[Helpful
for: LU3 and LU4 (1st and 2nd Year)]
Assalamu
Alaykum! (Greetings of Peace!)
We
will jump from the topic on “lectures” to one of the dreaded yet fun type of
exams: the Kodachrome exams!
This
was supposed to be in the later part but knowing the schedule of the exams is
already near, I have to push this post up the schedule in hopes of it to be of
use somehow. Disclaimer! I am not the best guy to give you these tips, but
because no one is doing it, then what’s the trouble of doing it instead? Haha!
So
what is a Kodachrome exam? This one goes back in time immemorial when
medstudents are still using the real kodachrome machine where pictures of
specimens (usually tissues) will be projected on a white screen. (In LU4, you
will experience using a real kodachrome machine thru Dr. Dimacali’s lectures in
pathology :D). Nowadays we are using the overhead LCD projectors with the
ever-so-convenient MS Powerpoint presentations where digital copies of the
specimens will be projected and the students will be asked to identify them or
answer certain questions in a limited allotted time. The term “kodachrome” is
still being used for these kinds of exams.
So
how do you nail these exams? Here are some helpful tips:
BEFORE
THE EXAM:
1.
Never
miss the Histology lectures!
Attend all your histology classes especially those by Dr.
Mantaring. Just by attending her lectures, you will eventually feel like a
genius who knows it all and you would never have to read the transes again.
Nothing beats the experts in teaching you how to identify which is an
epithelial tissue and which is not.
2.
Attend
the Histology Reviews!
There will always be Histology reviews conducted especially
for the LU3 students. The histo-review is usually conducted by the Medical
Student Society (MSS) every year. This year’s first Histo-review was held last
August 22 in BSLR-E and I hope the LU3s attended that one.
Exam Reviews are really helpful in giving you more ideas and
tips on how to top or at least pass the exams. They would more often give you
sample exam questions that you can try answering and see for yourself how ready
you are for the exam. Never, ever miss the chance to attend any exam reviews.
You will be really grateful to these guys later on when taking the exam.
3.
Read
your books!
Refer to your Histology books (printed or electronic) and
master all those seemingly similar images. They may look all the same to you,
but try looking for “key points” in distinguishing which tissues you are
looking at. Does it have more adipose, soft or skeletal tissues? Are there more
mucous or serous layers? Are we looking at a keratinized or non-keratinized
tissue? How do neutrophils differ from basophils, eosinophils and macrophages?
Don’t rely on one image only, look for different images and see how you can
distinguish them one from the other.
Of course, read the details in each image as well. There will
be some questions in the exams that will require you to identify the function
or the location where you can find these cells. Master them like how you master
the faces and names of each pokemon and their powers. I’m serious!
4.
Review
your notes/transes!
Same as your books, transes can also be handy. Important
points are far easier to find in your transcriptions as they are already in
summarized bullet form. I would prefer the online copies or colored printed
copies because you could distinguish which is which (compared to photox copies
which are terribly horrible).
5.
Test
yourself in online sample quizzes.
If
you still have some spare time, go online and find some student-friendly sites
where you can test yourself in answering sample questions in histology. They
are more often than not similar to what your professor will ask. Take note of
your wrong answers and learn why you got it wrong and then immediately review
your notes (unless if the topic was not included in the lectures).
6.
Pray.
Perhaps the most important one is this: Pray.
Our lives as medstudents are full of challenges and surprises.
And there certain things you are not able to take control of. So first, do your
part and study your lectures AND put your trust in God that He may make things
easier for you during the exams. Do this every night before your exams and
minutes before the exam starts, send a silent prayer, and start with Bismillah
(In the name of Allah).
Now here’s what you should do
DURING THE EXAM:
1.
Stay
focused.
Relax. Listen well to the instructions. Know how much time you
have for each item. Don’t panic after knowing that you will be given only 30
seconds for each item. You have to stay focused all throughout the exam. Each
item will only be shown once, so you have to maximize your limited time and
focus on each item/question to identify or answer.
2.
Find a
good seat.
Do not sit in the back or the side-most part of the room! You
will have a hard time identifying the image! DO NOT BE LATE so that you can
choose where to sit. If you are free to sit anywhere, choose the 3rd or 4th
seat from the front and a bit in the center and be sure that nothing is
blocking you. But if you are arranged by surnames or student number, then you
better hope and pray that you will have a good seat with a good view of the
slides. If you are still unfortunate, then curse the seating arrangement.
3.
Identify
what you are looking at.
Upon your first view of the slide/image, immediately identify
WHAT you are looking at. Is this a lung tissue? A skeletal tissue? A bone
tissue? Or just your common adventitious tissues? For LU4/Patho students, is
this a normal or an abnormal tissue? I usually do this before reading the
question and it should only take you 3-7 seconds to decide. This will give you
an idea where to find your answers. If it took you longer than that, then
proceed to the question. Usually some questions will already tell you what
tissue it is.
4.
Read
the questions carefully.
There are outright simple questions and there are also very
hard ones. But the most errors we students commit are giving wrong answers
because they read the questions wrong! Read the question twice; be sure that
you really know what is being asked! There will be tricky questions with key
terms as “EXCEPT”. Always read the questions carefully before answering.
5.
Believe
in your first instinct.
This may not apply for all, but more often than not, your
first answer will be the right one. After seeing the image and understanding
the question well, you must already have a working answer. If your answer is
among the choices, believe in your first instinct and choose that one.
6.
Cross out the choices.
If choices are provided, but your first answer is not among
them, cross out the most farfetched answers. If there are two choices in your
mind, weigh them in and choose the one closest to your first answer. If you are
still not sure, take a mental note of which answers you have to choose from and
return to this item later on. Remember you have only a limited time for each
item, use your time wisely.
7.
Go
back to your “undecided” items
If
there are still time left after the last item, go back to your undecided items
in #6. This is the time that you have to decide and choose among the two
answers you have. Or just believe in your “guessing powers”.
Okay! I think this ends my “How to barely pass the
Histo/Kodachrome Exam” tips haha. If you think something important is missing
in this post, please don’t hesitate to inform me thru
anakiluhmd@gmail.com
Goodluck
on your exams guys!
Salam
Kasilasa!
Anakiluh,
MD
For more posts under the "Life in Medschool Series" (LIMS) click
here.
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