IT'S OVER!!!

I've finished my last MBBS I exam yesterday!

The days leading up to those exams were horrible. Stress overload, thinking that my level of knowledge was inadequate and that I would make a horrible doctor. Then I smacked myself up side my head and realised that everyone else in the course must be feeling the same way with regards to level of knowledge that they have (or don't have) heading into the exams.

The first exam was the MSAT (Multi-Station Assessment Task), and it consisted of 9 stations, that were 9 minutes long. Each station also had a 9-minute instructional stations right before it so that you can prepare for that station. There were 2 stations on communication skills, 2 stations on history taking, 2 stations on clinical examinations, and 1 ethics station. I got full marks for most of the stations, not sure how I did on the ethics station (it was talking to someone in your PBL group who shows up late, takes very long breaks, makes derogatory comments about the patients in our cases, puts down female members of the group, and thinks that sociology and things similar are not necessary in the study of medicine). I just didn't know what the "right" path was. Apparently, everyone that did the Saturday (it was held over Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the 296 students that were schedule to take it) MSAT passed.

After finishing the MSAT, all motivation to study for the written exams went down the drain. It seemed quite anti-climactic. I went over all the past exam papers and my basic/clinical sciences revisions. The first exam was a bitch! There were 5 parts and one ethics essay. The essay was fine and a few of the papers in the exam were from past papers, so that made things a bit easier. However, they School of Medicine used way too many multiple choice questions, which doesn't really assess what you know about a particular subject area (the MCQs dealt with haematology). I know that heaps of people were quite annoyed with that form of testing. I rather have short answer than MCQ. The next written exam was 7 parts and covered pretty much whatever wasn't covered on the first exam. More of those papers were from past exams, which probably saved my ass!

After the last exam finished, a number of us headed to Claire's place to start the post-exam celebrations and have pre-party drinks and food. Too much fun was to be had...I forgot how much fun it was to be in a group of people and talk about things other than medicine. After getting some of our alcohol metabolism going, we all headed to the bowls club (lawn bowling...no longer a geriatric sport!) by way of taking the City Cat (or what Claire likes to call it, "Shitty Shat"). It reached up to 31 degrees Centigrade and with that kinda heat mixed with copious amounts of alcohol consumption results in some weird shit. After several hours at the bowls club, most students headed down to the local waterhole, the Regatta (affectionately known as the Regretta). They were serving free drinks for an hour for med students and then after that hour, you could buy 4 drinks for $10. That mixed with top 40s music, a Leanne (voted "best dancer" by her PBL tutor), and some med school drama (oh the drama...even if I wasn't interested in medicine, I would stay in this course because of its drama!), resulted in a fantastic night!

It's now 10:43am on the day after my last exam. I'm sitting on the balcony having morning tea. The day seems to be like any other, and I've to keep reminding myself that I deserve a break. I have a week till I leave for my medical elective in India. So much shit to sort through before leaving - packing for India (can only take up to 20 kilos! and as anyone that has travelled to India...that's normally the weight for the carry on lugagge!), packing my room so that Dave and Suz can move my stuff while I'm away, need to get some last minute supplies for the trip, and to sort out some other stuff (address book, upcoming birthdays, etc) before I head out.

I can't believe first year is done (well, it will officially be done on December 2nd when the elective finishes)! What an exciting year it has been...and I would have done it all over again, exactly how it has, in a heartbeat. :)