It's been a crazy few days. We had three lab exams last week. I did very well on two of them and okay on the third. I should be celebrating my triumph over head and neck anatomy, but I have another exam on Friday--my chocolate cake and dinner date with Farley will have to wait.
We also started the shelf exams this week. They are standarized subject exams written by the National Board of Medical Examiners for medical students. They are not involved in licensing, but are a measure of your knowledge (and the school's instruction) for each subject. Thus far, I think they have been okay. However, it is difficult to gage as the exam covers things, such as pathology, that we (and I think basically all) medical students don't learn until the second year. Obviously, we have learned about some diseases and some pharmaceuticals, but that isn't the main focus until the second year. More than anything, the exams are reasoning exams. There are a few questions that you either know or you don't know but many questions I'm sure I could figure out IF I had more time to ponder the question. Also, we ended classes last Thursday (had three tests between Thursday and Friday) and had our first shelf on Tuesday. As the shelves cover the last two semesters, that doesn't leave much time to review. The best part of the shelves is that the questions are so well written. Some of the questions ask you to take the information and answer a question that requires you to make several steps. I think Grandpa Vic would have loved them--he always loved those reasoning, brain-twister games!
I should go study the histology of the eye and ear. After we finish the shelf exams, we have the exam the last third of the semester. There are some tricky question writers in the group of professors who taught us, which means I've just got to know this stuff inside and out so that they don't trick me!
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