update on exam 3

my exam this afternoon was...bizarre.

There wasn't a single sciencey question. They were all social and ethical ones that required thinking and the construction of a convincing argument.

eugh, I probably sound really lazy what with all my complaining about having to *think* in exams but I cant help it! After years of science exams (which is basically what medicine is) I'm used to revising lists of facts and then spewing out those facts to answer a question.
This year the exams have been much harder, all requiring an application of the science & theory to social real-life situations that we've never considered before.
Hence thinking!

The questions I did today were:


"Sex education in schools is controversial. Discuss some areas of controversy and how these can be addressed".

It went kinda sorta okay...I think...?

and then another question about whether 2 people with achondroplasia (dwarfism) should be helped via embryo selection to have a baby with dwarfism too, and then how this compares to a couple with 3 boys who want embryo selection to have a girl.

I am, of course morally opposed to abhorrent things like pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and embryo selection, but for the sake of the exam, I tried to be impartial and give both sides.
It was hard though as I had learnt all the science about embryo selection, how it is done, what the techniques are...all the facts and figures....but then I couldnt really use any of it to answer the question (except in the introduction).

and all the questions have been a bit like that

(Two other avaliable questions were... "Why is there a lack of biological evidence for homosexuality. Does this matter?" , or "Design a study to study the effects of stress on sperm quantity".)

hmm...very random as we hadn't really learnt anything applicable!


PLUS, my pen ran out half way through the exam and I didnt have a spare one!!! I know, I know, I probably should've bought more than one black pen but I didnt think it would run out of ink!!
One of the exam invigilators gave me a leaky biro instead and so half of my exam paper is totally illegible because biros + my handwriting + timed exam conditions = scrawl!


Anywayz,

tomorrow is my dreaded exam.

I will have to do a critical evaluation of a scientific paper.

One 6-7 page paper. 3 hours and I need to write a competent critique on the paper.

I cant do things like that! All I can ever think of is stuff like "The picture should be bigger", "The heading should be underlined".
And I will need to do stuff like comment on the effectiveness of the chosen methodology, or on the use of statistical tests. Are the results convincing? Evaluate the conclusions.


haaaaaaaaard!

Ah well!

It finished at noon, and at 12:30 we have the rosary in our student chapel so I will be on my knees praying for my examiners (may their hearts be softened and may they write down the wrong mark for me...) (preferable one that is HIGHER than what I deserve!)

hehe!

better go get to work!

almost over....

almost over...

almost over...

-x-x-