Exam Time - 3 : The Lessons Learnt

That's the end of it all. A nightmare, a bad dream, a lesson in life, a lesson of life, an experience, a treat, a premier college event.....whatever you'd like to call it. fact is, its all over, and I couldn't thank my stars enough for putting me into Batch C. We finished our practicals first. Batch E started theirs yesterday. So now we have a five day break, and it really couldn't come at a better time.
So how was Anatomy yesterday? Well, it wasn't good, in fact, if there's one paper I know I'm definitely failing in, its Anatomy. When both your paper and practical suck the way these did, well, there's no option but to smile and sigh and say, " Well, I really couldn't help that!" Yesterday was nightmare Anatomy relived, actually. Afetr having studied so hard for Embryology, I went blank. B-L-A-N-K blank. Never in my life have I gone blank in a viva. I get nervous and really cold and pitch-white, but I DON'T go BLANK! Guess, the teacher was sorry for me too. She really tried to put me at ease, talking about my braces and how long my treatment has been going on and all, but all to no avail. I couldn't hide my head enough in embarrassment.
Bones were better, but not as good as I wanted them to be. Thats all I really want to say. I don't know how I lived through it all. And the soft parts were a 50-50. They weren't great, but they weren't all bad. I did answer some things.
So, I wasn't all happy ( as I'd predicted before yesterday) at the end of my practicals. After all, there've been lessons learnt and they haven't exactly been sweet ones. So what have I learnt? Its very simple.
1. STUDY and study regularly and from the beginning.
2. Learn every practical once you finish it, and not a week before the exams. Or, as in my terms' caase, one evening before the exam.
3. I hate Anatomy. There's no doubt. I can't even think of thinking about imagining organs and where they're situated. But, that doesn't mean I don't do it. It means I take more time for it, at least this year, to score in the University.
4. I was always weak at Anat and its time I accepted that fact and worked towards beating it. Thats what all my idols have done with themselves, right? I should learn something from them.
5. Whenever you study, study forever. I mean, study it all in such a way that you could think about remembering it forever. If you can't even think of doing it, the first time you've learnt something up, you're just not up there actually.
6. Discuss with Dad. He's your best bet to sail through in Anatomy.
7. And finally, do NOT cramp up everything in your evening or day before the exam. Thats how much your preparation should be.
8. Do your bones everyday. One bone everyday.
9. Do your reactions every day. Biochem would have been much better if you'd finished your cycles before and given more time to the theory, a week before the exams.
10. Be regular. Even if you have to sit up till 12 am every day, just to finish the work of the day. Don't leave anything for the weekend which comes up next.
11. Weekends are to enjoy. To revise whatever you've done in the week, an old chapter or two. And then ENJOY. You're given a break. Use it the way it should be.
12. And lastly, stick to all that you've just written, my dear girl. It'll help to sail through the exams.
They look pretty ideal rules, but I have to follow them. There's no other way for me. I don't want the embarrassment of having to repeat a term. So I'm gonna start from today itself.
Looking forward to enjoying my break. Thank God, the exams are over. I almost know my result, so it couldn't come as a shock to me in any way. Looking forward to some easy relaxed times!!!

Exam Time - 2

We're officially half way through the terms now. We had our third and final theory paper today. It wasn't as good I wanted it to be. But, I've learnt to make up lines and lines of absolutely meaningful bullshit in these three papers, and that counts for something. Today was no different. There were questions I could have answered in one line, but because they were for 4 marks, I had to fill up the page with serious crap!! Guess, if any of my teachers come across this entry they will be nodding their heads off in agreement. Sorry guys, sorry having to make you go through the torture of reading some of my answers, but please know that if it hadn't been for the marks, I wouldn't have bothered!
Tomorrow starts the second innings of our term-match: the practicals. We have biochem tomorrow, and on the eve of such a practical, my friends and I are battling the big questions. " Are the journals allowed for the Quantitative analysis? Or do we mug up our entire journal?" Well, its a funny life during exam time, really. I've just finished with about 6 experiments, and am pretty sure I don't exactly remember which principle stands for which experiment. But, we've got about three hours in hand. So I'm hoping to be successful at mugging. And hoping my head off that the journals are allowed.
Am I scared of the viva? Well, not really. And thats not because I know my subject very well. I have become accustomed to really bad areas of experience. Tomorrow might just be one of those. So who cares! I'm looking at the university examination as my goal. So if things go terribly wrong tomorrow, I've made up my mind not to take it to heart.
Guess, that about explains my attitude. Looking forward to tomorrow in ways........

