Essence of Examination
What had exams meant to us till date? Cramping information in our head on the night before the exam and vomiting out on the paper next morning. Well, that's how atleast I did all my exams and am sure 99% of people will join me in this statement. And what was the main purpose of the exam? Passing, simply passing. It didn't measure your level of knowledge or understanding, marks only graded our ability to memorize and vomit adequately. And all was forgotten once the exam was done with.
But since I have started my clinical work on my way to become a doctor (may be not even a good one), I have realised the true essence of failing.
Last two exams I sat, called OSCEs (student's objective clinical examination), I performed pretty badly. And the truth is I was not upset because I messed it up, I have been upset because it didn't upset me.
Today, after the second exam that I messed up, I have realized why.
May be all other profession allows one to eat and vomit and forget, but that's not how medicine is suppose to be studied. I look at the consultants that teach us, knowledge at the tip of their fingers, they need not refer various books to diagnose a patients condition and come up with appropriate managements, and they are who we aim to become.
What one writes on those papers should be the knowledge one must have on the tip of their fingers, not something cramped up over night and forgotten the moment exam finishes. And I have also realized, mistakes are an excellent teacher.
The essence and art of learning medicine, as I am realising, doesn't lie in being able to remember everything we learn, but in never forgetting the things we do. As I walked towards ward 19 may be for the last time this appointment and after blundering my exam, the pictures hanging on the corridor makes the most sense to me. "if I hear I may forget, if I see it I will remember, if I do it I will know it."
So cheers to failing.
But since I have started my clinical work on my way to become a doctor (may be not even a good one), I have realised the true essence of failing.
Last two exams I sat, called OSCEs (student's objective clinical examination), I performed pretty badly. And the truth is I was not upset because I messed it up, I have been upset because it didn't upset me.
Today, after the second exam that I messed up, I have realized why.
May be all other profession allows one to eat and vomit and forget, but that's not how medicine is suppose to be studied. I look at the consultants that teach us, knowledge at the tip of their fingers, they need not refer various books to diagnose a patients condition and come up with appropriate managements, and they are who we aim to become.
What one writes on those papers should be the knowledge one must have on the tip of their fingers, not something cramped up over night and forgotten the moment exam finishes. And I have also realized, mistakes are an excellent teacher.
The essence and art of learning medicine, as I am realising, doesn't lie in being able to remember everything we learn, but in never forgetting the things we do. As I walked towards ward 19 may be for the last time this appointment and after blundering my exam, the pictures hanging on the corridor makes the most sense to me. "if I hear I may forget, if I see it I will remember, if I do it I will know it."
So cheers to failing.
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