Week 10 is here and this means Intern Entrance, Senior, or Exit exams. The last couple of days I took time off so I can study (Intern Entrance Exam in my case) but not everything went according to the plan. I wish I could have studied more, but at this point, I learned that I should also listen to my body and get some rest. I studied and I also took naps, went outside, enjoyed the sun, walked my dog, cooked some healthy food, and just stretched my body whenever I felt like. I did my best to study more and every time I was pushing myself, my eyes got blurry and I had to stop.

I was happy to see I still remembered a lot from some of my oriental classes and this made it easier. I didn’t expect to remember some things but when I started doing online tests, my results were quite OK and this gave me more confidence. What I observed was that the classes I loved stayed with me and I could remember everything so much faster. Every time a teacher took the time to explain everything, I left the class not feeling confused and all the material sunk into my brain.

I am sure each student feels unprepared at some level and worries about different parts of this exam. Some of us are more scared of the practical part, some of the written parts. Some people choose to wait and take the exam even later so they have more time for study. I’m more about getting things done, so even if I might not know everything I decided to take the exam and see what happened.

Today is the last part of the exam — Biomed. It is not my favorite part, but I’m happy I’m already done with the first two parts.

If you’re looking for tips on how to do better on the exam, I can only say it’s not as bad as we make it in our minds. You do need to study and it might be better to start earlier and not just a couple days before like I did.

Points Location seemed to be the easiest one for me. I knew most of the points (Thank you, Dr. Fan!) and I just needed a quick review. Clinic observations helped with learning points, too, because you get to see interns needling some points all the time and there’s no way you won’t remember them.

Foundations exam felt a bit more difficult. I was expecting more questions from diagnosis, energetics, and differential diagnosis. We actually got questions from everything so I might have overlooked some things and I just had to make an “educated guess.”

Everybody looked stressed and tired before the practical exam. From what I hear, each of us managed to finish on time and did all our tests. Just remember, no one is set on making you look bad. Patients were nice and one of them even wished me luck. First station I might have felt a bit stressed, but third station felt so natural. I knew everything I had to ask my patient, and I was done exactly when I heard: “Move to the next station.” If you are worried that you won’t have enough time, just make sure you move fast at the third station, because all of the vitals are going to take the longest to finish.

Good luck to all of us taking exams this week, and see you in the clinic next tri!