Exam Time - 1

Anatomy was bad. I won't spend much time describing my feelings when I saw the paper. The gist of it all is simply that yesterday, I realised what people mean when they say that medical is vast, and that anatomy is never easy. I can't believe that I studied as much as I did for a paper which turned out to be a disaster really. I might just pass, but failing looks like a more dependable option here.
Physiology was good. It was as different as as it could be from the Anatomy paper, and I felt so COOL looking at the paper and realising that I could actually choose which answers to write and which not, because almost all of them! I am definitely passing in this one. The only way I can fail in here, is if they're way to strict about the checking.
Biochem up next. I'm studying for it, hope things will work out well. Good Nite!!

The New Year

I am terrified of the idea of writing my paper tomorrow. And when I say terrified, I mean it. I am going through the usual, pre-exam ritual of forgetting things, that I had learnt so well about a day back, so you see it geta a little tough. Still, I might manage somehow in Anatomy. Physiology is nowhere within my reach at the moment, and half a day is just not enough any way.
So obviously, my New Year's resolution is to study more, and more regularly. So that by the time I finish with my first year, things won't be in the state they are right now. How glad will I be when Jan 9th gets over!!
Its the first time I haven't stayed up till 12 to welcome the New Year. But I guess, things do change with time. And 2008 wasn't all that great. I got into BJ Medical ( something way beyond my dreams) , yeah. But the life after that hasn't exactly been a smooth sailing. So this was a mixed year. Regrets? Not many. I wasn't able to write my usual favorite year-end in my diary yesterday. That has been a hard one to swallow. It just won't be the same when I write it on the 9th.
Well, gotta get back to pushing things into my head now. Just really nervous. I want at least 30 so have to make that happen. I am gonna be happiest creature on earth when I finish with the terms.....And even happier ( and that is possible) if I pass all my subjects! I promise to study more and regularly, God! Just let me off this time and pass me in all three,PLZ!!!!

The Weekend Before The Exams

Its tough, trying to think of exams from next week, precisely, next Friday. And I'm not exactly completely prepared. So I'm in major soups of all sorts. I'm really worried about Physiology. But hopefully I'll manage somehow. What I really wanted to write about was the dissection we started this week. Its the Head and Neck, and we dissected the scalp and even the brain. AND I LOVED IT ALL!!!!!! Its like one of the biggest things in my life really! Me and liking dissection and even doing it. The brain looked amazing! It looks just like the way we draw it. The other body parts differ, but this looks exactly the same, as the diagrams we take mintues to master. Guess, that really took me by surprise. I was thinking of sitting in the library today. Unfortunately, the maintenance work had to come up today itself, so well, my experience of studying in the library has to wait a little longer. Maybe Monday. I'm thinking of trying to finish with Biochem this weekend. Hopefully I'll be successful in this attempt at least. I've put pictures of our brain dissection.....Its not as gross as it looks!

