The Bubble Gods

One of the things that often gets glossed over in all the doctor tv shows is the ridiculous amount of tests that you have to take. 16,000 bubbles in college, 4800 bubbles in medical school or 25 straight days of testing time - that's being conservative, not mentioning the hours of practice tests for the MCAT and the 3 Boards tests we take throughout medical school. It just keeps adding up and it will never stop. I wonder how much number two graphite I will use up by the end of my career? Whatever the amount that's a lot of bubble sheets sacrificed to keep our brains on key.

Today I added another 4 hours of testing to my grand total, by taking an in-training exam, that tests us for weaknesses in our medical knowledge. We then try to strengthen those areas over the course of the year, taking more tests to gauge our progress. It's really odd and funny, all the strategies and tips that a bunch of medical school students develop over the course of all these years, it becomes kind of an art.

1) get a watch and know how much time you can spend per question
2) recognize question patterns - ie. two "like" answers usually signifies it's either one or the other and not the other two multiple choice answers. There are lots of other patterns to know.
3) "all of the above" is usually the answer
4) don't choose answers that are "absolutes" - i.e. such and such treatment ALWAYS cures cancer
5) always read the last sentence in a question first
6) if it's hard or requires calculation - make an educated guess, mark it, and come back to it.
7) In college I would get done with the test and then pester the TA's and Professors with questions about the wording of the tests until they gave me answers that would help me out...they don't allow that in medical school...or residency :S, but it worked great while it lasted.
8)...I'm going to stop, but I could definitely go on.

A really good friend of mine brought a specially made pencil for marking bubbles and an eraser-pen so he wouldn't run out.

You take so many it becomes almost like a sport with techniques and skills to be developed through repetition over the years (although calling it a sport might be glamorizing it a TAD bit ;P). That being said all of those skills mean jack when you are under-prepared as we were today. Although it was just a 4 hour test, I came out of it mentally zapped. It's amazing how much energy a test can drain out of you, especially when every question is a major mental task....but it's over now and I breath a major sigh of relief as I turn my sacrificial bubble sheet over to the bubble deities that be.