Often times students fail to understand key elements of the content underlying board type questions.  These are best corrected when they articulate their understanding in a setting where correction is possible, and that is in the small group discussion with peers, instructors and facilitators. This does not happen in lecture; students can leave a review lecture with the same misunderstanding they came in with.  Students really don’t recognize what they do not understand until they try to explain it, and the small group gives them the opportunity to self correct. A skill which is highly desirable when answering medical board questions.

Practicing questions, once the student has learned our unique approach, is a huge part of our daily schedule. The goals of practicing how to effectively answer board style questions has many benefits.

Advantages of working questions:

• It allows students to apply our highly effective question approach to help them pick the right answer especially when they get it down to two possible answer choices.
• Students notice an improvement in their test taking performance.
• Students begin to develop a sense of self-confidence when they see higher scores during question group. Educational research has shown that students who are self-confident report higher scores.
• Students learn how to efficiently pace their timing during the exam so running out of time does not become an issue.
• It enhances integration skills.

Advantages of small groups

• It allows the instructor to ensure that the student has a clear and defined interpretation of the work and is logical in his/her thought process.
• It highlights for students an awareness of when reasoning process is disorganized which then leads to a misinterpretation of questions.
• It provides opportunities to improve reasoning and critical thinking skills.
• It helps students, together with the facilitator, figure out their own personal style of learning.