First year exams!

It’s hard to believe that in around six weeks, we’ve finished the first of our five blocks of learning for Phase I and had our first exam (I passed!). We’ve covered a huge amount in that time: anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal system, basic pharmacology, and of course we’ve covered a lot in terms of clinical skills. We’ve had the opportunity to practice clinical histories, perform general, abdominal and thyroid exams on each other which is a lot more helpful than just reading about the procedures. It does feel a little bizarre that we won’t cover this stuff again specifically until our final exams at the end of the year, but you just have to make sure you stay on top of revising the topics throughout the next two terms.

My biggest surprise so far is that I’ve quite enjoyed learning anatomy. At the start I thought this would be an area I really struggled with, but it’s been taught really well across lectures and on Friday’s in the Surgical Training Centre at UHCW. Sitting down as a group with housemates to go through the content has been the biggest help; if you’re just sat reading an anatomy textbook it can be pretty difficult to motivate yourself so the best thing to do is to surround yourself with as many people and resources as possible!

One thing that feels a bit daunting is that we now start Block 2 completely from scratch. By Week 5 I was starting to feel pretty comfortable with the body system we were covering, but now you go back to square one to study the new systems from the beginning. It’s a comfort that I passed the formative so I must be doing okay, but I do miss the comfort that I had at the end of the last block. I suppose we’ll never be in a state of complete comfort as medics so it’s probably good preparation for the future!

Matt

Megan Earle : 12 Nov 2015 08:34 |  Tags: Exams Housemates Matt Mbchb Student Warwick Wms |  Comments (0) |  Report a problem