Whatever the medical qualification you are applying to, always remember that you are studying to build useful medical knowledge and not just a certificate. So, organize your studying over enough time to digest and understand the content.

Preparing your source of study

It would be illogical to imagine that any candidate applying for an exam in Ain Shams Department of Ob/Gyn would take the exam without at least casting a look on the department’s textbook and the revision hand notes prepared by teaching staff or older candidates. Yet, we would like to remind the reader that medicine is a science that is gradually built up by contributions from different authors and that even the undergraduate student can broaden his knowledge and understanding by using different sources or textbooks. We understand that a candidate applying for the MD may find this advice “too simple”, but we are sorry to say that unfortunately some MD candidates are now relying solely on such revision hand notes for their studying.

These are and have always been the little points which make the difference between a doctor who really understands the philosophy behind his clinical practice and one who is a simple user of a preset system or manual of directions.

The crucial issue when you are preparing your reading source is to try to organize your grasped knowledge into one final or collective source that you will be reading through over the last few months before the exam! Do not leave yourself distracted between different books until the night before the test!

We hereby offer you a non-formal advice about the suggested reading list for the different exams you may be applying to.

Medicine can never be fully understood unless it is practiced or, at least, observed. A student who stays home for long months to study is definitely missing a valuable experience as compared to another student who attends lectures, clinical case discussions or even revision meetings between colleagues. Points of controversy between different teaching staff are actually very useful to the wise student who can thus see the different angles a single issue can be tackled from. If you are confused about different opinions concerning a subject, do not hesitate to ask a senior staff and do not just decide to forget about anything different from what is written in your revision hand notes! Remember, most of the medical science can be debatable in one way or another. Also remember this Chinese proverb: “A man who asks once is a fool for a moment of time, but a man who never asks is a fool for the rest of his life!”

On the other hand, some candidates would go to the other extreme and embark on an endless pursuit of the “complete source of studying”. There is no such thing in the real world. Simply because the current medicine we are all practicing is the result of long years of experience, research and interlacing channels of science. Your true goal is not to develop a wonderful source, but to understand and use its content in your exam and your clinical career. How big is the respectable source, or how small is the inadequate one, depends on different abilities of individual candidates!

Always try to stick to the habit of organizing your work in about 10-15 minutes after studying a subject. Write down your points and remember that you will need them in your review the night before the exam. Of course, it is impossible to review the whole curriculum before the exam but these hand-outs will remind you quickly of what you should keep in mind. The basic concept of studying is to understand the logic behind each detail. However, all you need to memorize is the general skeleton upon which your answer will be based.

The last few months before the exams

Stay focused. Do not lose time in thinking about what would happen when the results come out, and rather concentrate on the current main issue which is your studying. Remember that studying is an art that needs different skills including organization, decision making, critical analysis, self control and a lot of patience and persistence.

Physical and mental rest is not a luxury to be minimized when the exam deadline approaches and should always be part of your time table. This is of course as long as you use your spare time to really rest without getting into distracting paths; e.g. a friendly discussion with a friend or relative is much more useful than a phone call with a colleague about “how difficult or misleading the exam will be!”

Do not postpone your efforts until the last few weeks before the test, these are the days you would most likely be anxious and less focused. Organizing your time, with a preset realistic schedule whenever possible, is a very wise strategy. On the other hand, deciding to neglect or skip subjects in your curriculum is a very unwise thing to do because only very few candidates can really get away with such a strategy through the different stages of the exam (written, oral and multiple choices tests). This does not mean that all the chapters of a textbook are equally important. It only means that a candidate would never be able to decide on which chapter is more important than another until he/she has read and understood them all.

The last few weeks before the exams

These are the days you should use to fully assimilate the source that you already have rather than looking for additions to it. Only a few candidates can digest and understand a new reading source in such a short period of time. These are also the days you should start to consider practicing your exam skills such as answering essay questions or discussing oral questions. Before you start doing so, remember that this is a practice designed to improve your skills and not to predict your actual exam marks. So even you can not answer one question, never feel disappointed. Always stay focused on your true goal; that is the actual exam day! Never try to practice a question that you never studied first. This would be a waste of energy and a frustrating or unnecessary experience.

A wise candidate would try, at least once before the exams, to practice a full examination scenario in conditions similar to the true exam setting; i.e. for a complete, uninterrupted period of 2-3 hours, preferably at the same time the exam would be (10 am to 1 pm). Always try to show your practice essays to somebody you trust for further assistance or advice. Always read the section about skills of essay questions at this stage and start practicing them. Do not leave things for first-time trials on the exam day!

Do not forget to give yourself enough time to adapt to the normal sleep/wake pattern that would allow you to be fully alert on the morning of the exam. In most people, this takes about 7-10 days if you have been studying mainly during the night for a long time before the exam.

The night before the exam

People react to stress in so many different ways. Each of us knows best what is really appropriate for him/her on that night. Some would study for hours and hours while others would try to relax. Our main advice to you, dear reader, is that some rest is crucial to get you to reach the examination hall in good shape mentally. In most cases, the extra hour that you push yourself beyond your limit to achieve would only get you negligible extra marks and may well make you less able to concentrate during the exam.

