When Mental Strength Rather than Skills and Techniques Become the Primary Determinant for Success
Today was the final exam for graduating medical school students at the University of Tokyo. The final exam took the form of individual clinical simulations, where each student separately, in designated time periods, perform certain required medical checkup procedures in front of their professors. Students from other departments were called up to perform as mock patients for the final exam, and the author was luckily selected as one of the privileged (?) few who had the opportunity to witness firsthand the final examination process.
As readers can probably imagine, students taking the final exams today are, in some ways, some of the most intelligent twenty-somethings Japan has to offer. They are enrolled in the country's finest university, in the most selective and prestigious department, and as graduates, they will receive nothing but admirers from the general public. There is no doubt that these students study hard, both cramming scientific knowledge and undergoing frequent practical exercises to prepare them for actual stressful work of handling real patients in hospitals and clinics.
Yet, after seeing dozens of students perform their exams, it is interesting to see just how much the levels of performance differ. In the given time periods, some completed the required exercise with ease and plenty of time to spare, while others stumbled in initial steps, leaving little time (and plenty of anxiety) for the main portions of exercise. These students, all of them equally, received the same training for the same tests multiple times in the past. They are all well-versed on the techniques and knowledge behind procedures they were asked to perform. And surely they are all smart enough to master them. Why the big differences?
Casual observations point to a factor that is completely unrelated to either the knowledge acquired in classes, or the difficulties of the exercises that formed portions of the exam. The main differentiation factor for succeeding and failing instead lies with a sense of mental strength or lack thereof. Surely all students are nervous knowing that the procedures they perform over a few minutes in a closed room will decide their final grades and potentially careers from today onwards. But in the face of equal nervousness, some students were able to approach the procedures with amazing degree of calm while others cannot hide the anxiety.
For demonstrative tests like the exam in question, that sense of calm can really be make or break. Shaky hands ensure that even normal exercises, performed over and over in class before with ease, become excruciatingly difficult today. And because there is time pressure, those with shaky hands become even more anxious, creating a vicious cycle where some simply freeze, unable to recall even the most basic, well-learned steps needed to complete the task at hand. For the mock patients (and no doubt the professors), it is simply painful to watch.
The fact that mental strength is the major factor of success is not a situation limited to the medical environment. Any "test" that have any sort of demonstrative component is bound to be accompanied with some level of nervousness and as such, the same kind of mental strength is necessary. For most people, that moment comes repeatedly as part of job interviews. In some thirty minutes to an hour, one is expected to create a solid narrative of having skills and knowledge necessary to fulfill a certain position, under constant scrutiny of interviewers who are eager to prove otherwise.
In that situation, it often does not matter what the person actually knows, but how s/he can successfully communicate in real-time, what s/he knows. Those who are calm and collected under such intense pressure are able to put together a good story to impress the interviewers. Those who crack under pressure, no matter how knowledgeable and suitable for the job in question, would not be able to create coherent narratives that bring positive impressions to the minds of interviewers. The medical school final exam is just a more physical, visual form of the same logic as the job interview.
Thought this way, it is rather unfortunate that schools do not teach students anything about how to acquire and retain a sense of mental strength. Classes are too busy teaching students the concrete knowledge of being a doctor, for instance, without putting them in enough tense situations to help them implement those knowledge under tense situations. For those who crack under pressure, it really does not matter how much skills they acquired in classes, since they are unable to remain calm enough in the real world to actually use those skills.
It is overly simplistic to blame nervousness and anxiety on supposedly innate "personality" or supposed "experiences" that is outside the school's control. Schools should actively design and teach classes that help students cope with stressful conditions in real job scenarios, so that they become more able to perform regularly despite external conditions and lack of certain desirable "personalities" or "experiences." Students will undoubtedly appreciate the existence of such classes, since no one, not even professionals with years of experience, can avoid stressful situations in their jobs. Learning to deal with them early is highly useful.
As readers can probably imagine, students taking the final exams today are, in some ways, some of the most intelligent twenty-somethings Japan has to offer. They are enrolled in the country's finest university, in the most selective and prestigious department, and as graduates, they will receive nothing but admirers from the general public. There is no doubt that these students study hard, both cramming scientific knowledge and undergoing frequent practical exercises to prepare them for actual stressful work of handling real patients in hospitals and clinics.
Yet, after seeing dozens of students perform their exams, it is interesting to see just how much the levels of performance differ. In the given time periods, some completed the required exercise with ease and plenty of time to spare, while others stumbled in initial steps, leaving little time (and plenty of anxiety) for the main portions of exercise. These students, all of them equally, received the same training for the same tests multiple times in the past. They are all well-versed on the techniques and knowledge behind procedures they were asked to perform. And surely they are all smart enough to master them. Why the big differences?
Casual observations point to a factor that is completely unrelated to either the knowledge acquired in classes, or the difficulties of the exercises that formed portions of the exam. The main differentiation factor for succeeding and failing instead lies with a sense of mental strength or lack thereof. Surely all students are nervous knowing that the procedures they perform over a few minutes in a closed room will decide their final grades and potentially careers from today onwards. But in the face of equal nervousness, some students were able to approach the procedures with amazing degree of calm while others cannot hide the anxiety.
For demonstrative tests like the exam in question, that sense of calm can really be make or break. Shaky hands ensure that even normal exercises, performed over and over in class before with ease, become excruciatingly difficult today. And because there is time pressure, those with shaky hands become even more anxious, creating a vicious cycle where some simply freeze, unable to recall even the most basic, well-learned steps needed to complete the task at hand. For the mock patients (and no doubt the professors), it is simply painful to watch.
The fact that mental strength is the major factor of success is not a situation limited to the medical environment. Any "test" that have any sort of demonstrative component is bound to be accompanied with some level of nervousness and as such, the same kind of mental strength is necessary. For most people, that moment comes repeatedly as part of job interviews. In some thirty minutes to an hour, one is expected to create a solid narrative of having skills and knowledge necessary to fulfill a certain position, under constant scrutiny of interviewers who are eager to prove otherwise.
In that situation, it often does not matter what the person actually knows, but how s/he can successfully communicate in real-time, what s/he knows. Those who are calm and collected under such intense pressure are able to put together a good story to impress the interviewers. Those who crack under pressure, no matter how knowledgeable and suitable for the job in question, would not be able to create coherent narratives that bring positive impressions to the minds of interviewers. The medical school final exam is just a more physical, visual form of the same logic as the job interview.
Thought this way, it is rather unfortunate that schools do not teach students anything about how to acquire and retain a sense of mental strength. Classes are too busy teaching students the concrete knowledge of being a doctor, for instance, without putting them in enough tense situations to help them implement those knowledge under tense situations. For those who crack under pressure, it really does not matter how much skills they acquired in classes, since they are unable to remain calm enough in the real world to actually use those skills.
It is overly simplistic to blame nervousness and anxiety on supposedly innate "personality" or supposed "experiences" that is outside the school's control. Schools should actively design and teach classes that help students cope with stressful conditions in real job scenarios, so that they become more able to perform regularly despite external conditions and lack of certain desirable "personalities" or "experiences." Students will undoubtedly appreciate the existence of such classes, since no one, not even professionals with years of experience, can avoid stressful situations in their jobs. Learning to deal with them early is highly useful.
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