FRCR P2A. It came and then it went.

In transit is always a good place to reflect. Here I am on a train from Bridgend (yes Bridgend), Wales heading back to Portsmouth, 2 hours fresh from the FRCR Part 2A Clinical Oncology exam.

I was living life on the fast lane these past 6 months, since finding out I passed the Physics exam, not wasting any time and signing up straightaway for the next exam. Bold and daring as it seems, it may also have been unwise of me to do so.

The Prep.

Exam revision is exactly like marathon training. There’s got to be a baseline phase, progressive phase, fine tuning phase.

For the last 6 months, it was just that. As a base, I had to gather all resources, read the resources, sign up for the revision courses. Listen to podcasts to and from work. Then revise with colleagues, apply some knowledge. Then do questions, questions, and more questions. All of the tumour sites in Oncology.

Was it enough? I don’t think it is ever enough. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to say ‘Yes, I’ve nailed that. Next please.’

The Exam.

Instead of going to London, I’ve chosen to go to Wales, which is much less hectic than London and the RCR in London. A 3 and a bit hour train journey, a mile walk, and there I was… at a Premier Inn right next to the testing centre. Nothing but a McDonald’s and a Starbucks close by. Made a grave mistake of ordering a black Americano from Starbucks (worst ever).

I came a day and a half early just to get some alone time to revise, fine tuning on the weakest subjects.

This morning… exam day. The morning was stress free as I just had to walk 5 minutes to the centre. There were 7 of us who took the exam (3 of us from Wessex). There was a little bit of sit down time then running through the rules then it was go time.

2 sets of papers with 120 questions each, 3 hours each paper. The morning paper – lung, head and neck, urology, skin, central nervous system, gynaecology. Then afternoon paper – breast, lower GI, upper GI, haematology, miscellaneous, radiology.

A rollercoaster of making decisions for 240 patients (approximately 1.5 minute per patient). Easy peasey. Then like a whirlwind, it was over. 6 months of prep, all done.

The Aftermath.

At the moment, sitting on the train, I don’t have enough brainpower to properly reflect. I am sure it will come like a really bad hangover tomorrow.

See, I don’t have the best track record with exams. They are never really my strong suit. I know that most times, I just barely scrape through. Yet somehow, I eventually do get through. I never really go in to an exam thinking ‘yes I got this.’ I just make sure I turn up and answer the questions as best as I can. Sometimes I do wonder whether I have something undiagnosed (too late now). Somehow I’ve managed to get through many many exams and the Part 2A and Part 2B are hopefully the very last ones I will ever have to take – 6 attempts allowed at each one. I will do my very best not to get to 12 attempts to get through Clinical Oncology Training.

Other thoughts about the sitting this exam…

• This was a very expensive mock exam.
• Maybe if I pre-grieve failing the exam now, then finding the results out in 3 weeks’ time wouldn’t be so bad.
• Just treated 240 patients in a 6 hour window (approximately 1.5 minute per patient) making decisions about their care with no multi-disciplinary input from 3 year olds to pregnant women to 85 year olds across all tumour sites. Hoping that I’ve made the right decisions for at least 144 of them.
• If successful, then the much harder exam will be coming up in November. If that one is successful, then the year in Australia will be a bit more focused and enjoyable.
• If not successful, then I get another year of full revision. But then I will have to learn TNM 9 staging.

I finally got home at 10 pm. And this was what greeted me at the front door. This weekend, I get to spend some time with the kids.