Top 10 AKT and KFP Tips

TOP 10 AKT TAKE HOME MESSAGES:

1. Read the stem twice
2. Consider the population and demographic data
3. Highlight the positive features of the case
4. Select your answer based on the key illness script / triad
5. Use remaining answers to “test the hypothesis” – Do they fit the stem?
6. With no negative marking, no answer == an average loss of 1/4 of a mark per missing answer
7. You can almost always rule out several answers and reduce your guess to 1 of 2 providing an average 1/2 a mark
   1. When in doubt, take a logical approach
8. Before you treat, diagnose, so, say a pregnant woman of unknown VZV status comes into contact with chickenpox… check serology BEFORE giving VZV IgG
9. Exam writers usually do not write long distractors so if you have a 50:50 guess and one answer is much longer – pick that one
10. You don’t run out of time on MCQs – you mismanage the same time everyone else had

TOP 10 KFP TAKE HOME MESSAGES:

1. Read the stem twice
2. Read the instruction verb
3. One answer per line (commas, and, / … may = overcoding)
4. Match your investigations to rule in/out you top differential diagnosis
5. Write the medication as you would on a script (e.g. generic name, dose, route, frequency)
   1. Dose no longer required
6. Consider the context – almost all of the things that are mentioned have either:
   1. a positive predictive value OR
   2. a negative predictive value
   3. carefully consider why the examiner added that key feature.
7. If asked for 5 things, provide 5 (only) and 5 DIFFERENT things, from different pathophysiological groups
8. Both UNDERCODING (not enough detail) and OVERCODING (too much detail) are punished
9. Each KFP carries equal marks to every other so 1 bad question represents < 4%
10. So, do the best you can for each question, forget it, move on.