There were 30 questions that need to be answered within 3 hours. There was only 6 minutes per question. The best part of it, most of the question came from the question bank and we were already given access to the question bank. So, if you have answered the questions from question bank before the exam, and memorised the answer, this exam will extremely easy.
It was an exciting exam since I just need to write down anything that I have memorized before the exam. If you could not remember the answer, you can either move on to the next question or try to write a little bit and come back later. This is the first time that I don't need time to think how to answer the questions but instead try to write as much as I could remember.
At first, I thought that the exam will be finished in 2 hours. Thus, for the first 2 hours, I was writing extremely fast without stopping for a break. If I could not remember the answer, I used the general approach. Take history, do physical examination and ask for investigation. You can always order for FBE and UE in most of the situations
.
At the end of 2 hour mark, my fingers were stiff and I was out of breath. My right hand was shaking and I could not bend my arm for the next few minutes. Perhaps there was not enough blood flow to my fingers
.It was like doing a marathon of answering lots of question in a short amount of time. My forearm muscles were exhausted and my handwriting were getting worst towards the end of the paper. Hopefully the examiner could read my handwriting.
Then, I realised I have another hour to go. I spend the last hour in improving my answer and checking for any mistakes. There was one grave mistake that was so funny that I had to suppress my laugh during the exam.
This was the question.
Outline the management of...yell0w-green discharge....
The moment I saw the word
yellow-green, I instantaneously wrote; this is malrotation with volvulus until proven otherwise and I proceed on how to manage malrotation. I had perfect answer for this and could literally fill the entire page with the management of malrotation.
In the middle of writing the answer for malrotation, I caught a glimpse of the question again. Yellow-green discharge from the
EYE.
This is a different medical problem and I had wrote the wrong answer. Malrotation with volvulus is a surgical emergency of the gut, but the question is asking on the problem with the eye. Fortunately, I have the time to rewrite the entire answer. This must be one of the embarrassing moments for me during this exam.
p/s: If you see any green-vomiting from an infant, you need to think of malrotation with volvulus and this is a surgical emergency. Unfortunately, the question is not on vomiting but asking on eye discharge
Moral of the story: read the question carefully and that includes reading the question until the end
.
