Finals Update

Following a rather disastrous start to my finals on Monday(although it seems most people feel the same), yesterday was the OSCE. This is the big one, the most important one, the one everyone is most worried about. I'm usually quite calm around exam time but OSCEs bring out the nerves in even the calmest of us.

It is the waiting that annoys me most, we reported to the hospital about 12, only to be forced to sit and wait for an unknown period of time, a period where minutes feel like hours. I imagine it is like waiting for an execution, only at least with that you know what is going to happen, with an OSCE, you never know if you'll come out dead or alive! In that final hour, some nervously flick through their notes aiming to cram those final few facts, others sit calmly contemplating what is to come. Only when we had to put all our belongings in quarantine did the reality of the situation hit me, I don't often get butterflies in my tummy but at that point yesterday a swarm of them descended upon me. I defy anyone to sit an OSCE without feeling those nerves. When we were finally marched upstairs and given a short briefing I knew this was it, 3 hours that could make or break my future.

Placed outside the first station by an unfamiliar but friendly face, I could feel my heart beating, in fact, it felt like it was about to explode. The time had come, my body responding with its fight or flight mechanism. As tempting as it was to run out of the door and never look back, my thoughts were interrupted by the first buzzer and the fight began.....

That I'm afraid is where the story must end for today. I will write about each station but as other students still have to sit the OSCE I don't think it would be a good idea to talk about it till Thursday.

All I will say is that it could have been much worse...

Just Friday to go.