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.
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