Here is the next entry in my series of posts explaining how I study for exams. This time around I am covering our Neuro midterm practical. It was on 2/28/18. Here is what I did to prepare:
- Fri. (2/23) – Met with a couple classmates before our Friday afternoon class to talk through some different cases we might see on the practical and how we would handle them. Which exam techniques/objective measures to choose and what interventions would be appropriate.
- Sat. (2/24) & Sun. (2/25) – Studied for our written midterm exam, which was on Monday (2/26). This studying basically doubled as studying for the practical. It was all on the same material.
- Mon. (2/26) – Went over to the lab at night after our classes with some other classmates. Spent 1-2 hours with everyone going over possible cases, what to remember about certain outcome measures and when to use them, how to perform certain tests, etc. The lab at night before practicals is always good for some good laughs as well. And what is said in the lab, stays in the lab.
- Tues. (2/27) – Went over to the lab again with everyone Tuesday morning. Hit another 1-2 hours of doing the same stuff as Monday night.
- Tues. (2/27) – You guessed it. Another 1-2 hours Tuesday night fucking around in the lab with a little bit of practice thrown in too.
- Tues. (2/27) – After I got back to my apartment that night I spent another hour or 2 by myself going over some last minute things that I wanted to review. Mostly things I felt I, personally, wasn’t as strong with. Also spent this time going over all patient case possibilities and how I would handle them.
Test Result: 97% (This is just in the spirit of full disclosure. Not sure you would be inclined to put as much weight in to what I do to prepare if I’m barely scraping by.)
Notes:
- Practical was on Wednesday morning. How they set up our practicals is to have groups of 4 students going at a time. Our 2 professors are graders and then for this one they had 2 outside clinicians there as well as graders. The graders also acted as the patients we were “treating.”
- The first part of our semester was spent on geriatric PT screens, Vestibular disorders, and BPPV. So cases revolved around these topics.
- So, what they do is put together 4 different cases/patient scenarios. We get to the practical 15 min. early and have that time to review the case, take a few notes, and put together a game plan for what we want to do during the practical.
- Based off of the subjective info. we get in the case beforehand, we have to choose 2 objective measures to perform. After performing these, we have to give our differential diagnosis and then go through 2 treatments/interventions with our “patient.”
- After I am comfortable with the actual “book” knowledge that is necessary for doing well on the practical then I start to practice skills. So, I will practice each skill individually until I am comfortable with the actual physical performance of the exam technique, intervention, etc. Then I practice performing the skill while talking through what I am doing and what I expect to see when things are “normal” and what I would see with various pathologies.
- My last step in ‘physical practice’ for practicals is to usually set up a sample patient case and run through it as if its actually the practical.
- My FINAL step in prepping for practicals is ‘mental preparation.’ At this point I am comfortable doing the individual skills required of us. I am comfortable with the likely patient cases we will see and how I would go about handling them and how the patient would likely present (what functional deficits, etc.). So then I just run through each possible patient scenario in my head multiple times. How I would sequence the session, what I would say, how I would explain things, etc. I will call this ‘practical memorization.’
- So the overall theme here is…OVER PREPARE. It is only natural to be nervous during a practical. It is not like treating an actual patient. You are treating and being graded by some one who knows more about physical therapy than you. Do I get nervous? Yes, at times. You will not perform things as well on the practical as you do when you are practicing them. Know this and accept this. Plan ahead. Know your shit inside and out so when you inevitably fuck up a few things on the actual practical you still do well enough to get a good grade.
- Final note…be CONFIDENT. Teachers will be understanding of the nerves that come along with a practical. Even if you are nervous it doesn’t mean you have to SHOW you are nervous. Walk in to the room and act like you are a god damn physical therapist and not just a timid student who doesn’t know what the fuck they are doing. You put in the work to do well, let your work show. I truly believe in the power of body language and non-verbal communication. If Student A goes in to the practical and makes a few mistakes with technique or answering follow-up questions, but is confident, clear in their communication, and takes ownership of the situation and Student B goes in to the practical to be graded by the same examiner and verbally says things like “Sorry I’m really nervous,” doesn’t make eye contact, and is visibly unsure of themselves when performing skills, with all other things being equal, I think Student A would get the A and student B would get the B. Or worse…
Anyways…little rant there at the end. But that was what I did for our Neuro midterm practical. Up next in this series is our Musculoskeletal written midterm.
DPTreality 