Most medical schools have a percentage of students taking USMLE step-1 for the first time, or repeating the exam who struggle to prepare. When students do not achieve a threshold score on practice exams to indicate their readiness, or if they have failed Step-1, most interventions focus on improving content knowledge. Using a design thinking approach we have identified that poor test taking skills is a common problem for most struggling students. We have identified some of these factors, and using an iterative design thinking process, developed socratic coaching strategies to help students adopt more effective test taking habits. We have encapsulated these test taking habits in a tool called "multiple choice question (MCQ) analysis checklist (MAC)". Our institution has widely adopted MAC for struggling students with favorable results.

Participants who engage in this session will be able to:
1) Define common test taking mistakes
2) Recognize and diagnoses common types of test taking mistakes
3) Explain the use of the multiple choice question analysis checklist (MAC) to help learners improve their test taking skills