Yet Another Exam

The dearth of blogs recently can be attributed to yet another exam. Exams, unfortunately, will become a routine part of my life. While UCSF has fewer exams than many other schools, they continue on through our clinical years, through boards, and then through recertification during our careers. I am unsure how good tests are at estimating one's aptitude for medicine. Clearly, some form of standardized evaluation is warranted. However, through many, many years of test-taking, I have realized that learning to take a test is as important as knowing the answers. Raised in an exam-taking culture, you sort of realize what kinds of questions are likely to come up, what kinds of traps are usually set, and what kinds of answers will satisfy the reader. Since all we have to do is pass with a 70%, by now most students have found a good balance to our studying. I think many of us found preparing for this test to be a lot less stressful than preparing for our first one. Rest assured, we will learn everything we need to become good doctors.