT questions
Firstly, imagine the patient sitting in front of you. Read the scenario carefully – key information is often at the end of sentences and can easily be missed.
Look at context – are you in a rural clinic, an emergency department, a city clinic? Is it after hours or on a weekend? If it is not stated, you can assume you’re in a metropolitan general practice.
Look at patient characteristics, such as age, gender, occupation, ethnicity, risk factors, past medical history, medications, substance use. Characteristics that are not stated can be assumed to be not relevant, for example, if smoking status isn’t given, you can assume the patient is a non-smoker.
Consider the key features of the scenario. All information is there for a reason; take note of positives and significant negatives.
Create a 1–2 line problem representation in medical language from the scenario. It should include time course, key features, signs and symptoms, risk factors. For example, a 50-year-old woman with acute presentation of colicky abdominal pain, bilious vomiting with abdominal distension, and a risk factor of previous abdominal surgery.
Read the question/lead-in carefully – what are you being asked to do (i.e. the action)? What are the qualifiers? You may be being asked for the most appropriate diagnosis, investigation, or initial management. Don’t look at the answers yet!
Cover the list of answer options (so you can’t see them) and decide what you think is the correct answer. Then uncover the list and hopefully your answer is listed!
Check that your response appropriately answers the question and matches all the information in the scenario.
Continue…
What to do if you can’t choose an answer
What if you get to step 4 and you either can’t think of an answer or your answer isn’t one of the options given? Try one of the following strategies:
- Exclude the answer options that don’t match the information in the scenario; that is, eliminate the answers that you believe are wrong and see what you’re left with.
- If you’re left with two choices, go for your ‘best guess’ or the answer that best matches the key information.
- Consider coming back to the question later. You’ll be able to easily see which questions you haven’t answered, because the system adds a tick to the questions you’ve completed, and a double dash to those you haven’t. When you click on ‘Submit quiz’, you’ll be warned if you have any unanswered questions and will be able to click on the question numbers listed to go to the unanswered questions.
- James comment – I think this is a bad idea – if you don’t know now you are unlikely to know in 3 hours time AND if you forget an answer you loose at least 1/4, and probably 1/2 a mark using reduction/best guess.
- Are you assuming information that isn’t provided?
- In which case – STOP – only use the information that is given.
- This process can be done more formally using the table technique.
- Create a table with the key features of the scenario along the top row. Down the side, list all the answer options provided. Then tick the boxes that apply and see which answer has the most ticks. This method is time consuming, so consider using it just for the scenarios you’re really stuck on.
- In the example table below, answer 2 would most likely be correct.
| Key feature 1 | Key feature 2 | Key feature 3 | Key feature 4 | Key feature 5 | |
| Response 1 | ✔️ | ✔️ | |||
| Response 2 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Response 3 | ✔️ | ||||
| Response 4 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ||
| Response 5 | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |