Well it's certainly been awhile since my last post. Apologies. I've been revising for my exams. Finished exams so I suddenly have a lot of free time. Quite weird. I've technically been studying for over 6 weeks for this exam which felt a lot longer as it just kept dragging on and on. It didn't help that the other years have already taken their exams/have left for winter holiday already. It's gutting when people are away back at home or on vacation and you're stuck in your room/library revising all day, every day.
Today I got my results from my exam and good news: PASSED! Managed to jump over another hurdle. Next hurdle: Finals. Scary! To be honest these exams meant a lot to me. I wasn't very happy with my performance in last year's exams and promised myself that I will never make the same mistake and study harder and work harder. I pretty much declared this year as a "comeback" year. I promised myself to go into placements and actively learn. So today when I went to get my results, I was very nervous. I was confident I had passed, but there's always that little bit of doubt in the back of your mind. The relief when I saw my results. Phew. I think I can officially say that this has been a successful comeback year. I have regained my motivation for Medicine and during the 2nd half of this year, I have regained a lot of confidence. I got to say - it's been a good year (despite the highs and lows).
Along with my results, I have received my schedule and placements for next year. Starting off in A&E, so it will be a very quick and hectic start! Should be very interesting though. Now that exams are over and that I've gotten my results - I can finally relax. Get back to normality. Do what I enjoy and meet up with friends. It was a tough exam period and I cannot wait to go back home. See my school friends. See my parents. Celebrating Christmas and New Year with the family. It will be nice. It will probably be my last proper winter holiday as next year I will be revising for finals as my final exams are after winter holidays. I will definitely have to make use and enjoy this winter holiday as much as I can this year. It's been a very tough road. Scarier thought: after next year's winter holiday, I will be working as a proper doctor in a hospital somewhere during winter holidays! Wow. It's getting close!
One step closer to being a doctor!
Anyways Merry Christmas to everyone and good luck with interviews!
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Showing posts with label results. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Monday, December 19, 2011
Holiday!
Holiday technically started a week-ish ago, but because of results, it didn't feel much of a holiday. It's been quite a few days since results (yes I realize my exam and results post were fairly recent...but in reality my exams were like 2 weeks ago). I will be going back home to spend my short winter holiday and just make the most of my time with family and friends. Should be good so I'm really excited. Seems like I haven't had a break in ages, but technically just got off in August. This year has been extremely long.
Anyways I will be off for a few weeks. So happy holidays to everyone and congratulations to those who have already received offers (yay!) and those who have received interviews! For those who are still waiting, try your best to not think about it and have a nice holiday/break!
Anyways I will be off for a few weeks. So happy holidays to everyone and congratulations to those who have already received offers (yay!) and those who have received interviews! For those who are still waiting, try your best to not think about it and have a nice holiday/break!
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Close Call.
If you have read my previous post on exams...you would have noticed that this exam was very difficult and I was fairly convinced I had failed. From last day of exams to results...I had 7 days to ponder and scare myself/reassure myself. Easily the most anxious 7 days of my life. First day post exam - I swear I was brain dead. I couldn't do anything properly. At the same time - I was in a bit of a depressed state of mind. Also found it very difficult to sleep. Mind you, I'm not the type that worries about stuff. I literally am a happy-go-lucky/care-free person. I rarely worry about things. Thank goodness I got to go to London for the weekend to watch a concert, which allowed me to get my mind off of exams and just to relax.
Results day - woke up at 8am...pretty much tossed around in bed for the next 4 hours as results aren't released until 2pm. Worst bit is that I have to go to the medical school to go see my results as for no reason the school does not post them online.
