Be a Victor; Not a Victim ~ SAAB Syndrome!

The 'SAAB' Syndrome

You have been studying for long and preparing very hard for the entrance exams. But many a time you find yourself stuck with certain questions, because two different authors have given two different answers in their MCQ books - "Someone says A; Another B".  

How can the authors differ? Can't there be a single correct answer? Now you are on a quest. You want to know the correct answer.  You want to know the truth.

So you decide to ask your friends if they know which is better - A or B. You take a screenshot of that question & post it on a social media forum. Next you see that your friends/ well- wishers (competitors, actually) are 'voting' to show their preference. And the results vary - 60:40, 50:50 or 40:60. (Rarely you get 80:20 or 20:80 because in such majority cases, rarely there is any confusion.)

The voting results confuse you even more. You have exhausted all your resources and you still don't know the correct answer. So you decide to spend some more time on it and read the explanations given by the two authors. Now it gets crazier - both explanations seem equally convincing.

You are really annoyed now "which one is really correct? and why can't we have just one correct answer? and why do even these authors have to differ?". Now you are a perfect victim of "SAAB" syndrome.

Etiology of "SAAB" Syndrome:

1. Weltanschauung:  Get a worldview - understand that the literature evolves from a research and clinical practice point of view. Researchers and clinicians try to solve much bigger problems that the world may be facing. They don't give a damn for entrance exams and don't care if their clinical/ research work will become a part of an MCQ in the future! So get the bigger picture!

2. Static vs Dynamic: At any given point of time there will be more than one group of clinicians, thought leaders, researchers, and labs working on one particular 'problem'. The results may vary, and they vary all the time (Murphy's law!).  After years and decades, a conclusion comes out and finds a place in textbooks. But that doesn't mean the research stops there. It continues further and later, the new work may either support or reverse the earlier conclusion.  So as a student of science you should know that science is always dynamic and never static. That's why the answer for one single question may be different in different editions of a book written by the same author.

3. Multidisciplinary Clinical Management: When clinicians write a book or an article, they describe their own clinical approach and management. That's why you see that a clinical problem can be managed by two or more equally successful treatment plans. But there is no 'one' correct answer here; and there can never be 'only one' in many cases.


Treatment and management of "SAAB" syndrome:

1. Simplify your life : Never say this author's answer is A; or some other author's answer is B. They are not discoverers. They are mere interpreters of science. They will interpret science the way they want depending on the book they have referred. After all they are the bosses of their own authored books; so they have full freedom. And all authors mention which textbook they have referred. In case of confusion or conflicting answers by two different MCQ authors, it is 'your' job to go to those textbook sources and read them individually. And then whichever convinces you more - decide on that and move on! Simplify your life!

2. What to do if both explanations look equally good and convincing?
Leave that question. Don't even attempt to know the correct answer, because there wouldn't be any. They may be two different schools of thought and both might be working well in a clinical set up.

3. How can I leave that question? Will I not score less? Won't I lose my rank?
Most of the time, there will  be no confusion, since all MCQ authors tend to work on almost the same set of standard textbooks - they don't differ in their answers. We are talking about those rare situations where the answers differ, they occupy only about 5-10 % entrance exam space.

In a rare instance, even if all these questions come together in the same exam they wouldn't occupy more that 5-10% of the paper - so they don't decide your fate. It's the remaining 90- 95% questions that will be straightforward and bear the same answer, that decide your fate. So instead of wasting time on those 5- 10% MCQs, work on those 90- 95% questions that actually give you a rank.



Conclusion:

You are not here to solve such rare questions. You are here to get a rank and move on to MDS; and this can be achieved comfortably if you get out of SAAB syndrome. Don't act like a helpless victim.

Be wise and take control!

Be a victor; Not a victim!