Why Is This So Hard?!

Our lives here are quickly spiraling out of control. We're in countdown mode for a H-U-G-E exam. I can't even stress how big this exam is. Ironically enough, it's called a mini-exam. Awesome.

Basically, on February 18, we'll be taking Mini 1 which has 120 multiple choice questions covering 37 hours of Biochemistry, 31 hours of Histology, 17 hours of Anatomy (including Radiological Anatomy), and 11 hours of Doctor, Patient and Society. This exam is worth 35% of our entire Biochemistry grade and 25% of our entire Histology grade for first semester. As you can see, Mini 1 is basically life or death right now. For every one hour of lecture, there is approximately 1 question coming from that lecture. One hour of lecture here is like an entire week's worth of lectures in college. The fact that one hour of lecture is only represented by ONE question means you have to know EVERYTHING because you have no clue what will be asked.

I can't even begin to describe the stress here on campus. We're all freaking out and we all seem to be in the same boat - too much information in too little time. I can't help but look at upper semester students and feel so envious that they made it to second semester. I'm just trying to survive Mini 1. Sometimes I feel so hopeless here and all the confidence I once had in my abilities and intelligence are being questioned like never before. Am I smart enough??

What makes it all worse is that it seems we never even have the time to sit and study the impossible mountains of notes. There are still 4-hour lab dissections and 2-hour Problem Based Learning classes going on every week leading up to the exams. This coming Friday is shot because we have our Anatomy Practical Exam at 1:00 PM. The exam basically consists of several cadavers with different muscles, arteries, bones, nerves, etc that are tagged or pinned. We have less than one minute to identify the structure and answer a question associated to that structure. We also have several radiographs that we have to be able to interpret. Not exactly my idea of a fun Friday afternoon, especially knowing that Mini 1 is looming on that following Monday. Thankfully, I am rocking Anatomy at the moment so I'm feeling pretty confident about the practical and the Anatomy portion of the Mini. Biochemistry is an entirely different animal.

So, this is my official excuse for the slow posts and for the lack of posts in the coming week. As soon as Mini 1 is over, Michael and I will let you all know how it went. Keep us in your prayers because we're going to need all the help we can get!