68 - The Effect of Study Habits and a Growth Mindset on Exam Scores in Medical Students

Poster Board Number: 68
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Those with a growth mindset believe that intelligence is malleable and therefore, believe one has the ability to get smarter. On the contrary, those with a fixed mindset believe that intelligence is unchangeable and inherent. It has been suggested that those with a growth mindset might be more curious, put forth more effort in school and have increased motivation despite setbacks. Meanwhile, it has been suggested that those with a fixed mindset often perform for their self worth and to avoid failure, as they assume their intelligence has met its limit. To assess how having a growth versus fixed mindset impacts the exam scores of medical students, a study was performed with the UMKC School of Medicine class of 2026 students enrolled in a Medical Neuroscience class (N=115). A survey of eight questions along with demographic information was integrated into each of the five exams, including a cumulative final exam. With regards to having a growth mindset, it was found in the first two exams that there was no significant correlation between level of agreement with the statements “No matter who you are, you can become a lot smarter” and “You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how smart you are” and exam scores. This indicates that having a growth mindset does not have a significant impact on exam scores in medical school. However, as the rest of the exams are assessed statistically, we will be able to further investigate this claim and dive deeper into the relationship between demographic variables and a growth versus fixed mindset. Regardless, further research should be done as having a growth mindset might be particularly beneficial to medical students as they are immersed in a rigorous curriculum and are required to perform to a high level academically and clinically.