Block 1 Exams

Leading up the exams, this is how it ran:

Week 1 - 3: La la la, we have block exams?
Week 4: Oh CRAP, we have block exams!  How do I study for this thing that I don't know anything about?  
Week 5: Maybe I will just reread my notes...
Week 6: Nothing is staying in my brain!  I'm going to quit med school!
Week 7: Some flashcards and a five-hour group review later, survival is now a possibility.
Week 8: FLASHCARDS of doom and a second five-hour group review.

And now, it is over. 


I started my open-book exam on Monday, but mostly just to get an idea of the feasibility of doing it all today (answer: feasible).

I had my standardized patient interview on Tuesday morning and my close-book exam that afternoon.  I think my patient interview was so-so, but I'll know better once I get to watch the recording.  Close-book exam was more comprehensive than I expected, but overall less detail oriented.  Out of the 96 questions, I truely guessed on roughly 5 and made educated guesses on maybe another 10 or so.  Of course, it is perfectly possible for me to be very sure of an incorrect answer.  However, the exam feedback is structured like the USMLE in that I will receive back a % score and then keywords for areas of weakness rather than getting to see exactly which questions I missed.

Then today, I finished my open-book exam, which I feel pretty good about.  The mini-case that was part of the exam was not structured in the best format, but nothing that will have a severe impact.