Seminar Over!! Oh and also the Submission

It wasn't all that bad. In fact, I think I would have given a great presentation had I not been told to finish a 15 min gig in 7 mins. But, I enjoyed doing it. I wasn't scared at all, as I thought I might be, and it was amazing to come up with a presentation which garnered comments like, " The slides were amazing, the animation great. I wish you'd had more time." We had a situation in the middle, with one of my friends fainting and going into a fit on stage while giving his presentation. He really scared us all. But, thankfully, we got it all back. Basically, it was a good seminar. I wish we'd communicated more with the teachers. It would only have turned out better. The audience was about 50 people. We expected less, but thought that people would attend the seminar at least for the sake of attendance. Guess the thinking was wrong, but the expectation right.
The gist of it all is that I'm thankful that I took Therapeutic Uses, really grateful to Mom for doing what she did and simply enjoyed presentating my entire slide show. Even the laser beam, which hadn't worked throughout the seminar, worked for me!!
Moving over to the submission, I really thought I'd go blank when I stood in front of our batch-teacher. But, luckily, he called us in groups of three and asked Prajakta, Prabhjot and me questions whose answers we actually knew. We all got 24 out of 30, the highest in our batch. I know, I don't really deserve it, because I'm basically still clueless about Abdomen, but for the sake of a good day, I wanted the submission to go well. Didn't want it like last time, where I got a 12 and was left cursing myself all through the remainder of the day. So, 20th Dec, considered to be a sort of landmark in the last few months of year 2008, has passed and passed well. No real regrets , just a terminal exam to look forward to. Not a nice thought, but if I could manage today, I can manage that too.

4 Days For The Seminar

I know it sounds strange, but I'm more worried about the seminar than my abdomen submission, which happens to be on the same day. But I guess, when I take something really seriously, I do get worked up.
The presentation has turned out beautifully. Its actually what I wanted it to be, when I gave my name for the seminar. All thanks to my Mom, who's converted my average presentation into a delight to read, watch and teach. I'll never say this to her, but she's actually done something I can never thank her for enough. She's given yet another instance to say," You're the GREATEST Mom in the world!" Thanks a ton! I know how much work she has, and yet she can come up with time to sit and turn my presentation into what I wanted it to be. And look at me, after all the 2 o'clock nights that I put in, I came up with something that did need fine tuning. Any way, at least its done, and I'm sure it won't bore people to death.
We had revision of all the microscopic physiology pracs today. I just couldn't bring myself to prick me, and when i did, well, I simply had to do it all again. Its so wierd. Only on sunday was I thinking of how I'd managed to prick myself months back, when now, I couldn't even think of putting a pin on my skin. And hey presto!, the entire package just came up!! Well, as happens every time, my ring finger is blue-black again, and pains at a slight touch. And I'm pretty disgusted with myself and the teachers. Will definitely be glad when all this gets over.

A Month To the Exams

I know I haven't written in a long time. I've been trying to catch up with all the work I missed and trying to study hard for my exams which start on the 2nd. Luckily my batch has a great time-table. People say it is cramped up, but we finish off in a week and nothing can be better news than that. So 2nd is Anatomy, 3rd is Physiology and 5th is Biochemistry, followed by pracs on 6th, 7th and 9th. On the 6th we have Biochem, so its lucky us. We'll be able to answer decently.
In the past few days, I've been trying to work on my presentation. The Seminar's quite close and I have to get it ready by Friday, so that I can have enough practice and can pull off the coup well. I have a feeling I'll do a great job with it. Mom and Dad are helping out too, so obviouosly, it's exciting.
Which reminds me, I have officially now started watching Dad's operations. A bit of a surprise coming from me, but I had to do it and it turned out to be quite a treat. Well, not a treat, but after the dissection hall, anything is better. Only the spinal anaesthsia sucked a bit. I've had a dread for injections and that sorta shot that dread to at least 10 times more. I took the video and according to Dad it has turned out very well. I even attended a workshop on hernia, which was full of live hernia surgeries. I watched three of them. Not that I understood much, but well, all a part of the experience.
And another good news is that our street play was selected for the finals. They are to be held today, and hopefully we should win. I basically gave up on it, after a week, because it took up a lot of time and I got very tensed about my terminal preparations. But I did go and see the end product twice, and I'm glad they did what they did. Watching that street play made me feel for the first time that I was a part of BJ and proud of it.
Overall, college has been good. We don't ,or rather, are not allowed to do much of dissection. mostly its our Batch Teachers who do it all now. Leaves us a lot of time to revise. Everyone's got into the habit of getting B.D. Chaurasia to the dissection hall and read it in there. Officially speaking, its not allowed and and we got a hell of a firing from our HoD of the Anatomy Department. I have never seen him as angry as he was yesterday, screaming at us and the teachers as loudly as he could. Guess he'll never even consider liking our batch now. Just three more days to go before a glorious weekend. Looking forward to that.

