:: my little box ::

Tuesday, March 20

Wah, my last post was so so long ago! Thankfully Blogger doesn't have this "inactivate if inactive for 2 months" policy, which hotmail has... :)

Anyway, there's been alot of happenings in the past 3 months... Actually not alot lah, just that they were BIG happenings... which, after going through it don't seem so BIG anymore... Just like when you're in Primary 6 PSLE seems like a big deal and when you're in JC 'A' levels seem like a big deal... But you get over it eventually...

I meant to blog about the 1st BIG happening after it happened but i didn't, so I gotta catch up now lah...

So BIG happening number 1 is the O&G exam! Wah, its the most serious end of posting test/exam I've had... and we had to take it seriously cos one component (the OSCEs) are counted towards final MBBS! Plus of course you wouldn't want to do a re-posting right? Not when all your other friends are in UK somewhere or you already made plans for the electives...

I was slow to start mugging cos I was preparing for the ENT book prize... and the momentum just couldn't build up... I only started seriously mugging during the last 4 weeks and it was difficult cos we still had to study for the Q&A sessions and do the 2nd write-up...

Wah, major stress man... And Chinese New Year happened on the weekend before the test week so I had to use it to catch up... only managed to finish mugging Gynaecology, and still got Obstetrics left... Wah, was quite a wreck the day before OSSEs... I felt so drained everyday... I wonder how I managed to get through it... Still, things got better... OSSEs were ok, Neonates so-so, MCQ and Essays were better. and the OSCE was good! I guess I'm slow to warm up...

I think for the OSCE my group was pretty lucky cos we got pretty nice exmainers.. except for one station where it was so quiet in the room though there were 4 of us (me, 2 examiners and the pretend patient) and I already finished my verbal diarrhoea and had nothing left to say.. and the 'patient' just stared at me and didn't prompt me at all! Sigh... later on i found out i was supposed to ask about history which i didn't cos the instructions said investigations and management! ARGH...

The rest of the stations were pretty ok... Some were quite good acutally... I had Dr Ng who later on asked me to consider doing O&G in future... haha... Quite happy to hear that... Dr Kenneth Kwek was also very nice, so it made me relax more... I must've seemed really really nervous... I talked so fast I hope they caught what I was saying...

But most of the examiners were very nice lah... When i walked in and said "Good morning my name is ___, my index number is ___ and this is my sticker" most actually said "relax, take a seat" and smiled at me... wah, that reallly made things alot easier... It makes it even better when they say things like "go on, you're doing very well..." or just nod and smile...

Ok, next time when i grow up and become an examiner I'll do that too! :)

So the OSCEs were over... wonderful... then Patho begins...

Derrick had 4 weeks to study for Patho after O&G last year, and he said it wasn't enough... Oh dear, it was even worse for our batch! We only had 3 weeks! Still I couldn't help but relax a little after O&G... 3 weeks seems like a long time! So i was at 3/4 strength for the 1st week, then started panicking... Oh dear I took 1 whole week just to do Gen Path and Cardio! Sigh, something wrong... gotta buck up man...

I dunno why I was so nervous for Patho also... I think its because:
1. I want to do reasonably well
2. The rest of my class is v v v hardworking and looking at them makes me stressed
3. Derrick's year didn't do too well for patho and I think we're all scared
4. Patho's not exactly my best subject
5. Patho was so long ago! (2 years)
6. There were so many chapters and I knew I couldn't never finish studying everything

Ok, alot of reasons so yah... tough man... I managed to read through everything at least once (except for Chem path where i only read the notes) and learnt the big topics in detail... I couldn't really bother with haemato and GN because they're really hard topics and take alot of brain power, which i obviously don't have...

So stressed... I think I have thyrotoxicosis... Horrible handwriting during the Pots paper... Yucks... and when I hold my notes the paper shakes... Oh dear... Or maybe its benign essential tremor? Gotta wait a few days n see if it goes away...

I found out one thing: I acutally like forensic path! I found it amazingly easy to learn... its almost all about common sense... and I also started liking Pathology and histopath as well.. Oh dear... am i turning into a Derrick? haha...

So anyway, today's the day of our exam! Yay! Over! Wow, it seems so surreal... all I do is wake up, eat, go to the med library, go home, bathe, mug then sleep... I don't believe I spent the last 2 months studying... Goodness...

Haha, i bet i'm gonna have "withdrawal" over the next few days... What? No more mugging? No!!!! Cannot, I need to mug! Ok, just kidding...

On a more serious note, I realised that the MBBS is REALLY VERY SCARY! Its so tiring! Oh dear, how am I gonna go through that next year????????????? 1 whole month of exams! I feel so tired after just ONE paper!! How can I take so many more???????? :(

I guess we'll all get through it when the time comes... No big deal lah!

*Me to You*
Tatter teddy posted at 3:20 pm