Counting Down: 25 Days to go!

Now before you ass-u-me that the post is about counting down to the new year and start abusing my poor mathematical skills (they are poor, sadly) let me make it clear: it is not. It is about my upcoming examination. I have two big-ass exams looming large ahead of me, on the 9th January, 2011 and 23rd january, 2011. And I am counting down to the first of them.

Now, this year, I had concentrated on building up my clinical skills while working with the intensivists at my institution. Critical/Intensive care was one of the fields I had seriously considered moving in and I decided that spending some time actually working in the field would help me understand the dynamics of the same. Now that I have spent some time here already, some of the bright optimism I came in with has dimmed and I am having doubts, but let us keep that aside for another post, another day. For now, I am more concerned about how to approach the exam.

The quick fix is to study the past years’ papers and go ahead and take it. It may not be the best possible solution, but people say it is the most effective. While I hemmed and hawed over considering what to do about the bigger picture, and studying the core subjects, people who worked the questions managed to get by me. So, this time around, I have decided to play the game. Of questions, that is.

Now, every year, there are several entrance examinations, of which 3 are prominent. They end up asking 700 questions each year in those 3 examinations. Now, I have planned, that I will be studying 3 years’ papers in details and in depth (going back to text books and core subjects materials, if needed) in the coming 25 days. If, after that, I have some time, I will look at questions from the previous 3 years in some details, just looking at what the answer was, and why so. Finally, if after doing that I have some time left (now I am being very very very optimistic to even consider this happening) I will work on looking at as many questions as possible: just the basics, questions and answers. Questions and Answers.

I hate myself for subjecting myself to this torture, but thinking logically, this is the best bet for me to get any rank in the frickin’ exams, and considering the mass disaster that my exams have been thus far (read this) I need some luck to work for me!

Anyways, so everyday is like a battle now, and the count down is really short. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my wavering mind on the line and stick to the basics and hopefully, some good will come out of all the pain. Now that the work is planned it is time to work the plan!