Wow, Thats Pretty Unlike Me

Taking on a Biochem Seminar to work for and then a street play to work in is quite unlike me, you know. Especially when that means that two hours of my everyday routine will be gone and exams start in the first week on Jan. But there's another voice in my head which says: College-life is there to enjoy. You didn't exactly do that in Junior College, why don't you do it now?
And my point is, doing all this will just help me. Having 6 friends is not enough, especially in college. Participating in these things is gonna help me get to know more people and in turn, evolve me as a person. Besides, I've always wanted to participate in plays. Its another thing that a street play is way out of my comfort zone, and not exactly my style either, but then thats what Life is, isn't it? Getting out of what you do well to do something you've never tried out before and give it a shot. Its makes you feel adventurous and spices up life a little. Otherwise, what was my life before this? get up in the morning, get ready , take the 8 o'clock bus and reach college. Then, spend the entire day in college cursing the lectures, getting bored of practicals and looking forward to a frustrating 3 hrs of dissection hall. Come back home at 5:30 pm and then study for about two hours or so, write my blog, go off to sleep. Thats it: Day Over, before you even know it.
Now at least I have some things to look forward to, to make college a better place to go to. Ahh well, lets see how things go. The topic is Effects Of AIDS. We've gotten a few themes down, today we'll be doing some more mind-searching for creativity. The auditions were supposed to be yesterday, but that didn't happen. And may be it'll happen today, or maybe it won't. Just don't know.
Apart from that, college is the same. We've started with the clinical pracs in Physiology, so its definitely a little more interesting to check each other's pulse and Blood Pressure. All my parameters are normal, so there's nothing to worry about in that department any way. We had an interesting lecture on Synapse yesterday. I actually read it from Guyton before sitting to write my blog. Still got some pages left, but the fact that I read it on the day when she taught it, is definitely a thumbs-up for the lecturer and the topic.
And a last minute note about the Spanish Sports year. They just seem to want to add on more and more and more. Being an avid follower of Tennis and a loyal fan of Rafael Nadal, I did not believe Spain could win the Davis Cup. But their rally to come back into the game was very inspirational, and awe-inspiring, really. Congrats to spanish sports. Its been a heavenly year for them, and something that all other countried should look up to and try to gain.

A Weekend

My first since coming back, and I feel so great about it. Medical education is really stressing. And thats not about how much you have to study, but just about the going to college, listening to the lectures, doing your practicals, going into the dissection hall; you hardly get any time to sit down and think. So a good holiday on Saturday and Sunday really rejuvenates me.
We're gonna have a Biochemistry Seminar on the 20th of December. On the topic of Enzymes. I decided to participate. Its Chemistry after all, and I have a good feeling that I can make it all more interesting than our teachers in college, so I decided to have a go at it. My topic is Clinical Aspects of Enzymes or Uses of Enzymes. I think it'll be a very interesting topic to speak on, and I'll learn a lot too. Luckily for me, I had a choice and I was the first person to give my name from my batch, so it all really worked out well. Now all I have to do is work hard on it. And since I'm pretty excited about it, I think I'll do well.
Moving on, I also registered for the Arts' Circle. I dunno how much there is for juniors in it, but I've given my name and that means I'll at least be notified about it. So actually, I've managed to do all that I had to DO as such in college. I'm glad. I was able to take off this weekend without the thoughts of the left-overs......Now its time for enzymes to make way into my small head and then their uses. Go Enzymes!!