Sooo, step I
Sorry about the delay, I've been trying to stuff a whole summer's worth of fun & lazy times into one week - and I have the sunburn and books read to prove it. As for the test, I'll break it down chronologically with commentary in italics.
12 PM day before: drive down to Toledo.
1:30 PM check into the Motel 6 near the testing center. Find free cable.
2 PM dry run to the testing center. Good thing I did, got lost twice. (Huuuge campus) Check in with super-helpful front desk lady to have questions like "Is this the right place?" and "Can I park there?" answered. ("Yes" to both)
2:30 PM Discover there is a mythbusters marathon going on. Spread all study materials brought with me across the bed and get down to last minute review. (Which was Deja Review, Med Student's Amnesia (mail me if you'd like a copy - it's *excellent*) my First Aid/Step Up binder and some handwritten notes with a small book of Qbank questions)
5 PM Find Waffle House. Eat brain-boosting meal of eggs, grits, bacon and sweet tea. (WHYYY don't we have these in Michigan?)
8 PM Still studying, but find Law and Order instead of Mythbusters. (Mmmm, cable.)
10 PM Start trying to go to sleep - usually studying in a reclining position will do it, so that's what I try first.
12 PM Still trying to go to sleep. Just-checked in family is loud and annoying. (I was extra-extra loud at 6 AM for payback)
--
5:30 AM First alarm goes off
5:45 AM Second alarm goes off
6:00 AM Third alarm goes off.
6:05 AM Turn off final alarm, get out of bed, throw on clothes, gather up lunch + study materials, etc. (etc includes hyperventilating for a minute and then numbing out on the morning news program for another 5)
6:15 AM Try to eat breakfast (manage three peanut butter crackers)
6:30 AM Leave for testing center.
6:40 AM Arrive at testing center. (find two other Wayne students there, interesting)
6:45 AM Sit down to start instruction block.
6:47 AM Successfully skip instruction block. (Do this if you can, they have it to see online)
6:48 AM Get roller-coastery feeling in pit of stomach.
6:49 AM Start first block.
7:49 AM Finish first block.
--
From here on out, the times get a little nebulous. I can say that I took the full hour on every block, and could have used about 2 or 3 minutes more on a few sections. I was much slower doing questions in real life vs. at home, mostly due to reading and highlighting the questions/answers more carefully.
Yes, you can highlight and strikethrough on the exam. It's very, very helpful and I abused it to no end. You can also flag questions, leave them as unmarked and annotate questions. On my first pass through, I would highlight/strikethrough every question, answers the one I felt confident on, flag the ones I felt semi-confident (enough to mark an answer) and then the ones that left me scratching my head were left unanswered. Thus, on my first pass back I'd do the unanswered, and then go back to look at the flagged ones. I answered every single question, with varying levels of confidence.
I have 58 minutes of break time, thanks to skipping the instruction block and split the break time as follows:
a few minutes between block one and two (had to catch my breath, because I was still a bit nervous)
10 minutes between block three and four (to get a drink and zone out with the magnetic poetry)
20 minutes between block five and six (lunch - which was a lunch pack thing of tuna and more crystal light caffeinated strawberry stuff)
And that was it. I think I had about 15 minutes of break time left at the end, as I would take a minute or two just to sit and stretch in my seat.
At 2:45 PM I was done.
At 4:30 PM I was back home.
At 7 PM I was at the Lush counter buying happy smelly things
At 9 PM I was fed, and properly alcoholized.
I can't say enough good things about the Toledo testing center - the ladies who work there are incredibly helpful and will direct and explain every detail of where to go or what to do - they're also generally comforting and nice to chat to. The center itself is kinda posh, with a microwave, fridge, big lockers, couches and tables just for the testing students to use. Definitely worth the drive down.
I'm also glad I stayed in a hotel the night before - no worrying about traffic, alarms not going off (yay wakeup calls) and I couldn't freak myself out by trying to look at all my study materials - I only brought what I was going to need at the last minute.
