I
just completed my postgraduate exam in surgery. Thank God, I passed and I am
happy that I could perform well in the exam. But the exhaustive preparation
that has been going on for the last two months revealed me some realities of
academic life.
I have been in the field of medicine for last
ten years. For a surgery exam, one has to be well versed with all the related
topics starting from anatomy. Anatomy was my favorite subject during the first
year of medicine and I had learned in pretty well. I used to look up the
etymologies and tried to learn a little more elaborately than just mugging up.
After five years, I had to revise anatomy in detail for my pre postgraduate
entrance examination. Now again, I had to do a detailed revision before exam.
But the thing I realized was that, even after repeated revisions, when I tried
to recollect, it was difficult. It was not that, I don’t remember things;
rather things were getting messed up in the head. There was an explosion of
several things or feeling of mining out something from depth.
Second
thing, there was no more surprise questions. During the undergraduate time, it
was common to see new terms or diseases, in the exam question paper, that
haven’t heard off. Later we had to search through the textbooks to find them.
But now, it is rare to come across a new term. But this does not mean that I
know what that term means. I know I have read about it, but I find it difficult
to recollect about it.
While
reading a book, I have started to appreciate things that are mentioned in
subtle way, but have a greater meaning. For example, while describing a
surgery, the author may have mentioned things like where to cut, what direction
to cut, where to hold etc., which did not make much of sense in early years of
medicine learning. More depth of knowledge is felt while reading the same lines
that I read some years ago.
I wonder, what was the purpose of all those hard-core physics
and higher mathematics, which I learned in the pre medicine classes. I was fond
of solving those problems and used to feel authoritative on those things at
that time. During that time, I thought I would never forget those theorems and
formulas, because those were so thorough and I could do calculations at flick
of my thumb. But now, I even find it difficult to calculate BMI, without a
calculator.
My
aim is not to point the inadequacies of the education system, but to look, deep
to my own brain activities. Has it reached its memory limit? Why cannot I
recollect things, when I need, at least those which I spend time to memorize? I
had a feeling some years earlier that everybody had the same capacity to
memorize and learn. But now I recognize, everybody have different capabilities,
the reason why some find it difficult to learn things the traditional way. I
can say this, because working in a premier institute of the nation has given me
the opportunity to meet people, some of whom are extraordinarily brilliant. I
have considered myself an average intelligent person and I know, when I work
for a thing and when I don’t work for a thing. I have seen how these people
simply drift through situations, which I have to struggle to.
I
am not at the brim of a nervous break down or anything of that sort, but
definitely now I can imagine how things can go wrong if someone tries too hard
on themselves. Said this, taking an exam is about strategy and one don’t have
to be a super computer to pass any normal competitive exam. The basic thing for
good exam preparation is to know one’s own limitations and plan accordingly.
Also brilliancy and intelligence are not above compassion and common sense,
qualities that are really required for a successful happy life.
It
is true that one have to read multiple massive books on their way to become a
specialist or super specialist in medicine. But it is not necessary to remember
all that stuff all the time. It is not humanly possible. During the early
periods of practice, it will take a little time to recollect the important
things that has to be taken care off, while treating a patient. As time passes
by, all those steps come as a reflux, rather than reasoning out the logic
behind it, and the time required to attain that capability is called the ‘learning curve’. This is the reason
why the ‘gut feeling’ of the professor is always better.
