Some days I say to myself: Lord, if it is your will, let this cup just pass over! The speculated month is May. In February, it felt like decades away; then days rolled into weeks and weeks became months. Here we are, it’s April. May no longer sits in the distance. How did time fly so fast? I have never stopped wondering. Let’s make a short trip back in time. School resumed after the semi-holiday 200level medical students had in February. ‘Semi-holiday’ because we had to come back in between for two tests. During the first week of integrated lectures, the class representative came to inform us of the physiology test scheduled for April 4th. It was meant to be our first essay and would cover the whole of the physiology course work. That information struck me like lightning. It startled me out of indolent reverie. Reality flashed across my face and I realized the almighty MB exam wasn’t far away anymore; and then I also had this test to deal with. I knew I had to re-strategize and after a lot of permutations and combinations, some classes had to be ‘stabbed’ (-A colloquial term used amongst students in the University of Ibadan to imply a deliberate act of missing classes) just to cover up. Along the line, most of us concentrated on physiology alone, only for the test to be postponed. Well, that sounded good. First, most of us weren’t prepared and secondly we had covered sufficient ground in physiology classes. Then, there remained the hard fact – anatomy and biochemistry still had to be dealt with.
Another strategy had to come into play. How was I going to read the entire anatomy, biochemistry and physiology in less than two months? Tension started building up. I have never felt this kind of pressure before. Each day is a new challenge. ‘How am I going to cover all this?’ I keep asking myself. Even if I do cover it all, will I remember enough?
Some say MB exam is done with residual knowledge but some days it feels like there are nothing residual in there at all. Is it just me or is getting cranky these days just unavoidable? The thought of the exam is just killing. Am I the only one bothered about the son of men standing by the bank of the Jordan waiting for the outcome of everything? Quite recently, I realised how backwards I’ve been lately on social media. Sometimes, it feels like I just emerged from a cave . A senior colleague once said, “MB Part 1 or second MB like some schools call it, is simply overrated”. Then I replied, “Did you feel this way before or after the exams?” Of course he affirmed the latter.
Sometimes, I want to just skip to December; at least by then I would have known the outcome of this. Well one thing is sure: there’s no running from this. How do I move to the next stage without being tested on the knowledge I acquired at the preceding stage? Someone once said, “The fear of the MB exam is a natural thing. The pressure of the numerous things to cover is massive but don’t let it stop you from reading”. After all my lamentations, some days I say to myself, ‘If others have done this I too can. It won’t even end with me; others coming behind would still do it. Hold on, do not quit just yet; victory is imminent. UCH (University College Hospital) AT LAST’.
