Time dilation: Unit 2 exams approach

Wow, it's hard to wrap my brain around the fact that I've been in medical school for just a little over a month. What's even crazier is that my first exam was less than 2 weeks ago, and the Unit 2 test is already this week. It feels like I've been at this for at least 6 months, already.

The evaluations for Unit 1 covered the back and upper and lower extremities. They consisted of a clinical correlates quiz (25 points), a group dissection quiz (30 points), an individual dissection laboratory exam (75 points), and a written exam (150 points). The evaluations for Unit 2 (which covers the thorax, abdomen, and perineum) will be very similar, with the group dissection quiz and individual dissection lab exam up to bat first on Thursday and Friday.

The lab practical was definitely my weak point in Unit 1, so I'm spending some late nights in lab this week, elbow deep in viscera and such. Going through the dissection guide and identifying structures is really the best way (for me) to prepare for the lab practical. But identifying a structure isn't just pointing to it and saying "That's the gastroduodenal artery." To actually help me learn the material, it sounds more like, "That's the gastroduodenal artery. It's coming off the common hepatic artery from the celiac trunk, bifurcates into the superior pancreaticoduodenal and right gastroepiploic arteries, and passes posterior to the duodenum." And we have to do that for every structure.

I actually just came from dissection lab just now, and it's a party up there: break dancing, Wayne's World impressions, "That's what she said" jokes. My classmates sure know how to make anatomy fun. Especially Anand, who apparently does and says crazy things in the hopes that he'll "make the Blog." Well congrats, buddy, you made it!


In a future post, I'll give a better idea of what these tests are like - examples of typical questions and a description of the lab practical test format.