!

whose idea was it to take an 8 hour exam two days after a 9 hour exam?? well????

looking forward to being DONE tomorrow.

Redux

This time around, I hiccuped three or four times.
http://redheadmed.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-only-hiccupped-once.html

Let's go!

I have Step 2 (of 3) of the United States Medical Licensing Exam tomorrow. Nine hours of marathon testing fun.

When I took Step 1, it was this horrible annoying test that served as one final exam for the two hardest years of my educational life. It felt like a hoop I had to jump through. And I took it knowing there were two more parts after it!

This feels a little different. Step 2 is testing me on knowledge that I've already put to use on my clinical rotations, that I know the value of. Sure they love to test the rare stuff, but rare stuff does occasionally happen -- just in the past few months I've had a patient with neurofibromatosis and a patient with osteogenesis imperfecta. With Step 2, I don't find myself muttering that "I'm never going to need to know this."

And, now there's only one more of these tests in the sequence. And when I take that test, it lets me become a licensed physician -- that goal is actually in sight. So this feels less like a hoop and more like a step towards a goal.

...a nine hour, endurance marathon sort of step.

Oh yeah, and in between those two moments, this one.
(look for the rainbow)

after the storm.

storm.