A hard fight (5)

Part V. CRL Paper 2, 2 hours, 100-MCQ, 25%.
The Boss.
Perhaps because I expected a multiple-choice paper as do-able as last semester's, I found this one to be really difficult. I used all the combat skills I knew, like answering during the reading time, and speeding up at all times, yet still I feel that it's tough. Maybe I didn't have as much sample question drilling as last semester.

Yet there's one question where my last-minute answer switch was really worth it. It was a question on the A-a gradient (Alveolar-arterial PO₂).

P_aO₂=55 mm Hg
P_aCO₂=28 mm Hg
The formula for P_AO₂=150-(P_aCO₂/0.8) (simplified because it's an MCQ)

P_AO₂
=150-(28/(4/5))
=150-(28/4*5)
=150-35
=115

A-a gradient=P_AO₂-P_aO₂
=115-55
=60
I at first answered 30 because I used 55 instead of 28 for the P_aCO₂!

That's one of the good memories I had with the paper. Bad memories are numerous. I remember how I kept telling myself, must finish 50 questions in 1 hour! Quick! There were so many clinical/PBL-style questions! It comes with a short passage of the patient's case and follows with about 3 questions. Even the lecture based questions (pharmacology!) were ultra-specific!

Yet I believe that hard times are there to build us up. In the middle of the exam, at about 1 hour plus, I felt so frustrated I just wanted to explode and scream! And I screamed in my soul and spirit - I cried to heaven asking for wisdom from the Ancient of Days. It doesn't change the fact that the paper was a hard one, but it reassured me because I have the Unshakable Foundation.

And to this day I pray that a miracle happens for this paper. God gave me a dream to achieve the highest excellence this year---and that means that it's impossible. Only He can make it happen. I ask for favour over my exam, that He raise my grade, bump it up, miraculously. Though it's an MCQ paper marked by a machine, I pray that God will tell the machine to boost the marks. I want this miracle from God! In Jesus' name I pray! Because PRAYER IS POWERFUL.

Picture credit: thetorchonline.com

p/s: I was in uni south lawn the other day, talking with God. And I sensed that it's another one of those no-turning-back moments in my life. To start with, I think it's almost natural for people to take up stuff, to do something new, whether with a good motive or not. And we talked about my Top Secret Project, the excel spreadsheet in my laptop, and the ungodliness that it has brought into my life. He showed me how information or knowledge on its own is not necessarily good or bad; when applied righteously, it manifests as wisdom. When applied unrighteously, it's a gateway to sin, disobedience and rebellion. So I decided to delete this piece of information. I choose to not have access to it. Instead I choose full trust and obedience to The One and Only, because I look only unto Him - my vision fixed upon my Lord and Saviour.

Battle time! (4)

Part IV. CRL Paper 1, 3 hours, 12-SAQ, 35%.
"The Speed of Thought"

It was 10 days into SWOT VAC from the Saturday when it began. More than 50% of my time was spent in uni, rotating between Frank Tate and ERC. I like the background music in the reading room. My bedroom was only for sleeping.

One of the most useful equipment I recently bought is the earphones from Harvey Norman. Media Player + imeem = a new study method for me. Audio stimuli helps memory. But when I'm sleepy and tired, even Lectopia isn't that useful.

Other ways of studying:

• Test drive - doing the actual past papers. I surprised myself the 1st time by doing the 3-hour paper in 2 hours. And did it again a few times after that (2004-2007).
  
• Discussion - letting ideas bounce off from head to head. Good way to approach the PBL-style questions (30 marks each), and to get the minute details I don't remember that others might. Joined Brian and gang once upstairs in Frank Tate, and with Syarul and gang for a couple of sessions at uni and at home.
  

The test day was a Tuesday morning. If I had a philosophy for this paper, it was: Write at the Speed of Thought (sounds a bit like Bill Gates' book). No time to waste. Because I'll only get marks if I get the written ink down on the paper! Not good enough to think of the answer to a question, gotta write it out.

