The Little Things in Life Matter When There Are Big Things Going On

I took Step 2 Clinical Knowledge yesterday and boy was that test a Marathon. It's a nine-hour exam composed of 8 sections with 46 questions each, for 1 hour. Then a total of 45 minutes for break time and a 15 minute introduction to the computer system upon which the exam is taken. The old adage is that you study 4 weeks for Step 1, two weeks for Step 2, and you show up with a pencil for Step 3. These are the United States medical licensing exams. Step 1 is mostly basic science oriented and is taken at the end of second year of medical school, Step 2 is entirely clinically oriented and taken (sort of) any time during fourth year of medical school, and Step 3 is taken sometime during residency. So the reason why Step 1 is the Scariest is because residency programs use the score as part of your application. See, I already submitted my residency application so by the time I get my Step 2 score back, it won't even matter, as long as I passed. Some of my classmates took Step 2 earlier on during the fourth year, which started in July, so that they could have the score back for their application... but I preferred to have rotations during the summer so I could garner impressive (ha) recommendation letters for my application, rather than my Step 2 score. It's just a personal choice. Anyway, so the exam went fine, it felt better than Step 1, there were a few questions that were slam dunks, a few questions that were like "...huh...?!?!" and most of the questions I felt I knew at least something about. Yay! I actually learned something during my $200,000 medical school education! :) Even more great, my stomach didn't hurt and my allergies actually stayed dormant throughout the entire test!!

I have a question to those who have taken Step 3 or will take Step 3... I don't understand residents who show up to the test center in scrubs? I mean, are they post-call or about to take call or something? Really! It's a bit ridiculous.

I tried to celebrate yesterday but everyone was either out of town on interviews or at an internal medicine dinner. However, I was lucky to have Joy accompany me to Sushi Wabi for a really nice, relaxed, indulgent dinner of Dragon, Tarantula, Spicy Tuna, and Caterpillar rolls, along with some Reisling. Life is sweet. But poor Joy had to be at the hospital at 5:30am this morning to preround for peds surgery! blech.

Today I am happy because I finished cleaning my apartment and I found a super close parking spot, even though it's street cleaning day. Tonight, I am going to see Tennessee Williams' "Orpheus Descending" at the American Theatre Company and a pre-show dinner at a local Colombian restaurant.