Last one

Today I had my histology practical final and it was such a drama.

I was sure - SURE - that I failed. The slides I had to identify were hard! I thought I knew the list of structures we needed to know so well but the specimens I got were so different.

It started off badly because my slides didn't appear to be in order. And the I couldn't recognize my first slide. Was it thymus gland or parotid gland? I froze! And time kept ticking...we have to identify 10 slides (ie. we have to name the organ or structure) in 10 minutes under a microscope.

I was only on my 3rd slide when the proctor announced we had 5 minutes left and I still had 7 slides to go!

My hand was shaking the entire time and I rushed through the remaining slides and left the exam being sure of only 4 of them. And we needed 6 out of 10 to pass.

I consoled myself with a caramel frappucino from Starbucks while I debriefed the exam with my friend and then went home...and I emailed my teacher preemptively begging her that if I failed, would they let me try the retake before we broke for summer?

Luckily they decided to put us out of our misery quickly because only a few hours later they posted the results - and guys, I PASSED. I got 7/10 which is amazing because if you get over 6, they give you an additional 1% of each additional point that will count towards our theory final, which is tomorrow (though oddly, they only give you those extra marks if you pass, so its really only gravy, still I'll take it).

Anyway, this time tomorrow I'll be DONE. Done for the summer, hopefully not having to repeat the histology final.

But even if I have to, honestly I won't be *too* upset because my priority was to be done with anatomy and I am pretty confident in my ability to learn the histology - I just didn't have enough time from the end of the anatomy finals to these finals (6 days) be able to competently review the entire year.

So hopefully I'll scrape through.