My Story: The Result For My Professional Exam is Out!

I was at home when my blackberry phone gave me an indication that I have a message yet unread. I paused the movie I was watching on my younger brother's laptop, to read the message. It was a whatsapp message on my class page!! My heart skipped a bit, but there it was: The result of the 4th MBBS professional exam I sat for!!! We had to wait for this result for over 3 weeks. An aberration indeed.



I hurriedly scrolled down to my registration number while I held my breathe. It was like the whole world had paused for some few seconds. Then I saw it and a smile appeared on my face. The result was - Paediatrics; Pass, Obstetric and Gynaecology; Pass. I was thankful and happy beyond words. My immediate family members were so so so happy for me.

Soon, I started receiving calls from my colleagues, for they were trying to know if it was true that the result was out. Not all of us are on the class whatsapp page. Others were ringing me to congratulate me, also to let me know they had made it. I m not given to placing calls randomly like this lest I place the call to the wrong person, for I could not tell who and who had failed.

Overall, the performance was not too good. Some of my colleagues had either failed one or both of them. Paediatrics got the highest casualties, with obstetrics and gynaecology claiming a handful. Some of my closest friends are victims. Though I cleared both courses, I still feel like I have failed abysmally. Some have cried days unending because of the failure.
Why must people who are bright and hardworking fail an exam of this nature. Apart from the financial implications, it could be very traumatic.

Since the elections were shifted, we have been called back to school. My colleagues who had problems passing the exam would have another chance at it in 3 months time. I believe this is one of the good things about medical school. Failure is never defeat. So for now, they are back to actually dot the I's and cross the T's.

The rest of us who scaled through, have actually gotten down to the business of a final year med student. We are getting on with Community Medicine, a fascinating course indeed.
In the following days and weeks, I hope to bring you the life of a final year medical student in developing country and our we are able to survive and sustain ourselves, despite the challenges.
Once again, congratulations to Medic'06, for this is my class name.