"Results are out...it ain't pretty." - the text message I received from my friend at 2:10pm. When I read the message, I felt my heart drop. As I got closer to the medical school, I could feel my heart racing. I then saw classmates standing outside the school. Some crying. Some cheering. Some looked in shock. I really didn't know what to expect. The short walk from the entrance to the notice board where our results are posted was probably the longest walk ever. Next comes the difficult bit. Finding your student number in a list of 280 other numbers. "Should I check the fail list first? Or just try to find my number in the pass list?" My gut went with looking through the pass list first. Thank goodness our numbers are in numerical order this year. Page after page....I finally found my number. I passed my exam! Then curiosity won me over and I took a look at the fail list. I was in shock. The phase director had failed 20% of the year (50+ students). Wow. She actually kept her word about it. I was disgusted by the number of students she had decided to fail. Ridiculous. As time passed, more of my friends came in to check their results as word had spread about results being out. One by one I saw students come through. Saw a couple people crying as they had failed their exams. Thinking about it - we were all top of the class students. Failure...is probably something we have never really experienced before, so for those who failed their medical exams it probably came as a shock. By the way - usually only 10-15 people fail their exams. In our last two years, my year had set the highest passing rate. The academic department was proud of our year. In 6 months, we went from the highest passing rate, to the highest failing rate. Obviously there is something wrong with the exam and not us.
Unfortunately a few of my close friends had failed their exams. I know a few people getting kicked out from the course from failing more than 3 times in the course. A couple of people had failed and had such a bad experience from these last 6 months, will be quitting medicine. It's really a shame that one phase director can put so many people off from medicine and possibly even change the future of so many students. Lots of students had lost a lot of confidence because of these exams. These exams disgust me especially knowing the school had screwed up badly with these exams. Pass mark for our exams are usually at around 47-50%. This year our pass mark was around 40%. OBVIOUSLY something wrong with the exam if your pass mark is that low. I surely hope the school does something to resolve this as I think this is unacceptable. Yes I am angry at the school. Yes I am annoyed. Yes I know I passed, but knowing the pass mark was that low - I feel like I didn't pass my exam as it was not a fair exam and not a fair way to examine the knowledge I had gained in the last 6 months.
What I had experienced from these exams, I am a bit hesitant on even recommending the school to prospective students. It's really a shame how poorly this has been handled. Hopefully the school will regain my confidence in them in the new year.
Results day - woke up at 8am...pretty much tossed around in bed for the next 4 hours as results aren't released until 2pm. Worst bit is that I have to go to the medical school to go see my results as for no reason the school does not post them online.
"Results are out...it ain't pretty." - the text message I received from my friend at 2:10pm. When I read the message, I felt my heart drop. As I got closer to the medical school, I could feel my heart racing. I then saw classmates standing outside the school. Some crying. Some cheering. Some looked in shock. I really didn't know what to expect. The short walk from the entrance to the notice board where our results are posted was probably the longest walk ever. Next comes the difficult bit. Finding your student number in a list of 280 other numbers. "Should I check the fail list first? Or just try to find my number in the pass list?" My gut went with looking through the pass list first. Thank goodness our numbers are in numerical order this year. Page after page....I finally found my number. I passed my exam! Then curiosity won me over and I took a look at the fail list. I was in shock. The phase director had failed 20% of the year (50+ students). Wow. She actually kept her word about it. I was disgusted by the number of students she had decided to fail. Ridiculous. As time passed, more of my friends came in to check their results as word had spread about results being out. One by one I saw students come through. Saw a couple people crying as they had failed their exams. Thinking about it - we were all top of the class students. Failure...is probably something we have never really experienced before, so for those who failed their medical exams it probably came as a shock. By the way - usually only 10-15 people fail their exams. In our last two years, my year had set the highest passing rate. The academic department was proud of our year. In 6 months, we went from the highest passing rate, to the highest failing rate. Obviously there is something wrong with the exam and not us.
Unfortunately a few of my close friends had failed their exams. I know a few people getting kicked out from the course from failing more than 3 times in the course. A couple of people had failed and had such a bad experience from these last 6 months, will be quitting medicine. It's really a shame that one phase director can put so many people off from medicine and possibly even change the future of so many students. Lots of students had lost a lot of confidence because of these exams. These exams disgust me especially knowing the school had screwed up badly with these exams. Pass mark for our exams are usually at around 47-50%. This year our pass mark was around 40%. OBVIOUSLY something wrong with the exam if your pass mark is that low. I surely hope the school does something to resolve this as I think this is unacceptable. Yes I am angry at the school. Yes I am annoyed. Yes I know I passed, but knowing the pass mark was that low - I feel like I didn't pass my exam as it was not a fair exam and not a fair way to examine the knowledge I had gained in the last 6 months.
