On Board Exams

I can't believe it's almost a year since we took the board exams - the most prepared for, dreaded licensure examinations which will determine your credibility with your chosen profession. Scary is an understatement to describe the boards. If you're a normal person who knows what & how anxiety works - then the boards do trigger high anxiety levels & couple of panic attacks & paranoia!

Just imagine, this will determine your future which you prepared for 4 hell years of college. Because clearly, you can't practice your chosen profession without a license. Not to mention your whole world (family, friends, school mates, relatives) will know if you made it or not - since the results are always in the papers & all over the internet. So, it's very normal for board takers to freak out & cram during the preparation time because it's very stressful and at this point, the board exam is a do or die thing - it's a milestone!

We had major preparations for our Board Examinations.

• Intense fast paced review sessions which cover a summary of what we have studied for 4 long years. Review classes were held during the weekends of 4th year college proper (lasted for a couple of months) and 2 months of  daily review sessions immediately after graduation. I have to admit, it was tiring and I skipped a few classes because my body needed a break and is in dire need for rest. It's okay to skip classes,  just as long as you know which subjects to skip (because you're confident enough) and not to skip (because you simply can never be confident) plus, you should compensate the lost hours for reviewing. - We can't thank our professors enough, for doing everything they can to pass on their knowledge to us! They're like walking books - seriously.

• Self Review which was even harder. There were no longer professors who made you want to attend review classes. You're on your own (for others, they're probably taking up Medicine - extra effort for you guys). This is a whole month of self review. It's up to you whether to take it seriously or slack off. I had my serious days, I had my I-need-a-break days. Serious days were when I spent literally a whole day staying at my preferred Starbucks outlet (mine's at Pasong Tamo, across Dasmarinas Village), going through my Saunders & notes. I just couldn't study at home. You'll have to find your perfect place  conducive for reviewing. Mine's definitely that Starbucks Pasong Tamo. :)

• Religious empowerment. You should never take your boards without asking for Divine intervention. You will have to believe & pray real hard. Our batch even had a prayer hour. Every 8pm (or 9pm?), we'd pray wherever we were for the boards - that each and everyone in our batch would make it, ace it & even top it. Because praying together is much better than going solo. I then came to know who St. Jude was. He is the patron saint for the desperate (you'd feel like one during cramming days! haha) and among the most sought patron saints during board exams. I never completed the St. Jude novena, however, I made sure I went to St. Jude whenever I could. I don't know about others, but I believe in St. Jude's miracles:)

• Conditioning. This is when you "visit" your testing school, just to get the feel of it. You'll have to eat healthily (you wouldn't want an upset stomach, right?) at least a few days before boards, get enough sleep, and make sure you have more than enough pencils and all the other materials needed. (I kept my pencils with me. I consider them lucky:p). I think I even checked the receipt (small white paper for boards), more than 10 times just to make sure it's safely kept.

How do you know if you've reviewed enough or not? When you're a board exam taker, there'll never be ENOUGH. (Unless you're one smart dude who thinks he knows all that there is to know. haha) You'd always think that you need to study more, more & more. But in fact, everything you need to know has been taught already. It's just a matter of recall (which I know is hard!:p). On the serious note, you'll just have to believe you can do it & you were prepared well enough.

STAGES
I had my very own board exam stages. Though, I had to look for words to fit the acronym of "Board" but everything is true! 

BRIMMING CONFIDENCE- "Kaya yan!"; this is when you study, but you don't take it seriously (during review classes)

OVER THINKING - the what ifs. What if I fail? Have I studied well enough? (during the self review)

AGGRESSIVE CRAMMING - moment you realize you want to study more, more & more (1 week before boards)

RESTLESSNESS - It's an infinite battle of reviewing more or resting your body because the huge day is in fact, tomorrow (or a few days away)

DIVINE INTERVENTION. Letting Go & letting God - this is when you step inside your car, and go to your assigned school, wearing your shimmering white uniform, and then you finally admit - "May Your will be done, I studied well, I can do this."

SEEK FOR PATIENCE. Post boards, you'd feel restless. But trust me, to be part of the nursing profession, you'd have to learn how to wait and accept that you're meant to bum & rest, until the results are finally out! (Our boards: July 2-3, 2011. Results were out around Sept. 20+. Licences released by November).

During the boards (2 days), always make sure you have enough drinking water, hard candy, tissue paper / handkerchief (in case the annoying rhinitis gets to you on your special day), and all the exam related things. Never forget to pray before & after each exam. I was luck enough to have my testing school at La Consolacion - it's very near St. Jude. So I made sure to visit the church before and after the exams. 

As a board exam taker, the thought of taking the boards is overwhelming. But after you see your name on list of people who have passed, you'd realize that the boards WERE indeed nerve wracking but over rated. :)

And please, please, please, never take the board exams if you're not conditioned to do so. If you feel sick, don't risk it - stay home and take the next set of boards at a later date. It's unfair to compromise what your batch has worked for. Our batch almost had it... real heart breaking!

THANK YOU, UST, especially to our amazing professors!:)

So, Good luck to Batch 2012! Aim for 100%, UST :)