Monday was my first med school exam. We have four exams in GIE (anatomy) over the 11-week course, one for each of the 4 blocks. Each exam consists of a written portion and a practical (lab) portion. The written is multiple choice. For the practical, the course instructors "tag" different structures on the cadavers and we have to identify specifically what they are. During the exam, we rotate through different stations, each one containing a single tagged structure (to tag a structure they simply loop some string around it or stick a pin in it). We had something like 100 seconds at each station, and then we had to switch. After everyone had been through all the stations, we had half an hour to revisit whichever stations we needed.
I'm a little disappointed in how the test went. I haven't gotten my grade yet, but I know I didn't do as well as I wanted (or, more importantly, as well as I know I should have done based on how much I studied and how well I know the material). The practical was a lot harder than I expected. I've heard several other students say that as well. Also, I made a mistake with my approach. I was too ambivalent/unsure with my answers. I ended up with way too many stations to revisit at the end. Half an hour seemed like it would be more than enough time; I thought I would even be able to go back through and look over all my answers. But I ended up not being able to check over many of the ones I wanted to revisit, and not giving myself enough time to think about the really tough ones. I'll definitely be adjusting my strategy the next time around.
As for the written portion, it was really straightforward, and actually really easy. I'm confident that I did well. In fact, it turns out I definitely over-studied for the test in general. I think everyone did. Most of the exam consisted of broad, big-picture type questions, where I had learned the material down to the specific details. So this begs the following question: do I scale back my studying and enjoy life a bit more, or do I keep going full force, trying to perform the absolute best that I can? I think I'll wait to see how I did on this exam before I decide. I had really hoped to score super well, but I know that didn't happen this time around. So if all that extra effort is just going to be wasted, I think I'd rather live a slightly less stressful life (while I still can--I'm told anatomy is the easiest course I will be taking).
Overall, the whole test experience was exciting but exhausting, lasting an insane 4.75 hours (with a 15 minute shovel-some-parfait-in-my-mouth-while-putting-on-my-pants-and-running-from-lab-to-the-lecture-hall "snack break" in the middle). And now, the day after a huge exam and an intense weekend of studying/preparing, we're getting right back into it with block 2. ...And so the marathon continues.
Oh yeah, so today in lab, I totally used a bone saw to cut through some ribs, peeled back the thoracic cage/wall, and took a look inside the chest cavity. ...No big deal.
Man, lungs feel freakin' WEIRD!
"BONEsaw is reaDYYYYYYYY!!!"
ReplyDelete(That's a Spiderman 1 quote in case you were unsure)
Lungs are really neat. It's interesting to observe the differences between the lungs of a subject that was a chronic smoker vs. someone with healthy, spongy lungs.
Hahaha. I think Steph actually made that same reference.
ReplyDeleteYeah man. Our guy actually died of respiratory failure. His lungs are pretty healthy, but he has a lot of pneumonia gunk in his chest cavity.