Pharmacy Practice 3A (exciting stuff, I promise)

Well that was the most logistically complicated exam I've ever sat for in my life! Got shunted into no less than five different rooms!

I was scheduled to be at Rm N352 at 9:25am, along with twenty-something other people. We went in, sat in rows according to our index numbers (not even just student IDs, it's so complex we get special numbers just for this exam!) and were instructed not to talk. Some people got confused and thought we were doing the exam in that room and started unpacking, but actually it was just a "holding room" of sorts, and at approximately 9:35am, no's 56-60 (I was number 60!) filed out in order and followed our course coordinator upstairs (absolutely no talking). We were then placed briefly into another holding room, and given instructions on what would happen in the *real* exam room:

We sit in order at the designated computers, get a few minutes to unpack our books and log in and make sure all the programs are working (yes, it's open book and open computer!), and then have exactly 60 minutes to do the exam. At approximately 55 minutes, we will be warned to start packing up and to log out, as we will be leaving for the oral component of the exam at exactly 60 minutes. (Yes, there's an oral component as well! It just keeps getting better!)

So the five of us sat in the holding room for a few minutes, before being directed into the computer lab, where there were already people part way through their exams. So I sat down, got all set up and stuff, and at 9:45am the five of us started our exam.

From what other people said afterwards, I don't think I did those two case studies too well, didn't pick up a lot of things. Was a bit slow at finding stuff on the databases and even slower in my books. The first case study was on an elderly lady with rheumatoid arthritis, taking methotrexate and meloxicam, and the second one was on a lady taking nitrofurantoin for cystitis (hehe, sound familiar Kazzart? I can't believe blog reading during stuvac sort of helped me in my exam :P)

That hour went too fast...was vaguely aware of the next group coming in five minutes after we started, but was mainly too busy freaking out that I couldn't find the right info anywhere. Anyway, with time up for the written exam, no's 56-60 filed out in order again (no talking) and followed the same guy back downstairs. It must have looked really funny because we were all trying to prepare for our orals while we were walking down the stairs and through the corridors; five students walking single file behind a lecturer while frantically reading their exam papers. I nearly fell over someone sitting on the stairs!

Into another holding room before the oral....but only for less than a minute, while waiting for the previous group to leave, before being ushered into the fifth and final room for the oral exam. Five tables with five smiling examiners. Heh. I got the tall, skinny one with short brown hair and thick rimmed glasses....reminded me slightly of Professor Trelawney (?) from Harry Potter. (Don't know why.)

3 minutes begins. Tape recorder starts. Say your name, your index number and which case you will be speaking on. Introduce case. Discuss your findings and recommendations. Conclude.

My examiner kept smiling and looking at me strangely while I was talking, and I got the impression she was thinking "This girl has no idea what she's on about..." (which actually doesn't matter, because the marking criteria for the oral is not on what you say, but on clarity of speech and whether you have an appropriate intro and conclusion, etc, etc....but still, she unnerved me slightly.) And to make things worse, when I finished (way before the 3 minutes was up), she said to me "You were a bit nervous, weren't you?"....and I was like "Er, yeah, I guess, a little," but in actual fact that's the most relaxed I've ever been in an oral exam, and to have someone say you sounded nervous when you weren't that nervous at all (well, taking into account that we are sitting an exam here)...hey, I must suck!

And with the *ding* of the timer, it was all over.

*****

Wasn't that riveting? I told you it was exciting stuff, didn't I? Unfortunately, my other five exams are the *go in, sit down and come out when finished* type, so they won't be half as entertaining as this recount.

:P