The night before finals

I just did my written medical finals. How were they I hear you ask? Fine, I say in retrospect; a very different answer to the one I would have given you the night before they started. What should have been a night of productive study turned out to be something different.

10 pm. Begin to panic. Realise I have forgotten a few important topics. Amazed at my lack of legible revision notes and the sheer volume of "to do" notes I have accumulated.

12 pm. Start to fall asleep. Wake up time after time with drool all over my notes and a lovely ring binder indentation on my forehead.

1 am. Get loaded up on caffeine in a desperate attempt to stay alert. Instead, all I get is a nasty tremor, prickly skin, and bounding palpitations. Realise I cannot even remember the millions of mnemonics I have made up, let alone what they stand for.

2 am. The past papers come out and a wave of anxious nausea engulfs my body, with the realisation that I can answer only a few of the questions. Marvel that I never knew five years ago how much I would grow to hate matching extended questions and its nasty little cousin multiple choice questions.

3 am. Start to hallucinate. All medical knowledge blends into one big mixture of nonsense as all logical thought is lost. Have visions of myself being thrown out of medical school and into the pit of academic Hades.

4 am. Decide to cut my losses and call it a night. Convince myself that a few hours sleep is the most productive thing I can do.

7 am. Wake up in a cold sweat with the thought of the day ahead. Rush to the bathroom fearing I am not going to make it.

8 am. Exit bathroom. Dress quickly and head to the exam only to realise it was yesterday.

I know as I sit here today armed with results it would be easy to say that medical finals are not as bad as you think, but no matter what altered insight retrospect can bring-the night before finals is every bit as bad as you think it will be.

Thomas Hanna, fifth year medical student, Queen's University, Belfast
Email: thomas2910@hotmail.com


studentBMJ 2003;11:393-436 November ISSN 0966-6494