In one week’s time I will be sitting the first of my final exams for this semester. And it sucks.
After the best 6 months of my veterinary career to date which included attending my first state and national conferences, spaying my first cat, seeing practice for 3 weeks at my local clinic, learning a huge amount of clinical skills and booking my trip to volunteer in India, I’m back to reality. With that reality comes stress, and my failed attempts to deal with it. So far I have re-hung three doors in my house, watched a season and a half of House M.D., cooked some incredible meals, and made half a dozen study schedules. Up next on the list is painting my bathroom and finishing the next six and a half seasons of that terrifically amazing medical drama.
I don’t know what it is about impending academic doom that makes me shut off, maybe it’s the hope that if I ignore it for long enough it will go away, or maybe it is a subconscious mechanism for avoiding stress, or maybe I’m just lazy. Whatever it is I know it’s bad and isn’t a healthy way to approach exams. But, is there a healthy way to approach exams? I’ve tried to figure out the keys in the past, and here is my best attempt:
Seeing Practice 