Fall Break is Here

We are about halfway through the fall semester and what a better time to have a nice long weekend to relax our minds and prepare for the latter half of the semester.  Over the past few weeks, we have been challenged with multiple tests each week in our classes.  We've had two tests since the last time I posted in Physiology that have covered the CNS and Skeletal, Heart, and Smooth Muscle.  The CNS test was composed of 44 questions and Muscle test was composed of 20 questions.  They were both the same format of multiple choice and true and false questions.  I didn't think either test was extremely difficult, there was just a lot of material for such few questions.  It's all a matter of picking out the material that the professors stress the most and making sure you understand the material and not just memorizing it.

Other than Physiology, we have had two tests in Microbiology as well.  As I've mentioned before, the tests for this class are 50 questions and we have 50 minutes to take it.  All of the questions are multiple choice.  The first exam covered Immunology and it can be a confusing subject, especially if you've never taken an immunology class before.  Luckily, we have covered immunology to some extent throughout the whole year, so when we got to Microbiology and were going into it in more depth, it was beneficial to have that foundation.  The second test covered a lot of subject areas to include bacterial structure, genetics, and identification to fungi and viruses.  This test was a little more difficult than the first mainly due to the fact that it covered a broad area of organisms.  We also had a lot of different lecturers for each section and it's hard to adapt to how and what type of questions they may ask when you've never had them before, but aside from that I didn't think it was terrible and the information was a lot more interesting than the first section.

We've also been going strong in Advanced Microanatomy and we've also had two tests in that class since the last time I've posted.  The first test covered normal microanatomy, skin pathology, and kidney and bladder pathology while the second test covered abnormal pathology of the lung, head and neck, heme, and lymphatic circulations.  The first test had 36 questions and the second had 24 questions, which were mostly multiple choice and some questions were aided with slides.  This class is all about finding a good balance between studying slides and knowing and understanding information about each disease or lesion in order to be able to know what to look for on a slide and the differences from one disease to another.  I must say I've enjoyed this advanced class better than the one we had in the spring because it is more interesting in that we are able to see and learn about more complex pathologies.

Finally, we had our first test in Medical Laboratory Management, which was 50 multiple choice questions and this class has been very straight forward and to the point. The content isn't difficult, but it is very useful for the future if one is to be in a managerial position.  We also had our first test in Advanced Surgical Pathology that covered non-complex specimens, lung, head and neck, bone and soft tissue, skin, and gross photography.  As with Anatomical Techniques in the spring, the test was composed of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer questions.  This class in particular involves having a deeper understanding of how to stage specimens, what is important about each specimen, and what various types of lesions will look like.  This class represents exactly what we will be doing in the gross room once our clinical year begins.

As you can see, we have been quite busy over the last month and it's not about to end any time soon.  We still have a good two months left before the end of the semester and then we get a little bit of a break before we start our clinical rotations on January 4.  Hopefully, we will be getting our schedules soon and when I do, I will post it to give you an idea of what my second year will be looking like.  As for more important matters (in my mind they are), I'm a huge Chicago Cubs fan and it makes me extremely happy that they are in the postseason.  They're currently in a heated series with our rival, the St. Louis Cardinals which is tied up 1-1 and we play again tomorrow, October 12 at the historic Wrigley Field in Chicago.  My mood for the rest of October will be dependent on watching them play and hopefully seeing them go all the way....it's been long enough, so hopefully we won't have to go to 108 years without a World Series title. Go Cubs!!