“新”孙子兵法….
this might be a reference to a coming 3rd year students.
as i’ve mentioned, we have 5 exams this semester : internal medicine, pathological physiology, pathological anatomy, pharmacology, and general surgery.
internal medicine, pathological anatomy and pharmacology are genarally regarded as the tougher subjects, mainly because of the large amount of material to be studied.
3 main reason determining the outcome of an exam : the amount of material, the teacher and the time….(+ luck)
the exams here are mainly oral test. so large part of our exams marks are determined by the examiner himself. although we should trust their professional judgement, but sometimes personal emotions are inevitable….this is where some people make full use of the loop hole and and gained alot of benefits manipulating them. and it has always been a topic of argument for the students… as in if you get good results. The first question or rather the first impression is “ you got a good/kind teacher right??” or if u manage to get an excellent results from the strict teacher….the reaction would be “ wa…..hebatlah….u managed to survive XXX teacher….”
It is never about your knowledge…..you are never praised because you are knowledgeable…..you are praised and worshiped because you are lucky…..this is how sad the students are…
another crucial factor is time. time has always been the problem for me during exams. this time, we are given yet another mission impossible. 3 days interval between each exams. well, this has never happened before for the past 2 years. although u might say the interval between exams in malaysia is shorter, but this is definitely not the same. there are too many factors to be considered. besides the knowledge you are studying, u need to worry about other factors as well….such as the teacher as i’ve mentioned. more importantly, there’s not much space for mistakes, as there’s only 5 marks given. you do not wanna be considered as the same level as those who only depend on luck and do not care about their knowledge and results…who are satisfied with just a satisfactory mark, and know that they will eventually graduate.
thus, your only option is perfection.
reading once is more than enough to understand, but time is needed to make sure you don miss anything, the small details you are going to nail down that excellent mark….
fortunately, time of our exams can be adjusted (it’s another long story), although we have much problem this year due to the pressure from our dean’s office due to some complains from some idiots.
my initial exam timetables were:
internal medicine 13/6
pathological physiology 18/6
pathological anatomy 22/6
surgery 26/6
pharmacology 30/6
there are 2 departments whose exam is fixed: namely internal medicine and pathological anatomy which the teacher would not tolerate any negotiations to do other than the assigned date
i arranged in such a way that pharmacology was my first subject. i did it early before the real exam date. i had to do it early because my flight was on the 30th. many would feel wierd why do i choose the hardest subject to be on the first. well, not that i had much choice. but i feel that i made the right choice for not leaving this subject last. because i thought my energy store will be depleted towards the end of the exam session….and i was right..many gave up taking this subject and decided to do it when they come back….
the 2nd subject i did early was pathological physiology. it was not an extremely difficult subject that i have to do it earlier. my concern was the subjects that comes after that…pathological anatomy. 3 days to study for it is just INSANE. according to statistics, it’s the subject that many feared most due to the strict marking of the teachers….some even failed several times….so don pray pray…..
by taking away those 2 subjects, i have 1 week for internal meds, 1 week for path anatomy, and some extended days for surgery ( due to absence of pharmacology to be worried about) ……and i think that schedule is perfect enough….
besides timing, you need to consider your own limit, the energy storage you have. after struggling for almost 2 months, even an elephant will be exhausted. thus, the last subject should not be a hard one….instead, it should be those that u know u can take your own sweet time to read…..my last surgery exam was like this…it was not much to study….in fact it was regarded as the easiest one. but i seriously had no mood to study…..all i can think of was going back home….eating msian food……the opportunity to do my exam next semester made me feel so tempted to do so…..like some of my fellow coursemate did…
but i managed to throw that thought aside and fully concentrate….and i glad that i did….now i can fully enjoy my holidays wihout any burden….
