Dark Tunnel

I haven't blogged much about anything since I started up with school again, mostly because I've been studying like mad for 1 lousy exam that determines whether or not I can practice in the outpatient clinic in the fall.

I somehow made it through last week. I have yet to learn my score on the clinic entrance exam which is a grueling 4.5 hour marathon of tests modeled after the Florida boards. We were videotaped for 3 of the sections, and we compelted 2 written exams. After 50 minutes of reading tasks for a camera and performing them for an examiner by using imaginary equipment on a "volunteer" patient, my brain was fried and I had a tough time thinking through the last few tasks. 1 written exam was comprised of ridiculously tough questions on NONE of the material we were told to review for the exam. I just hope my test taking skills pulled me through that mess. The other exam was pretty straightforward covering radiographs of pathological conditions. I think i passed, but 25% of our class failed some portion of the exam. Apparently, that's never before happend on the clinic entrance exam. It either means that 1) my class is really stupid or 2) there were some serious problems in the directions and administration of the exam. Granted, every can just have a bad test taking day sometimes, but we have a pretty bright class that scored pretty dang high on national boards, so I doubt the end results should completely be attributed to our incompetency. There was definitely some organizational chaos on the part of exam administrators. . . but it only ends up hurting us on exam day. And, if in fact they decide to throw out parts of the exam or to curve the results, then folks who maybe shouldn't pass the exam and shouldn't be allowed to actually practice on patients may, in fact, get the benefit of the doubt and end up in clinic. Either way, it's a messy situation, and I'm really glad I'm not in charge of how to resolve it. My goal: get through this strenuous and demanding quarter, pass boards, and move on to the outpatient clinic in October. I can see the light at the end of this dreary dark tunnel.