What I had experienced from these exams, I am a bit hesitant on even recommending the school to prospective students. It's really a shame how poorly this has been handled. Hopefully the school will regain my confidence in them in the new year.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Congratulations!
To those who got their A-level results today and gotten into medicine - congratulations! Now you all can relax and prepare yourselves for freshers. It is going to be amazing. Even I'm excited for Freshers and I'm in 3rd year! Few more weeks and you will officially be medical students. When you start your first lecture - it will suddenly hit you: "I am in medical school." It is a feeling you can't describe... or you can be insanely hungover...which isn't a pleasant feeling. Either way it will hit you at some point so do enjoy it. To be able to study medicine is a rare opportunity so make the most of it. Should be a fun filled 5-6 years to become a doctor.
Anyways congratulations again and enjoy your next few weeks of holiday and get ready for freshers!
Anyways congratulations again and enjoy your next few weeks of holiday and get ready for freshers!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Start of Clinical Years.
Finally got some free time to make a post. First want to thank those who are still following me on my blog as I really do appreciate it.
So I finished my 3 exams (MEQ, Multi-Station, and EMQ) on May 5. 3 torturous days as predicted. To be honest - The MEQ and EMQ exams weren't too bad as I adapted a new way of studying which is better suited for those two exams; however, I neglected the method needed for Multi-Station exam. Consequently, I did suffer a bit in my Multi-Station exam. It was horrible. I didn't exactly start at a great station either. I knew how to do the questions in my first station but the next 4 stations shattered my confidence. I did not study the things asked and it was a horrible feeling. With every station I lost more and more confidence and was starting to think pretty negatively. At one point I even asked myself if it was possible to get 0% on the exam. It was grim. After 2 hours of absolute shattered confidence and the horrible sinking feeling - I was hoping like no tomorrow that the EMQ would be much better. Thankfully - EMQ was quite okay and I didn't have too many difficulties with it.
Fast forward to May 19. Results day. My university requires us to go into the medical school to get our results so the journey to the school was long and nerve-racking. I don't think I have been so nervous before. To my relief I had passed and cue celebration. We still haven't received the breakdown marks of our 3 papers, and I'm looking forward to see how I did in the multi-station paper. Last year it was my best paper of the 3...I don't think that is the case this year. Who knows - maybe I've got some pretty amazing guessing skills.
Just the other day I got my first clinical year schedule and it looks really crammed and hectic but after looking at it again - it isn't too bad. The major downside of starting clinical years...is the lack of holidays. I guess they're trying to prepare us for the future? From what I've heard from upper years - this is the time when it hits you - you'll be a doctor in 3 years and it is quite a frightening thought. I swear the last 2 years FLEW by. Freshers week felt like it was only a few months ago.
Anyways just wanted to do a quick update and hopefully my next post will be soon. :)
So I finished my 3 exams (MEQ, Multi-Station, and EMQ) on May 5. 3 torturous days as predicted. To be honest - The MEQ and EMQ exams weren't too bad as I adapted a new way of studying which is better suited for those two exams; however, I neglected the method needed for Multi-Station exam. Consequently, I did suffer a bit in my Multi-Station exam. It was horrible. I didn't exactly start at a great station either. I knew how to do the questions in my first station but the next 4 stations shattered my confidence. I did not study the things asked and it was a horrible feeling. With every station I lost more and more confidence and was starting to think pretty negatively. At one point I even asked myself if it was possible to get 0% on the exam. It was grim. After 2 hours of absolute shattered confidence and the horrible sinking feeling - I was hoping like no tomorrow that the EMQ would be much better. Thankfully - EMQ was quite okay and I didn't have too many difficulties with it.
