So you have successfully passed the written exam. What an ordeal that was. Now comes for the "enjoyable" part, right?
Wrong. you may be told that this is the better bit of studying for the FRACP but you would be mistaken. It is really hard work and can be very demoralising. I will now lay out how I approached the exam and what I wish I had done sooner. 1
I started late, had time off work due to an injury and felt incredibly behind the pack meaning I was embarrassed to try and slow to get started. Just remember, at the beginning most of your group will be as useless as you.
How should I have prepared?
1) Make an outline for your manilla folders - I got someone to sit down with me and make the boxes and explain their process, where and what to write. I then practiced writing the layout very fast to save time on paper. Seconds count!
2) Get all of your mnemonics sorted out and write and rewrite them, PRIM CCP for each medical issue? CASTICE to discuss your final issues? learn them thoroughly.
3) Aim for 20 cases minumum. People may try and get you to do 3-5 a week but this stressed me out too much. 2 a week and get them in around your day job where possible. Try and slink off after ward jobs are quieter.
4) Look for outpatients, infusion units, speak to consultants and ATs for cases
5) Share
6) Always be respectful of patients and anyone who is helping you (nurses, consultants etc) - they dont have to do this for you.
7) At the start for the first 5 cases give yourself maybe 1 hour 20 and dont stress about timing.
8) When you present don't be afraid to do it in "chunks" to get your timing slicker. present your introduction a few times, smoothen out your diabetes presentation. It's like a piece of music practice, you can break it down and practice each part.
9) Accept all feedback but make sure it fits into your style.
10) What is the point of all this? It is essentially preparation for clinic letter writing but super detailed.
11) Make discussion points for common issues and write them out. I wrote them out in the CASTICE format. Structure is so important
12) When creating a problems list I asked two questions - what will stop this person from dying, what will improve their quality of life?
These are essentially how I would optimally prepare if I had to do this again.
On the Day
Well I had a bit of a shocker. I have passed but I don't have my marks yet and I'm pretty sure I failed case one. All of the above went completely out the window due to nerves and I forgot to ask about allergies. not a good look! However - how you respond to that situation is very important. I dusted myself off, had a word with myself and made sure case 2 went smoother. Which it seems to have.
Comments