Saturday, April 10, 2010

A picture is worth a thousand words...



So that is a photo of the most bestest awesomest card EVER received from an equally awesome friend, S, as a good luck for my lipid board exam, which was yesterday. We covered up my last name but it basically depicts ME as the Robot kicking the other Robot's behind.

Except.

Now that I've taken the exam it seems the labels need to be reversed.

Because that test kicked my behind. And hard.

I'm still sore and probably will be for a while.

It was four hours of grueling blech. Well, I take that back, the first 44 questions were a cinch and I had the cocky thought of "Well I've got this in the bag. Not only will I pass, but I will make an A."

Famous last words.

You guys--I went into that test as prepared as I have ever been for anything ever. I have studied for months, literally. Mr. LC has quizzed me on my stack of 200 index cards countless times--I could recall the facts in my sleep. I took prep tests of 800+ questions and then studied them endlessly.

But yet still, STILL, there were items on that test that I had never even heard of. WTF? There is no way to memorize everything but apparently, that's what was expected.

If I fail, I will have to retake the test, which will consist of another random assortment of details and minutiae that actually don't influence how I practice at all. That's the rub. All day long I see patients and I make treatment decisions and hey--people live!--and I am not recalling facts from my index cards.

OK, enough griping.

It's done. I don't have to study anymore until I get the results (6 weeks and thank GOD not before our NYC trip because nothing nothing nothing can ruin that trip for me!). I am rejoining the living again as fully as possible and have cleverly hidden away my stack of books and notes and practice tests and all that crap.

Today we ran under a beautiful blue sky next to a beautiful blue lake with beautiful blue bluebonnets everywhere. And I did not feel blue.

But I did have a sore behind.

18 comments:

  1. so glad that the test is over, and with those type of tests they always throw a handful of questions in that nobody has heard of just to make you feel inadequate, im sure of it!

    i can't wait to hear about how spectacularly you did! you have been studying for so long and ill be you did kick it's robot butt!

    thank you as always for the lovely support. your comment made me cry. i have been fragile lately and it was just like a giant hug. it was exactly what i needed when i needed it. xoxo

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  2. Hummm...maybe some of the questions were trial ones that they actually don't count but see if they are good enough to use on the next version of the test. I dunno...maybe?

    Bummer that even after studying left to right, top to bottom the test still had unknown areas.

    The card is great! What an nice gesture.

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  3. Just catching up on a boatload of blogs. Glad the test is over but does that mean you are on a 6ww? I'm glad you have a fun trip to look forward to and even happier to see that you have such wonderful friends. Enjoy the spring weather and I'm sure that you did better on the test than you give yourself credit for. I'm inclined to agree with Rambler that perhaps some of the questions were trial questions.

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  4. Congratulations for being done! I'm sorry to hear that exam was some tough, but I refuse to believe that you didn't pass after spending so much time preparing. Enjoy having your life back, and try to stay busy as you await the results.

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  5. I was thinking about you all Friday! Hope you got my text. You ARE the SMARTEST person I know- I think you ACED IT! It cracks me up though that it doesn't change the way you practice at all- but hey, you'll have a fancy schmancy super smarty certification which I hope amounts to $$$! Give your brain a break now. TV and chocolates are calling your name.

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  6. I'm sure there are always questions that are impossible on the test, just to make you feel like you failed the test. Congrats on getting through that grueling exam. Time to give your brain a well deserved break! I hope you enjoy your upcoming NYC trip.

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  7. Congratulations on writing the test. I HATE those tests, where you go in feeling so prepared and then bam, it kicks your ass. I hope you pass and with flying colours! I'm glad you had a great day today and didn't feel blue.

    If I haven't said it lately, thank you so much for the support you have shown to me, it means a lot. :)

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  8. You might be surprised with your test!! You deserve this trip and lots of shopping to go with it!!

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  9. Sounds like it was pretty brutal, you have me a little wound up about it.

    Well congrats on finishing, it sounds like you really worked your ass off for it. And I have no doubt your test results will prove just that.

    Hope the next six weeks fly by!

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  10. Yeah, what a huge accomplishment! I'm sure all of your studies paid off and you will be rewarded with a great grade on your test. We are our own worse critics!
    Can't wait to hear more about NYC :)

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  11. Yay that you took it, survived and lived to tell the tale. Remember, they often put "test" questions in those test - questions that they are trying out to see if they will make it into future editions of the test. So the really esoteric ones may just be the "tester" questions.

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  12. So if you are truly my twin, I know you not only passed but did quite well on the test. I ALWAYS thought I bombed these kinds of things and managed to end up finding out I knew more than I thought. So there you go. No need to think about it anymore, twin. (-;

    I can feel the relief in your post that it is over and hope you have a few weekends of nothing but doing whatever it is you feel like. Your bluebonnet run sounds divine. We went to see fields of California Poppies last weekend and they were incredible.

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  13. Congrats on having that test behind you, I know you have to be sooo relieved! I hate those exams that requiring months of studying and then it has questions on them that leaving you thinking, what??? I highly doubt you failed, I bet you get an A!

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  14. Yeah it's over! And, I'm sure you didn't do as badly as you think. Now it's time for Spring in the City!

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  15. Congratulations on getting that exam behind you. My prediction is that you passed...whenever you leave a test feeling like it really did kick your tuckus even though you really really did prepare for it, you rocked it! Take it from me...after 3 different state bar exams, each one of which lasted 2-3 days and each one of which I totally thought I failed even though I studied for MONTHS for each. All those cocky jerks who walked out talking about how well they did and how easy the questions were, etc...FAILED. So, put those books away for good and ENJOY NYC!!! Wish we were coming down for a weekend. I grew up there and live only 4 hours away (and my dad still lives there) and I haven't been back since 2004!!! I miss it. Hugs!!!

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  16. Was it a computerized test? Sometimes those are set up to get harder based on how well the test taker is doing...so the fact that the questions got super hard could be a VERY GOOD SIGN!!!

    I remember studying for the CPA exam...I read flashcards aloud onto tapes so that I could listen to them when I was walking or driving. Good idea except I was sick with a major cold while I was reading the tapes so I was coughing and sneezing and blowing my nose...it was really disgusting, but you do what you have to!

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  17. I bet you did better than you think you did! You are such a smart cookie I think you're just not giving yourself enough credit. I suppose we shall see!

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  18. (Doh! Meant to comment on this earlier as well!)

    Mrs. LC, you're giving me PSTD! I can remember sitting down to take the GRE like it was yesterday. I also remember nearly breaking into hives before the test was over (stupid GRE!). And I'm sure that test was small potatoes compared to the KRAKEN of a test you were subjected to.

    I have faith in you. I believe that you kicked ass! And I agree with another one of your commenters who mentioned that you may have been getting progressively more challenging questions as you went along (if it was computerized) BECAUSE you were kicking so much ass.

    Regardless, I'm proud of you! You did it! That test is SO dunzo!

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