Last night we had a mock exam instead of the usual tutorial. As a result, there was little or no conversation on Skype and there is no podcast.
I have e-mailed the topics. Please write answers under exam conditions: no preparation, one A4 sheet of paper and only 26 minutes. Ideally put aside 105 minutes and write all the essays in one session. This will let you see how important it is to have good time-management. It also allows you to experience the physical stress of writing at speed for so long and the need for you to choose a comfortable pen. And may lead you to realise that you need a few similar sessions to build up the stamina in your hand and arm to prevent cramp.
A lot of those who have been in contact or joining in via Skype has not sent me any essays. I fear for you in the exam! I know that writing essays under such circumstances is horrible. It is not what we are used to doing. Then you have to send them to me and you worry that I will think you are stupid and useless. I know how difficult it is to write these essays - I try to write my own. So, I won't think badly of you if your early efforts are not up to the standard. When we do the OSCE training, one of the topics we discuss is the doctor-patient communication barrier, which has many elements. One is the difference in status and the patient's desperate desire to feel that the doctor thinks highly of them. We display similar reactions and needs in this essay-writing business, so it should help give some insights when we get round to this training. In the meantime, it may encourage you to swallow your pride and get on with this most important exercise.
If you don't practise writing essays under exam conditions, you will then do so for the first time in the exam. You will have no idea of the problems involved and you won't have developed the techniques to cope.
You will fail because pride prevented you from preparing properly. Now, that would be really stupid, not the failure to shine in an essy on a topic you have not read for ages or at all.
Please don't send me essays that have clearly been prepared from various sources. You are wasting my time as well as yours. And don't imagine that I am so advanced in my dotage that I will not see what is going on.
The important part of the essay-writing is you going through the process, not my feedback, though I hope that will help you to develop good technique. Practice will let you see the difficulties and your large brain will come up with solutions.
Once I have sent you my reply, you need to write a model answer that you can use in the exam. Use my reply, the MCQs and any other suitable source to get the information you need. But edit it so that it is of a size that you can write in 23 or 24 minutes. This means that you gain some extra time to deal with the essay you have not prepared. Extract the key facts from the model and put them into your revision system, be it cards or whatever, so that you can test your recall.
If you did not get the e-mail with the topics, send me an e-mail and I'll send them.
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