Prepare what you will take with you to the examination hall; i.e. your student ID, the appropriate color of the pen allowed in the exam (make sure you use the kind of dry-ink pens accepted in the exam), your watch (no mobile phones allowed), what you will put on during the exam (comfortable clothes and shoes are little but very useful points to consider). Always have a light breakfast on the exam day; your brain needs glucose to function!

When going to bed, it is quite normal to feel that you can remember nothing! However, self psychotherapy is very useful in these circumstances “Try to relax”. Be reassured that as soon as you get the proper stimulus (the exam question), your brain will be ready to come up with the all data.

We do not advice anybody to try medications or tranquilizers on the night before the exam except after specialist medical supervision.

Essay exams skills

Try to be present at the examination hall 30-45 minutes before the test. Coming earlier is exhausting and nerve-breaking while coming late is not less stressful either! Quick revisions with high ranking colleagues can sometimes be very useful in the last few minutes before the test. You never know, one colleague might discuss a question that you have always had difficulty understanding. On the other hand, do not suddenly decide to change all what you have studied about a subject just because a colleague presents another point of view. As we have agreed previously, studying is an art that needs different skills including decision making, critical analysis and self control.

Remember that your role ends after the exam and that your marks have already been put for you even before you were born. Your destiny is God’s work and does not depend only on your performance. So stay calm.

When you get your answer sheet, do not do anything until you make sure it has enough papers and that it has no defects. The first thing you should always write is your name and candidate number. Do not make any special marks in the paper, not in the first page and not in any other pages, use the regular pens allowed in the exam. Check the clocks used in the examination hall and make sure your watch says the exactly similar time. 

When you get your questions sheet, take a few minutes first for planning. This is basic for any project to work properly, including exams! Check the time allowed, the number of questions to be answered (especially if there are selection options) and decide on the time needed for each question. A wise candidate would plan the time of each question according to the marks allotted to it rather than to how much he can write about it. There are no marks given over the full mark allotted to any question, irrespective of how well you can answer it, if it makes you lose too much time on it. It does not really make a difference what question you start answering as long as you stick to the time plan you decided on. Yet, some candidates may prefer to start with the easier questions first to gain some confidence. You may decide to cut some minutes from the time of one question for another one if you think you know the answer well (e.g a question that you already practiced previously) but never add extra minutes to a difficult question unless you are sure you will have enough time to answer the rest of the questions.

Read all the questions twice before starting. Try to formulate a short plan of answering (simple keywords) before you fill the answer sheet. Remember that once you start writing, you might not have enough time to read and understand the last few questions on the exam sheet, so plan all your answers before you start the first question.

If your hand writing is not clear, then at least write in big letters to give the examiners a fair chance to understand your answers. A clean, organized paper gets you a few extra marks very easily. Psychological studies have proven that the examiner who can read clearly your hand writing and can see the logic behind the sequence of points in your essay would be more likely to give you a better mark than when your answer is disorganized, even if you fulfill all the points to discuss. That is again the secret of planning your answers in advance; a practice which is never a waste of time when properly used. Also, whenever possible you may underline the key-words in your answer to point them to the examiner. This may be best done on reviewing your answer at the end of exam. Again, the easy browsing of your answer means extra marks.

All through the exam, keep an eye on your watch and stick to the time allotted for each question. In exams, like in sports or even in war, there is nothing worse than losing self control and sudden change of preset plans.

If you get enough time to revise your answers at the end of the exam, do not waste that opportunity. Close the answer sheet and read your questions allover again. Then, read your answers word by word, check if you have forgotten a word or an idea, correct the spelling, underline the subtitles if you think they are not clear.

Oral exam skills

A clean, simple and good looking candidate definitely prepares the examiner’s mind, even subconsciously, to give one or two extra marks. That is basic psychology. On the other hand, a candidate who exaggerates in his/her elegance or self neglect is equally unwise. Speak clearly, loudly and slowly. Smiling (not laughing or joking) is a simple and valuable social skill in the most stressful situations.

In a clinical exam, try to anticipate what the examiner may ask you once you come to your provisional diagnosis with the patient.

Think before you start, because it is better than stopping and changing your mind later on. Do not ever start by saying: there are 2 or 4 reasons for so and so, because you might come with a different number as you go on and you would then look uncertain. In some situations, avoid some absolute terms such as “Surely”, “Of course”, “Perhaps”, “I think”, and so on. This may picture you as a rushing or hesitating person.

If you are sure of what you will say, you may prepare the examiner’s mind by starting to enumerate (briefly please) the subtitles that you will discuss. For example, if you are asked about the management of a certain disease, you may introduce your answering by mentioning that there are diagnostic, prophylactic, therapeutic and follow up measures, and so on.

If you are unsure about an answer, ask the permission to restart or pause for a second as early as possible instead of carrying on with a wrong or disorganized answer for too long.

If you can not hear the examiner, ask him/her to repeat the question, but if you do not understand the question, ask the examiner to rephrase or elaborate his point.

Self confidence is good, but arguing or unnecessary insistence may be fatal. Respect the other’s point of view, as long as you can explain yours politely.

I hope you may find these advices useful.