Not done yet but...

The end is so close.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I have my Anatomy finals. I'm lucky I get to write them because...I failed my practical term exam. Or rather, I didn't get enough points, combined with my previous midterm and weekly quiz points, to be "allowed" to take the final. I don't know if it was the time lost due to the back pain fiasco or because I focused too much of my study time on my theoretical exam (which I did really well on at least) but I bombed the practical, which is identifying anatomical structures that are "pinned".

I was so mad at myself. I made the dumbest mistakes. Mostly because of lack of confidence rather than actually not knowing the structures. I looked at radiological images wrong. I "over-provided" info for structures (for example I put "ulnar artery of arm" - and since there is only an ulnar artery in the arm, putting "of arm" made it seem like there are more ulnar arteries and I got 0 points - if I had just left it as "ulnar artery" I would have gotten the full 2 points - yes, they are that strict).

However, I think it was a blessing in disguise. Because we do get another chance to write the final via an exam called the "Admissions" exam. However, instead of just this past semester, it is from the WHOLE year and we only had a week to prepare for it. And it forced to me start studying for everything right away.

So after a cry, I just buckled down and studied. Luckily I only had to study for the practical, so was able to just go over the structures again and again and again.

And I passed the admissions exam. It was SUCH a relief and it really was great practice for the final, which will be similar and probably a bit easier (based on what students from previous years have said).

I'm lucky though. Only 10 people out of 120 were allowed to write to the final based on just the term exams. A further 30 or so out of 110 people who did the admissions exams passed. Those people who failed the admissions exam are now going to have to petition the dean to be allowed to write the admissions AGAIN, which will happen in August and then will still have to sit the re-take final exam in September. If I fail this final exam, I'll have a chance at the re-take final. If I fail THAT I will have one last chance hail-Mary type of exam called a "Commissional Hearing" where a professor and a medical student from an upper year give you an oral exam and decide if they will put you through or not. And I heard if you make it to the finals in general, you're pretty much guaranteed to pass. Its passing the Admissions exams that the real obstacle, so I'm so glad I'm over it.

After Anatomy, I still have Histology left but I'm not as concerned about it. Because even if I fail that, I can still proceed to the 2nd year of medical school while if I fail Anatomy - even if I pass everything else - I still can't proceed to the 2nd year.

In any case, I'm planning on passing all of them on this first attempt. Wish me luck!