How to interpret questions?

[SKaminski]

Interpreting questions wrong is something I ALWAYS do, and i'm looking for ways to improve at it.

For example, I had a UWorld question where a patient comes in with a watery discharge from his penis, and it tests negative for gonococcal infection. The proper antibiotics are started, and two weeks later he has complaints of pain in his joints and pain with urination.

So i was correct in assuming that this patient had chlamydia, which he was treated for. So i start wondering if maybe he stopped his Abs too soon? Then i start thinking about potential gonococcal infection that may have occurred after the test because he was sexually active and may have only gotten drugs for chlamydia. And then i started thinking about potential side effects of treatments for chalymdia (doxycycline or macrolides). And i just couldn't figure out the answer.

Reiter syndrome was what they were going for. So the answer had something to do with difficulty with vision....

I just. I make these mistakes all the time. And it's super frustrating.

Like I know chlaymdia causes reiter syndrome. And i know reiter syndrome causes "can't see, can't pee, can't climb a tree". I just... I never put things together.

Help?

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[zhopv10]

One thing that has helped me is the concept of parsimony. Like remember that for step one the pieces have to all fit. Like in your example he's got clear discharge, he tests negative for gonnorrhea, he is being treated and starts getting sx's of reactive arthritis. So we start thinking about that in the context of the exact question. I think reading the question before the stem helps do this too. Basically if you start having to think of extra connections they they haven't given you (maybe he stopped taking antibiotics and maybe he got this secondarily etc ) then you are going down the wrong path. There is enough info in step 1 For them to just test you, it's tricky but not actively trying to trick you. So every question I read the question first and then read the stem with that in mind and then think about the overall pattern, what picture are they painting without me taking any leaps of logic? And then work from there. Easier said than done of course, hopefully it is somewhat helpful good luck!


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