Clinical examinations at the University of Ibadan are famed to be notoriously tasking. It is no exaggeration that such exams require a great deal of preparation and strength to be surmounted. There is also an unending cascade of preparation, revision, and examination that keeps the engine running until the final examinations have been concluded. Members of the 2K17 MBBS Class concluded their third professional examination and were seen beaming with joy in the hall on Friday 20th August, 2021. It was worthy of note that there was no recorded case of COVID-19 infection among the candidates amidst the worrisome situation in the hall.
The examination which assessed clinical and theoretical understanding of Pediatrics, and Obstetrics & Gynecology lasted a period of two weeks and left the candidates with a myriad of expressions and after-thoughts. ABH Press got in contact with members of the class who were interested in relaying their experiences.
“At first, I didn’t feel anything special after the exam until it dawned on me that I was already a final year student who was just about 8 months away from leaving the school. It’s so delightful,” one said. When asked about his exam experience, he explained, “I feared the exam will be difficult at first because my group did the senior Pediatrics and ObGyn rotations online and we did not have the clinical exposure we needed for the exam.
“I personally had recurrent headaches during the exam because the stress was much. Apart from academics, there were other things to attend to, even during the exam, which made it more stressful. The revision posting was stressful, because it was not really a revision posting for us. We had to start going about to get signatures for the postings we did at home, you come back at night exhausted and you just fall asleep. The same thing happens the next day. So all the time was not really there to read.”; another said
The ongoing resident doctors strike which was earlier suspected to hinder the organization of the exam turned out to be a source of blessing to many. “Since there were no patients on the wards, patients were called from their homes just for the exams. Many of the patients had been discharged a long time ago. The one I clerked was last admitted in April. So some of the cases were follow-up cases. It even made it easy for me, because there were no symptoms and I didn’t have to be eliciting some signs”, a candidate was quoted saying.
Irrespective of how long the strike intends to linger, members of the MBBS 2K17 class have a week-long break until they return to clinical rotations. We at ABH press pray for a good result for the class; one more exhilarating than the exams being brought to fruition.
