One down, too many to go...

The exam went well enough - we were supposed to get them back today, but the last time I checked my mailbox was at 2pm, and they weren't there yet. I have to go in on Sunday, so I'll check then. Most people are pretty panicky about the exam, for any number of reasons. Some include the fact that these two profs have never taught the course before, so we had no old exams, and that many people didn't feel that the profs emphasized important over unimportant material clearly.

I found that while studying, I picked out a ton of the test questions. While taking the exam, I could hear myself asking those questions to my friends, while very few of them were asked at me. I clearly have some sort of clue as to what of this information is pertinant. A couple things that were amusing stuck in my head during lively discussions, and some of those ended up on the exam too.

Hopefully, everyone did well. We should get stats for the exam back at some point too.

Bacteriology on Tuesday - 2 exams in this class. I'm a little stressed about it - but tonight is for relaxing so that this weekend can be for studying. We have a ton of gram negative rods on the exam, and only the stuff we learned today is gram positive. This at least makes one question on the exam easy!

Hopefully I'll feel confident about this exam by Tuesday, 'cause right now I'd cry if they made me take it. I have a friend coming on Monday night and staying through the weekend, so I need to be thoroughally studied before I go to pick her up at the airport.

In which I stress before the first exam of the semester

First exam, in Pathology, is on Tuesday morning. I think that I can honestly say that I want nothing to do with it. Studying is a pain in the neck, and while I'm no longer sick, my energy and enthusiasm levels still aren't quite back to 100%. Come to think of it, perhaps it's just about studying that I'm unenthusiastic.

Of course, the less I study, the more stressed I get. And the more stressed I get, the less able I am to study.

In other news, for Clinical Skills we were assigned preceptors last year. I spent 4 hours at my preceptor's clinic yesterday shadowing, and I am reminded why I swore I would never work at that practice, as a tech or a vet. The various reasons why are perhaps fodder for another post, but the fact that I was bored out of my skull weighs in heavily.

I should tell the internets that don't read this about the mini-rotations that we do for Clinical Skills too, also, about Clerk Duty. That way, maybe when I have readers someday, they'll have a clue what I'm referring to.

But for now, it's back to studying Pathology: Alterations in Cell Metabolism, Inflammation, and Amyloids. And whining. We can't forget the whining.

Plans: tonight, meeting with a friend to study old exams; tomorrow night, meeting with a group of friends to do some last minute studying (aka panic).

Fall Semester 2005 Overview

This semester I'm taking:

• Infective Agents: Bacteriology and Mycology (3.5)
  
• Infective Agents: Parasitology (4)
  
• Pharmacology: Anti-Infective Agents (1.5)
  
• Pathology (7)
  
• Clinical Skills (1)
  
• Professional Skills (2)
  
• Advanced Clinical Epidemiology (2)
  
• Epidemiology of Zoonoses Common to People and Animals (3)
• Swine Core (2)
  

For a total of 26 credits. Which actually doesn't sound too bad to me right now.

I'm halfway through week three right now, the first test (Pathology) is next Tuesday. I've been studying by butt off, and hopefully it will pay off. Panic set in sometime yesterday afternoon, as I realized the magnitude of the stresses coming in the next three months. Stress relief is going to be my number one need very soon.

As soon as this cold goes away though, I will be a much much happier person, and a much more enthusiastic student.