I felt happy with the questions on the pressure-volume loop, vitamin D3 activation and lung anatomy. The ones on the smoking patient, including the differential diagnosis, and the "neuro-related changes" of sarcopenia were a bit challenging. But overall I felt satisfied with the paper. It could have been harder (glad it wasn't).

Best part was, I was ahead of time, with 30 spare minutes at the end of the exam. This preparation felt better than semesters before this, though it probably could have been more productive. Regardless, I can't really talk about making preparation without giving credit to God, who directed my path throughout the study break, from the beginning until the actual paper itself. It was a real battle with decent practice sessions.

Very Quickly (3)

Part III. 3rd midsem, 3rd assignment.
All over the place.

Even just thinking about the last 4 weeks of semester is daunting till now. Have you ever heard someone say, "it was really stressful, but I felt very satisfied with it"?

First off, it's the Age of Anatomy for me, the one I've always thought of when I was younger. Example: Some Lovers Try Positions That They Can't Handle. It's a way to remember the 8 wrist bones, going from the 1st row to the 2nd, from the thumb to the pinky side: 1st-Scaphoid, Lunate, Triquetrum, Pisiform. 2nd-Trapezium, Trapezoid, Capitate, Hamate (proximal, then distal; from lateral to medial on supinated hand).

Coupled with that are the musculoskeletal diseases, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Paget's disease, osteosarcoma, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, etc. I had much more trouble getting interested in these than the lung diseases.

Of course there were other stuff to busify me. Two AMS interviews. Physical Exam OSCE, where I felt that the cardio exam went in 5 minutes or so (total given 9 min). Day 6, and the box-hunt, including Zi's random but generous helping hand. Monday neuro lectures (I slept in several of them, and made a PlanetUni call during 1 of them). Twilight Concert, where we did Let it Be and Chasing Cars.

HP3, meanwhile, was all about critical appraisal, which I was initially unable to appreciate at all! Thankfully there was the assignment which I speedily drafted, and then put aside, then revised, then discussed, and then finally revised again before submitting it around midnight before the due date (as I always did with assignments...=).

Finally done with 15% of CRL (5% per test) and 30% of HP3 (10% per assignment). Honestly I felt very happy with the marks I've got. You know, like when you get more than you deserve?

It went very quickly. After the final 15-minute test on Monday, week 14, I did my best to transform that last week of semester into an extra SWOT VAC week, conditioning myself to the routine of revising. Maybe that's why my SWOT VAC experience this time around felt different from before. What's different? It's very fruitful.

Picture credit: physioweb.org

Going Uphill (2)

Part II. 2nd midsem, 2nd assignment.

The energy. The fast. The sacrifice.
It was a fast-paced period in my life. I tried to keep up the momentum I've gained. We had PlanetUni Market Day, Run for the Kids, and Planetshakers 2009 Conference "One". Thankfully Daylight Savings Time gave us 1 extra hour to sleep.

I didn't want to slack. I fasted from midday food (lunch, tea & snacks) for fourteen days, seeking The Lord. If I have a life message from this semester, it would be: basic, stripped down, streamlined life. My biggest life-change is that I've left my old habit of a bad addiction. I've never thought it could be done, though for ages I've always wished that it could. You know what's even more awesome? It was prophesied to me last year during DNA encounter, and again during one of the church services just before conference.

A life truly focused on The Maker's blueprint, I discovered, requires another sacrifice: the girl. I liked her since knowing her when I was 12, and secretly kept this passion for her until recently. And the The Creator's voice was asking me: Who's #1 in your life? And I decided that I must give her up.

In uni, the test and assignment came soon enough. Test was on the heart; and I still think I was much better prepared for the first one than this. Assignment was on (medical) statistics; glad to make use of MathType again!

Picture credit: Thomas Langenberg