AKT Tips: a Trilogy in Four Parts (Part 1)

Episode One: the AKT Menace

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a GP registrar in possession of a desire to practice unsupervised, must be in want of a GP fellowship. Or so Jane Austen would have had us believe.

The one infallible way to pass the AKT is to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of everything that ever has been, and ever will be, written on medicine and its practice.

But assuming you are not Raymond the “Rainman” with his phenomenal memory, then you may be searching for tips to help refine your study.

Use these ten tips from some of the greatest fiction in the English language:

• Answer the question before you look at the options: aka the Alice in Wonderland.

Sometimes the answers to the questions leave you feeling more confused.

Alice had been looking over his shoulder with some curiosity. 'What a funny watch!' she remarked. 'It tells the day of the month, and doesn't tell what o'clock it is!'
'Why should it?' muttered the Hatter. 'Does your watch tell you what year it is?'
Alice felt dreadfully puzzled.

Here’s how to apply this tip:

1. Cover the answers
2. Decide your answer based on the information in the stem.
3. Check the answer list for your answer

If your answer is not there, read the stem again carefully.

If your answer is there - great!  If time permits, double check why the other answers aren’t correct.

This technique helps avoid the impact of distractors. 

• Don’t leave blanks aka the King Lear

“Nothing can come of nothing: speak again”. 

King Lear offers his daughter Cordelia a third of his kingdom in return for telling him how much she loves him. She refuses and says nothing. In return she is exiled. Saying nothing will get you nothing!

Here’s how to apply this tip:

1. Mark the question to return to it later, you may remember something or another question may jog your memory
2. Eliminate obviously wrong answers and pick the best possibility from the remaining options. This especially is true for the EMQ questions - try and dismiss obviously incorrect answers and turn the EMQ into an MCQ to improve your odds!