THE CAREER DOCTOR CLEARING HURDLES

If you were to throw a rock, you will hit three accountants who have had to take numerous stabs at clearing the exam hurdles – they just don’t like to admit it. (Same with doctors, lawyers and other professionals.) If you are really concerned as to your core abilities, you should get yourself assessed on IQ and on the major aptitudes to make sure that you are up to the task. Assuming you are, you then need to look at your study habits and, more importantly, at your exam technique.

Study Habits: It can be a nightmare to pursue professional qualifications while working, keeping up a relationship (or raising a family) and having any sort of a social life – time management is critical. Look back at your previous attempts and score yourself harshly under the following headings: prioritising, concentration, studying at the optimal time of day, minimising distractions, starting early enough and working to a countdown schedule. Have a chat with some classmates – try and get past the posturing and glean how hard they are studying, how they strike a balance, and how much work they think the process needs. Is your thinking in line with theirs?

Exam Technique: This is of paramount importance. I have seen far too many clients flunk for the want of a practised approach in the examination room. Talk to lecturers and examiners – what is the expected standard? What constitutes an okay answer on Subject X versus a superb answer? Are they interested in what you know or in what you think? How do you allocate time in the exam hall? Has your problem been that you had too much information and not enough time or that you simply can’t remember salient data under pressure? (If stress is an issue, you need to understand it, know how it affects you, and put coping mechanisms in place.)

Finally, if you are considering giving up and changing path, you need to do this in the light of a long-term plan. What was your plan when you embarked upon this course of study? Where was the ‘destination’ on this path? How was that going to affect your personal life? Perhaps all you need is a pause in the study and to come back invigorated for the next run. Possibly you should do some capacity-building before your next stab. If the long-term picture of this career path is particularly rosy or if it is something you have hankered after for a long time, you will need to have very clear reasons for abandoning the path and stepping on to another one …

Rowan Manahan is MD of the career management firm Fortify Services and author of Where’s My Oasis?

Irish Independent, Jobs & Careers supplement, November 25th 2004.

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