Fast forward to May 19. Results day. My university requires us to go into the medical school to get our results so the journey to the school was long and nerve-racking. I don't think I have been so nervous before. To my relief I had passed and cue celebration. We still haven't received the breakdown marks of our 3 papers, and I'm looking forward to see how I did in the multi-station paper. Last year it was my best paper of the 3...I don't think that is the case this year. Who knows - maybe I've got some pretty amazing guessing skills.
Just the other day I got my first clinical year schedule and it looks really crammed and hectic but after looking at it again - it isn't too bad. The major downside of starting clinical years...is the lack of holidays. I guess they're trying to prepare us for the future? From what I've heard from upper years - this is the time when it hits you - you'll be a doctor in 3 years and it is quite a frightening thought. I swear the last 2 years FLEW by. Freshers week felt like it was only a few months ago.
Anyways just wanted to do a quick update and hopefully my next post will be soon. :)
Friday, June 11, 2010
First Year Medicine - OFFICIALLY DONE.
Great news - I PASSED! Yay! I managed to pull a 4 as well so I was quite pleased when I saw my mark. Sadly my celebration with my other friends kind of abruptly stopped an hour later when we got a phone call from one of our good friends that he has failed and need to do resits. We were quite shocked as this guy worked and studied quite hard and it was shocking to see someone who worked so hard has failed. It was definitely a sobering thought and snapped us out of our "cloud 9" and really showed us that it could have been easily any of us who fails. I really felt bad for him as he does not deserve to fail due to all his work (he started studying PRIOR to Easter break). We all wish him the best of luck and pass his resits!!!
On a more happier note, I just got home from a massive party - Drink Medsoc Dry. It was amazing. Who can complain about 50p drinks?! Started drinking at about 7:45pm and decided to leave at 10:30pm. We decided to head to a club to have some real fun and went to a great club. Great music and it was PACKED. There were so many people there! Eventually more medics showed up at the same club and it was a lot of fun. Definitely had a great night with friends and it was a good "goodbye" as I am leaving tomorrow so I won't see my friends again until September.
All in all, what an amazing first year of medicine. It is a great subject and one I definitely enjoy. Medicine has a reputation that it is hard/difficult and I have generally thought it was quite okay. After exams I realized how tough the subject can get and definitely do NOT underestimate the exams. They can literally ask ANYTHING. Learned loads this year - especially on how to study and work throughout the year so next year when it comes to exam time I won't be pulling super late nights and almost to the point of cramming.
2nd year of Medicine - Bring it on.
On a more happier note, I just got home from a massive party - Drink Medsoc Dry. It was amazing. Who can complain about 50p drinks?! Started drinking at about 7:45pm and decided to leave at 10:30pm. We decided to head to a club to have some real fun and went to a great club. Great music and it was PACKED. There were so many people there! Eventually more medics showed up at the same club and it was a lot of fun. Definitely had a great night with friends and it was a good "goodbye" as I am leaving tomorrow so I won't see my friends again until September.
All in all, what an amazing first year of medicine. It is a great subject and one I definitely enjoy. Medicine has a reputation that it is hard/difficult and I have generally thought it was quite okay. After exams I realized how tough the subject can get and definitely do NOT underestimate the exams. They can literally ask ANYTHING. Learned loads this year - especially on how to study and work throughout the year so next year when it comes to exam time I won't be pulling super late nights and almost to the point of cramming.
2nd year of Medicine - Bring it on.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
1 day til Results.
I didn't think I would be nervous about results as we have been assured that about 5% of the class would fail, but I AM STILL NERVOUS. It is really hard to say how I have done in the exam and I have no clue what sort of mark I'll be getting. Back in high school, after an exam, I usually have a sense of how I did and can ball-park the mark that I will be getting. This time, I seriously have no clue at all. I have a feeling that everyone will be scoring around the same mark and 1% can make or break you pretty much - scary stuff.
I also don't understand why I have to physically go to the medical school to see my results...why can't we get our marks online like most schools? For the home students it isn't that bad as they can always go home, but I am stuck in England for 2 weeks with nothing to do waiting for results to come out and I can't go home in between. I also don't like crowding around a little pane of glass trying to find your student number and along the way see other people's marks as well...quite nerve-racking but I guess it gives you a bit of competition as you can see how your classmates have done.
