#medschoolchronicles

The last blog post i wrote here was such a long time ago. Time flies. 

The last post i wrote about how I was losing faith and I didn’t know what to do. I nearly quit med school, and i was about to go a different route. I stepped back for a while, went back to my country, visited family and I just didn’t study for 1 whole month. It was liberating. It felt good to get my head out of the books. I was constantly trying and failing my Comprehensive Basic Sciences exam, and I didn’t know what more there was to do. I took my time off, i came back home with a clearer purpose and more confidence. I decided to take a review course that wasn’t really popular with a lot of the students, and I have to say i was glad i did. The main doctor who taught the course knew his stuff. He connected all the dots, he explained how to tackle questions, he taught us what to look for in questions, and there were mandatory weekly tutoring sessions as well. I came out of the review program gaining more knowledge, but I also understood how to make associations, and how to connect all the clues that were presented in the questions. I started doing more questions and for the first time I didn’t hate doing them. When I first started out, doing questions felt like a chore. But now, its exciting, its like solving a puzzle :0 

After months of hard work, and constant break downs, and self-doubts, i get to finally say I passed my comprehensive Basic Sciences Exam and I am looking forward to my next chapter in life. 

To those of you who are struggling with any kind of exam, keep at it. Persistence is key. I took this exam 5 times, believe it or not. I am an average student, I am a terrible test taker, I have extreme anxiety that prevents me from thinking clearly, but i worked hard to overcome all of these. I am okay that i am average. I have come to accept my imperfections and i am at peace with it now. I am not competing against anyone. Being smart doesn’t guarantee you will become an amazing doctor. Compassion, empathy, good judgement and being able to admit when you are wrong and learning from your mistakes is what makes a good doctor. I am writing this post to encourage everyone out there who is thinking of quitting, or who feels hopeless, or feels like you are alone in this journey. You are not alone. You are capable of achieving the impossible with persistence, confidence, and by believing in yourself.