The Last Stretch: 2 Weeks Left

There are two weeks left until the first year of medical school is done. That means two more exams until I am 1/4 an official MD.

Unfortunately, there are two exams left and my motivation has plummeted so much I would be at E on the fuel gauge if I was a car.

This is what I have to look forward to...

The last RSA consists of all 5 blocks we have learned this year (Foundations, Musculoskeletal, Respiratory, Hematology, and Cardiology). It will be approximately 5 hours long and consists of two papers.

The last Anatomy exam will consist of anatomy and histology from the last 3 blocks.

Mostly, my aim is to pass so pray for me. xx

Pathology Intercept

Breaking news-- I just finished my pathology exam.

Now, I am not a person that loves pathology and am definitely not willing to specialize in it. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the exam as it was easy and straightforward. The exam itself had 6 sections with one macro or micro slide for each station and questions pertaining to the pathology of the disease. It really helped solidify disease states that we have learned from previous blocks and I think was a really good review.

So overall, my quick review of the pathology exam is good good.

Hematology: A Vampire's Heaven

4/5 blocks have been completed and we are now onto one one of the most critical parts of the body (and what most people are squeamish about): blood.

For my medical school, hematology can be either heme hell or heme heaven depending on the clinical school that you are allocated to. For me, it is heme heaven. That means that while we are still getting an education and learning to differentiate between microcytic and macrocytic anemia, we are also finally able to breathe and catch up for what is ahead.

So what is ahead?

We have OSCE's in two weeks which is a song and dance where we get 6 stations and 10 minutes each to perform a physical exam, take a history, or do a procedural skill. Initially I thought this would be my most hated exam, but I have grown to love it. I love the idea that without being too aggressive or too invasive, we are still able to gather enough clues and diagnose a patient. It is honestly the backbone of medicine.

After OSCE's, we will be having a week off and then a pathology exam. This will consist of us looking through a microscope to diagnose patients based on their slides. Hopefully, I can get the hang of things beforehand...

Then in two months, we will be have our third RSA. This one is a doozy and will consist of material from all 5 blocks. What can be worse than that? Well, we will be having another anatomy exam a day after.

So I guess there truly isn't a holiday after all.

Three Blocks Deep

Hello Lovelies!

It is now July and that means I have officially finished two blocks (Foundations and Anatomy) and currently am in the last few weeks of my third block (Respiratory). I know I have been behind on posting and keeping everyone updated on how each block is and what we can all be doing to improve our scores and GET THAT BREAD! I will be working on that but in the meantime, I thought it would be worthwhile to sit down and describe the system that my medical school is currently under.

Now, the school that I currently go to is a four year MD program. The first two years is very knowledge-heavy where it is the quintessential 'study until you die' mentality where 3 out of 5 days, we are given lectures (an average of 5 lectures) and practicals (an average of 2 practicals). On 1 out of the 5 days, we have clinical days where we go to the hospital and we are given tutorials and learn about examinations in each block. These are the days I look forward to as they teach us how to use our stethoscopes, spirometers, etc. The remaining day is given to us as a study day as they need to rotate the amount of students on a clinical day so some are on Mondays and some are on Wednesdays. In the last two years, we have our clinical years where we spend most of our time in our allocated hospitals and do rotations.

Currently, in the first two years, our "semesters" are broken up into blocks (1-2 months) where each block is equivalent to a body system. After each block, we have required summative assessments that come in forms of multiple choice exams, identification (on prosections, microscope slides, or both), or OSCEs (which is a few stations with actors that we do our clinical examinations on). The first multiple choice and the first Anatomy identification was not a barrier- which meant that failing would not equate us having to repeat a year. Instead, it would be counted into our overall grade at the end of the year, but a passing mark at the end would let us continue into our second year. After each block, we get a 1-2 week break where we recuperate and some of us go home. While we have no summers anymore, we still have a very, very long winter break where most IMGs are able to actually go home and not feel like a 2000$ plane ticket is a waste.

Let me know what you think down below and if you have any questions shoot off. xx Follow my blog with Bloglovin