Day 46 - The Last Practice Test

I've honestly been feeling like I plateaued a little recently. Last week, right before my last practice test it felt like I was connecting more dots than I have all of dedicated but this week felt like the slope of that learning had fallen.

I took the NBME Free-120 today, and you can just scroll down if you want to jump to the results, but these were my thoughts on the exam. No spoilers, don't worry.

Side note: Remember when I said I got sick Sunday? Well although the fever went down, my tonsils have gotten a lot more inflamed since yesterday evening. I woke up this morning barely able to swallow without pain.

Free - 120 Review

Section 1: I thought the questions were fair, but where I faltered was my focus. Unlike normal test days where I would just eat a Belvita and some coffee, I instead decided to eat some prepacked Quaker oatmeal. I didn't think it played a huge role until I started feeling my focus drift mid-exam. It was really surprising considering it was only the first section. I pushed through, but I honestly didn't feel great coming out of it. Started to wonder if I should maybe push the exam even further...

Section 2: I thought this section was genuinely very challenging. It felt like I knew what they were talking about, i.e. the concept being tested, but I didn't know it to the depths that they were asking for. It felt like there was definitely an AnKing card on this very concept, but because my learning method was a lot more general, I didn't hit that depth. I really started to doubt myself in this section, because it felt a lot more challenging innately than any of the NBMEs. I really started to worry if I should be pushing it.

Section 3: This was the savior I needed. A lot of the questions were things I knew off the back, like reflex answers. It felt like the quick connections I had made from taking practice NBME exams before were actually useful. There were questions I just didn't know, and I was able to easily move on knowing that. Unlike the previous sections where it felt like if I had more time to think I might've been able to figure it out, these were definitely ones where I knew it or didn't. I also realized how long the question stems could be. You just have to take it yourself to experience that.

My Results:

Thoughts: Before going into the exam, I told myself that if I got <60% I would definitely postpone the exam. If I had gotten >70% I wouldn't worry at all. But this in-between kinda left me in a predicament. Section 3 really did pull my score up a lot, but should I bank on that happening on the real exam?

Self-Reminder

I had a lot of doubt coming out of the exam, but I kinda just sat myself down and reminded myself that I did pass multiple exams before this. If any of them were the real ones, I would have passed. Granted for some it wasn't by a high margin. I decided I'm not going to stress myself out trying to overshoot by as much as I can. I've put in the work to get where I am now, and just do the best I can on test day.

Final Thoughts

I don't think I'm going to be making another post until after my exam, so I just wanted to take the time to say thank you if you've been following along on this journey with me. Throwback to where it all started.

A lot has changed since that first day. I originally started this as a way for me to track my mental health during this period, but it has turned into my way of connecting with so many people. Every person that has reached out since I started this has made me feel like we're all climbing this hill together.

The ups and downs of Dedicated are brutal, but it felt less brutal when I realized I wasn't the only one experiencing it. Like it wasn't because of me that it was hard, it just is.

Whether you're about to take the exam soon, or wherever you are on your Medical journey, I want to wish you the best. You're more capable than you think, and you've already come this far. You deserve all the success that awaits you.

Good luck. ✌️