Plus Law & Order does a body good. :)
So now I start third year. Expect crazy stories.
12 PM day before: drive down to Toledo.
1:30 PM check into the Motel 6 near the testing center. Find free cable.
2 PM dry run to the testing center. Good thing I did, got lost twice. (Huuuge campus) Check in with super-helpful front desk lady to have questions like "Is this the right place?" and "Can I park there?" answered. ("Yes" to both)
2:30 PM Discover there is a mythbusters marathon going on. Spread all study materials brought with me across the bed and get down to last minute review. (Which was Deja Review, Med Student's Amnesia (mail me if you'd like a copy - it's *excellent*) my First Aid/Step Up binder and some handwritten notes with a small book of Qbank questions)
5 PM Find Waffle House. Eat brain-boosting meal of eggs, grits, bacon and sweet tea. (WHYYY don't we have these in Michigan?)
8 PM Still studying, but find Law and Order instead of Mythbusters. (Mmmm, cable.)
10 PM Start trying to go to sleep - usually studying in a reclining position will do it, so that's what I try first.
12 PM Still trying to go to sleep. Just-checked in family is loud and annoying. (I was extra-extra loud at 6 AM for payback)
--
5:30 AM First alarm goes off
5:45 AM Second alarm goes off
6:00 AM Third alarm goes off.
6:05 AM Turn off final alarm, get out of bed, throw on clothes, gather up lunch + study materials, etc. (etc includes hyperventilating for a minute and then numbing out on the morning news program for another 5)
6:15 AM Try to eat breakfast (manage three peanut butter crackers)
6:30 AM Leave for testing center.
6:40 AM Arrive at testing center. (find two other Wayne students there, interesting)
6:45 AM Sit down to start instruction block.
6:47 AM Successfully skip instruction block. (Do this if you can, they have it to see online)
6:48 AM Get roller-coastery feeling in pit of stomach.
6:49 AM Start first block.
7:49 AM Finish first block.
--
From here on out, the times get a little nebulous. I can say that I took the full hour on every block, and could have used about 2 or 3 minutes more on a few sections. I was much slower doing questions in real life vs. at home, mostly due to reading and highlighting the questions/answers more carefully.
Yes, you can highlight and strikethrough on the exam. It's very, very helpful and I abused it to no end. You can also flag questions, leave them as unmarked and annotate questions. On my first pass through, I would highlight/strikethrough every question, answers the one I felt confident on, flag the ones I felt semi-confident (enough to mark an answer) and then the ones that left me scratching my head were left unanswered. Thus, on my first pass back I'd do the unanswered, and then go back to look at the flagged ones. I answered every single question, with varying levels of confidence.
I have 58 minutes of break time, thanks to skipping the instruction block and split the break time as follows:
a few minutes between block one and two (had to catch my breath, because I was still a bit nervous)
10 minutes between block three and four (to get a drink and zone out with the magnetic poetry)
20 minutes between block five and six (lunch - which was a lunch pack thing of tuna and more crystal light caffeinated strawberry stuff)
And that was it. I think I had about 15 minutes of break time left at the end, as I would take a minute or two just to sit and stretch in my seat.
At 2:45 PM I was done.
At 4:30 PM I was back home.
At 7 PM I was at the Lush counter buying happy smelly things
At 9 PM I was fed, and properly alcoholized.
I can't say enough good things about the Toledo testing center - the ladies who work there are incredibly helpful and will direct and explain every detail of where to go or what to do - they're also generally comforting and nice to chat to. The center itself is kinda posh, with a microwave, fridge, big lockers, couches and tables just for the testing students to use. Definitely worth the drive down.
I'm also glad I stayed in a hotel the night before - no worrying about traffic, alarms not going off (yay wakeup calls) and I couldn't freak myself out by trying to look at all my study materials - I only brought what I was going to need at the last minute.
Plus Law & Order does a body good. :)
So now I start third year. Expect crazy stories.