Exams, Exams, Exams...

Well this semester is turning out to be a little busier than I thought! We just got done with a crazy week of exams and as of today, we have had our first exam of every class we are taking.

Last week we had the first exam in Surgical and Autopsy techniques.  The point of this class is to apply everything we know along with the College of American Pathologists’ cancer staging guidelines to grossing specimens.  We learn what information and sections are extremely important to submit so the Pathologist can do their job. I knew the exam would be difficult and that I would have to think a lot. We got our scores back this week during a meeting with Michelle. No one was super happy with their scores and the average was fairly low compared to how we have performed through the rest of the program.  Michelle assured us that she was happy with how we did and pleased with how we thought through questions…which made me feel a lot better! She knew it was our first exam and a lot of us ran out of time.  Next exam we will be given more time and now we know what to expect.  Even if no one did as well as they thought, it’s just an exam and it doesn’t mean we are going to make bad PA’s!  We are all on the right track, it was just a learning process and now we move on…

Tuesday we had our first Lab Management exam.  This class we take with the undergraduate Clinical Laboratory Science program and we learn about good management skills, HR policies within hospitals, and regulating agencies over the different aspects of health care.  She gives objectives for each section and that is what the exam was based on.  I am not going to lie, it was a pretty straightforward test and we all did really well on it!

The other three exams were today!...yes, that is three exams on a Friday!  Physiology exams are always at 8am on Friday mornings.  We have 9 exams throughout the semester and each unit is taught by a different professor.  Which kind of makes it difficult to gauge how the exam will be because each professor writes their own exams.  Most of them give us practice exams beforehand which is nice because you can kind of get an idea of what they want us to know. They also stick to the rule that for each hour of lecture, they pull 4 questions from that material.  Each exam has a different number of questions on it based on how many lectures were in that unit.  This was our second one and the next one is next week.  These exams can be fairly tricky if you don’t read the question and answers carefully.  I have been happy with my scores so far but I definitely have to think a lot!

Today was also our second Microbiology exam!  These exams are 50 multiple choice questions. So far, I think if you study, you are fairly prepared for the exam. There have been a few questions here or there that were surprising, but overall, I think if you study, you should have a good idea of what the answer is.

Our last exam today was Advanced Microanatomy. We had basic microanatomy in the spring and this semester we still have lectures with pathologists, but this time they are showing us abnormal histology. We are given clinical scenarios and Justin shows us a slide under the microscope, and we have to select the correct diagnosis.  Our exam today was 32 questions and overall it wasn’t that bad!  I really like this class and learning the microanatomy. (but I’d still never want to be a pathologist…I picked the path of a PA for a reason)

Last weekend, WVU health professional programs hosted a free tailgate for students and their guests.  They had free food and free beverages before the home game.  A bunch of us went a long with a few of the second year students.  It was really nice to talk to them and hear about how their year of rotations is going.  A few of them have already accepted job offers which is awesome and I am happy for them! They are almost done and it is crazy to think that will be us next year!

3rd Semester is Underway!

        We have officially made it through our first week of classes.  They started last week but we still had our first meeting time for our Advanced Microanatomy class yesterday.  This semester is a little different than the ones in the past.  We have a Physiology class with the first year dental students and a few other graduate programs, Microbiology with the second year dental students, and Lab Management with the clinical laboratory undergraduate students.  This is our first semester of classes with people who are not in our program.  We still have two program specific classes which are Advanced Microanatomy and Surgical and Autopsy Procedures.  This class is sort of like an advanced Anatomical Techniques.  We discuss the cancer staging protocols, grossing guidelines, and pathology behind the specimens of the different body systems.  The rule for the exams in that class are “anything is fair game.”  I am a little nervous for that first exam!  We already have two exams next Friday for Physiology and Microbiology so the semester started fast!

            We still have 4 gross room rotations this semester.  I had my first on Monday.  They were not super busy, but I did gross a few new things.  The most exciting specimen I had was a breast reduction. A woman can have a mammoplasty  or breast reduction performed where they remove excess breast tissue and skin if they are causing her problems or for cosmetic purposes.  For these specimens, we weigh them for billing, measure the amount we have, and section through the tissue to look for masses.  There should not be any masses, but it is possible to find an undetected breast cancer so it is important to look.  The sections we submit are representative of the skin and fibrous tissue which is the structural tissue of the breast.  We submit the fibrous tissue instead of the adipose (fat) because if there were any lesions, this is where they would be seen.

            We are still studying a lot to stay on top of things but I am hoping this semester will be a little more relaxing than it was in the summer!  Some of our classes have been a review for us so that has been nice!  I will make sure to blog about what I think of the classes and exams once we are further into the semester!

            And because I like to show that we have time for work AND play…we went to team trivia Friday night and we got 3^rd place!!  I have to brag and say we were in 1^st place the entire game, BUT we lost in the last question!  It was a lot of fun and we won a gift card so we will have to go back for a chance at redemption!

            

TWO SEMESTERS DOWN

WE JUST FINISHED OUR LAST FINAL EXAM OF THE SUMMER SEMESTER!  I am so thrilled right now!! I know I have explained earlier this semester about the lack of blogging but there was not a lot going on besides studying and reading! Our final was on the 16 chapters from our Robbins textbook that we learned over the summer.  I definitely reviewed and studied but I was pleasantly surprised at how fast the information came back to me! I felt well prepared for the final exam.  We now have a 2.5 week break before classes start again for our final didactic semester.  I seriously cannot believe that we are this far in to the program. We will have more classes in the fall and more things going on so I will have more to blog about!

Although I made this semester sound a little boring, we did have a lot of fun on our free time!  I did study and read a lot but I also had a lot of time to enjoy the summer too!  I don’t want anyone to think we were completely miserable!. July 4^th we rented a pontoon and went out on the lake nearby and had so much fun. That weekend we had a cookout and pool party to celebrate the holiday.  That is where the pictures from below came.

Right now, I am waiting on my husband to get home and we are going to enjoy a few days at the beach with my family. I am not sure if I’ve ever needed a vacation more in my life! I plan on not studying, doing some leisurely reading, and most importantly…relaxing!