Iβm writing this with 2 days to go until my finalΒ examΒ in my penultimate year of studying Medicine. Iβve just bashed through ~120 psychiatry and obstetrics questions, with around 700 left to get through by tomorrow night.
A friend of mine got a lovely email from her grandmother giving someΒ advice about the exams. Hereβs what it said:
Iβve been thinking about you for days and wondering how your studying is going and when yourΒ examsΒ are. Are you feeling ready? Or just tired and grumpy? Itβs such a huge pressure. I do hope you can keep it in perspective – itβs not necessary to be top of the classβ¦ youβll still get to do the type of medicine you want wherever you wantβ¦ It only matters that you have a family who loves you and dear friends who support you – all unconditionally.
No one will ever know, or probably care, how well you do on these exams. It sounds crazy to say, butΒ I think it helps to approach exams as a fun personal game, just seeing what you rememberβ¦ then, when itβs over, just let it go happy: finished!
While Iβve never been one to βstressβ about exams particularly, Iβve found myself thinking about this βfun personal gameβ tip several times over the past few weeks.
I still want to do well in the exams, of course, but treating them as a game helps keep them in perspective.
Those of us lucky enough to be studying Medicine in the UK donβt have much to be worried about when it comes to exams. Our performance in exams contributes around 10% to the overall scores that let us apply for the most competitive jobs in the most competitive areas. And sure, if youβre the sort of person whoβs going for an illustrious academic career that requires you to be top of the year and work at specific jobs in Central London teaching hospitals, then it makes sense for you to try and squeeze every last mark out of the exams.
But for the rest of us, who may or may not have a clearΒ idea of which career we like, and may not be overly attached to the idea of working in London, treating our medical school exams like a game seems like a pretty healthy way of going about things. It means we work hard and try our best, but hopefully also retain a sense of perspective.
No one will ever care about the handful of marks we dropped in a paper by taking the evening off, but weβll always have fond memories of the lovely night eating sushi and playing board games with friends.