Wish me luck for tomorrow and hopefully I get the mark I am aiming for and PASS. I really put a lot of work into studying for the exams and will be extremely disappointed if I end up with a 3 (or fail). Not trying to be stuck up or anything - please don't get me wrong - but for the amount of effort I put into studying - I hope my work pays off and get me a 4.
Will update again when I get my mark and hopefully be a very happy medical student. :)
I also don't understand why I have to physically go to the medical school to see my results...why can't we get our marks online like most schools? For the home students it isn't that bad as they can always go home, but I am stuck in England for 2 weeks with nothing to do waiting for results to come out and I can't go home in between. I also don't like crowding around a little pane of glass trying to find your student number and along the way see other people's marks as well...quite nerve-racking but I guess it gives you a bit of competition as you can see how your classmates have done.
Wish me luck for tomorrow and hopefully I get the mark I am aiming for and PASS. I really put a lot of work into studying for the exams and will be extremely disappointed if I end up with a 3 (or fail). Not trying to be stuck up or anything - please don't get me wrong - but for the amount of effort I put into studying - I hope my work pays off and get me a 4.
Will update again when I get my mark and hopefully be a very happy medical student. :)
Friday, May 28, 2010
Reality.
Yes finally done exams!
If I had to summarize my medicals exams in one word it would be: Reality.
As a medical student we are all used to being top of the class and breezing through exams. It is quite rare to not know how to do something, but wow talk about crashing into the reality wall. I had 3 exams in 3 days: MEQ, Multi-Station, and EMQ. Overall the exams were challenging but it was do-able. It was a good reality check that there will be times where you won't know how to do something and you are going to have to overcome the feeling. First day was definitely tough. I went back to my room and I just felt really dumb and my confidence level was pit bottom. It was definitely hard to pick myself back up but I was pretty determined to make it up by doing well in multi-station and EMQ. All in all I tried my best in all 3 papers and hope I did enough to pass! Results release on June 10 so I guess I'll be camping out at the medical school. I'll probably be a nervous wreck though.
On a lighter note: summer holiday has officially begun! Right after exams I went out with friends and just make up for the last 6ish weeks of complete "hermiting". Then went for a night out with the rest of my medical year - great celebration. Today, I finally got the time to go and play some field hockey in pretty nice weather. Was a bit cold, but it was sunny out and I watched the sunset. Very relaxing. And then in 4 months it'll be the official start of 2nd year of medicine! I'm also planning on going to freshers events as they are so amazing. It is also a chance for me to go to parties with a group of people who I know and have a lot more fun. Also the perfect chance to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends! Looking forward to it.
If I had to summarize my medicals exams in one word it would be: Reality.
As a medical student we are all used to being top of the class and breezing through exams. It is quite rare to not know how to do something, but wow talk about crashing into the reality wall. I had 3 exams in 3 days: MEQ, Multi-Station, and EMQ. Overall the exams were challenging but it was do-able. It was a good reality check that there will be times where you won't know how to do something and you are going to have to overcome the feeling. First day was definitely tough. I went back to my room and I just felt really dumb and my confidence level was pit bottom. It was definitely hard to pick myself back up but I was pretty determined to make it up by doing well in multi-station and EMQ. All in all I tried my best in all 3 papers and hope I did enough to pass! Results release on June 10 so I guess I'll be camping out at the medical school. I'll probably be a nervous wreck though.
On a lighter note: summer holiday has officially begun! Right after exams I went out with friends and just make up for the last 6ish weeks of complete "hermiting". Then went for a night out with the rest of my medical year - great celebration. Today, I finally got the time to go and play some field hockey in pretty nice weather. Was a bit cold, but it was sunny out and I watched the sunset. Very relaxing. And then in 4 months it'll be the official start of 2nd year of medicine! I'm also planning on going to freshers events as they are so amazing. It is also a chance for me to go to parties with a group of people who I know and have a lot more fun. Also the perfect chance to meet new people and hopefully make some new friends! Looking forward to it.
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