the exams that were

Continued from : Exams, Ramadan, Eid, Thereafter . . . and Hereafter

Exams are stressful, and exam at medical school is only a little less than torture in police custody. The exam period at medical school consists of two phases — written, followed by oral, clinical and / or practical. The written exams come first, with one on each alternate day, and are thus completed in just about two weeks. Then there is a delay of about a week before the next phase can start. This takes a longer time, as only about 15 students are examined each day, and only two departments can run their exams at a time. Thus, although the written exams (sometimes called the 'trauma phase') are over in a flash, the oral and practicals ('torture phase') take 6 — 8 weeks.

Written Exams

The day I returned home at last, it was the first of Ramadan, and just less than 2 months after the written exams. I found I had forgotten all about them. Now, when I am writing this yet another month later, I can only faintly remember our 24-hour dash at Eye & ENT, and, in general the surge of hormones that occurred only on the night before the exam, which cannot be initiated, even with the greatest efforts, a little earlier, and therefore, the relative inactivity just after an exam upto the evening before the next exams.

Our written exams began on the 2nd of July, and all I remember about Medicine Paper I is that at the end of an incomprehensible exam (as to whether it was good or bad), when I wrote down a mental calculation of expected marks, Banna sitting right behind me exclaimed, "That's a pass!" He has always been an inspiring presence, and his words brought a relieved smile on my face.

I cannot remember much about Paediatrics, Obstetrics, etc.

We were perhaps the only batch in several years who broke the typical sequence : Medicine, Surgery, Gynae. This was by the cunning of our Head of Surgery, who is also the Dean of the Medical Faculty, so that we could have two days to revise General Surgery, instead of one.

Invigilators

Much unlike our 1st and 2nd Prof, invigilators this time were trying to harass our students from the first of the exams. They revved up against our relatively polite teachers of Gynaecology and by the time it was Surgery, their ill-behaviour reached its peak.

Mobile phones were seized (although we had carried our silenced phones all through, starting from 1st Prof), answer scripts were thrown in the face of students and on the floor, and at last question papers were seized because students had ticked which questions they had completed answering.

Continued in : MCQ