7min read • a month ago
Two days. Four examination formats. Sixteen experiments. One very anxious Medical Laboratory Science student.
If you had met me on the morning of my first professional examination, you probably wouldn't have guessed that I would eventually pass with distinction.
You would have met a girl running on barely any sleep, surviving on prayers, fighting nausea, second-guessing herself, and wondering if she had prepared enough to get through one of the most important examinations of her academic journey.
That girl was me and this is how my first Pros went.
It was midnight, and I was still awake.
My first professional examination was a two-day event, and day one was about to begin. I was revising experiments before moving on to my MCQ preparation jottings, trying to squeeze in as much as I could before the morning arrived. I thought I was doing great but around 2 a.m., the panic hit.
My mind began entertaining every possible way things could go wrong. I knew what was at stake, and suddenly, every unanswered question and every topic I hadn't revised enough seemed determined to remind me of it.
I eventually slept sometime before 4 a.m. By 5 a.m., I had to be awake again.
Our bus was scheduled to take us from campus to the venue for the MCQ examination by 7 a.m. After that, we would return to campus for the spot and experimentation papers.
I had laid out my clothes the previous day, which was very unlike me, honestly. I spent almost my entire shower praying fervently, trying to steady myself for what lay ahead. Thankfully, my roommates, who were also my coursemates, were around. Their presence helped calm me, even though they had their own fears to contend with.
I made it to the pickup point by 6:40 a.m. For about twenty minutes, I simply looked at the blue sky, paced around, thought about everything and nothing, and tried to gather myself.
Then, during the delay that comes with what we affectionately call African time, I made what I now consider a terrible decision. I joined my coursemates in a quiz session. One of them started asking me MCQ questions, and I couldn't answer several of them. My anxiety grew tenfold.
I was already nervous, and now I was getting a live demonstration of everything I apparently didn't know but as a sparkle, I kept a smile on my face, even while my mind was slowly driving me crazy.
Eventually, we boarded the bus. For a class of 105 students, the bus was far too small. Some people had to stand, and I was practically squished because of my stature. Add the discomfort to my anxiety, and then add motion sickness. Wonderful combination, right?
By the time we arrived at the venue, I was ready to turn around. It genuinely felt like I was being led to my doom. I seriously considered backing out right there and then.
I had learnt my lesson from the morning quiz, so I refused to participate in any more last-minute recall sessions. I had had enough. Instead, I ended up explaining experiments to a friend while we waited for the examination setup. Everyone seemed nervous, except for a select few suspiciously composed individuals whom I still envy. I resorted to hugging people for comfort. I was genuinely petrified.
Then, on my way to my examination station, I lost my footing and tripped because apparently, the anxiety needed a physical manifestation too, how embarrassing.
When we were finally told to begin, my heart was racing so hard that I spent the first few minutes trying to calm my breathing and heartbeat before I could even press Start. It had been a while since I had experienced such an intense reaction before an examination. Perhaps it was because I felt particularly unprepared for the MCQs.
Whatever the reason, there I was, trying to convince my body that I was not in danger while an examination timer waited for me. Eventually, I pressed Start and Pros officially began.
One Hundred Questions. Thirty Minutes. A Lot of Guessing.
The MCQ paper consisted of 100 questions to be answered in 30 minutes. I don't think I need to explain how that felt.
Whether it was my sweaty hands or something else, the mouse refused to move the way I wanted it to. It was such a small thing, but when you are already anxious and trying to work against the clock, even a stubborn mouse can become your personal enemy.
The questions were pretty much what I had expected. Unfortunately, that didn't mean I knew the answers.
I think I was reasonably sure of about fifty questions. For many of the remaining ones, I relied on educated guesses, intuition, and a few prayers to the god of guessing.
By the time I finished, I estimated that I might score around 60%. I knew I hadn't done excellently. For about five minutes, I let myself dwell on that disappointment.
Then I had to pull myself together. There were still two more sections ahead of me, and experimentation carried the bulk of the grade. I couldn't afford to let one paper ruin the rest of my day.
Looking back, I would eventually applaud myself for that decision. I was disappointed, but I refused to surrender the entire examination to one bad experience. There were still opportunities to do better and I had to take them.
We headed back to campus for the remaining sections. Remember that terrible bus?
We were back in it…uggh
This time, there was traffic, and I wasn't even sitting properly. I was practically being lapped. To make matters worse, my coursemates were discussing the questions they had encountered. Since we had different question pools, everyone seemed to have something to contribute. It was torture.
I was trying not to think about the paper I had just written, but the conversations kept dragging me back into it.
Eventually, we got back to school, only for heavy rain to begin. I remember thinking, Surely, we cannot be expected to write under these conditions. I was right. The weather and power supply situation meant we had to wait for well over an hour before things could proceed. More waiting. More overthinking. More opportunities to second-guess myself.
At some point, I managed to eat an egg roll. That was about all my stomach could handle.
Finally, it was time for spot. This was supposed to be one of my stronger sections.
It started well enough, but then the automatic slide timer stopped working. My lecturer had to switch the slides manually, and he had absolutely no chill. One moment, I was trying to identify what was in front of me; the next, he had moved on. I was barely getting enough time to see some of the questions properly.
The result? Another estimated 60%.
I encountered two things I had never seen before, and somehow, an agar plate managed to confuse me despite how familiar I was with them. I was devastated. Spot was one of the sections I had counted on, and I needed something closer to 80% to feel comfortable about my overall performance.
For about ten minutes, I sat with the disappointment written all over my face. Thankfully, a friend noticed and helped snap me out of it. I had one section left.
One final opportunity to make the day count and I needed to show up for it.
By this point, it was approaching 3 p.m. I was exhausted and I still had sixteen experiments to perform and write.
If you ask me, the current arrangement of the practical Pros examination deserves a conversation. Three different examination formats, different locations, all on the same day, followed by a viva at 9 a.m. the next morning? Come on!
Fortunately, experimentation turned out to be the section where I felt most in control. Before the examination, I had developed a workflow blueprint for myself. I knew how I wanted to approach the experiments, how I would manage my time, and how I would move from one procedure to the next.
This time, the planning paid off. I timed myself, I speed-wrote, I followed my workflow and for once, the strategy worked exactly as I needed it to. I performed all the experiments myself, finished within the allocated time, and was even able to endorse my work. That alone felt like a victory.
Of course, it wasn't perfect.
My thick and thin blood films were a write-off. I attempted them in the final ten minutes while also trying to clear my table and make everything look neat. I couldn't view slides properly under the microscope either, so my results were largely educated guesses but considering how much I had worried about finishing the experiments on time, I was proud of myself.
I had completed the section and I believed I had given myself a reasonable chance of earning a good mark. For the first time that day, I felt genuinely confident about how I had performed.
When the examination finally ended, I was too relieved to cry.
In all, I survived day one but the next morning, four examiners were waiting for me.....stay tuned for part two!