USM Exam Part II Experience 2019

Examination for provisional registration

Date of exam                      : 3rd December 2019

Date of Intensive class       : 1st and 2nd December 2019

Duration                             : 3 days in HUSM

Transport                            : Flight from KL to Kelantan (around RM 500)

Exam Cost                          : RM 3000 for the exam, RM 1000 registration 

Utility Cost                         : Food RM100, USM Guest House RM 75/night (shared a double room)  

Past Year Question link      : USM 2019 Dec
Things to pack along          : Lab Coat, Stethescope, Pens, Snacks and sweets, Formal attire
                                              (pentorch, hammer will be provided if it is required in the station)

What happens after you pass?

So after you pass, you will need to wait for about 2-3 months before they give you a call to let you know the next exam date. DO NOT wait until they call to start studying, it will be too late >.<

After I receive the call, they send me the letter two weeks later (around 5th November). And we will need to:

 - confirm if we are going to take the exam

 - confirm if we are attending the intensive class

 - make payment

Letter Head of the Offer Letter

Part of the Letter

Accomodation

-They do not provide accommodation for us, so we call a few numbers below to ask for availability. If you know a friend who is taking the exam together, you can share a room with them. It helps to improve the atmosphere, or you will be nervous all the time, plus you will have a study partner too! 

After consideration, we choose to stay in rumah tetamu USM, it was more expensive but the room is bigger.

The double room we had even has a balcony and a pantry area.

I had a picture of the bed below, please ignore the mess we made. XP

Usm Guest House 

Itinerary

We reached one day earlier to settle in and get use to the place. It depends on you if you need it or not.

On the first day we are require to go to this pusat sumber pelajar for a briefing. It was in Hospital USM itself. Remember to bring a jacket, it is quite cold for me.

They also gave us a schedule of what we would be doing for the rest of the day, so we can get prepared. We are being reminded that this intensive course is not a class to teach medicine from A to Z, but a class to help us get use to how the osce is going to be done (such as the scoring, what they expect us to do in the exam venue, quick summary on what the examiner expect when you see them on the exam day). 

The intensive course was really useful, it help a lot to make us get use to the environment and the exam style. 

Intensive course Venue

Schedule for 3 days

Tutorial Hall

Practice Session
We are given some time to practice on manikins in a room (I am not sure what they call it)

Where is our exam hall? 

The pictures shared above is a sneak peak to where our exam was conducted. It was scary at first, but soon you will get use to the flow. I enjoyed the OSCE exam more then the theory, because it reminds me of my days as a student taking my final exam during my university years. So glad to be able to be one step closer to my dream after a year of waiting and studying!

If you want to know about how it was being conducted, check out this link.

Take Home Tips

- Read the questions properly. Think and try to recall the information you want to ask and present. 

- Always start with greeting, introducing yourself and wash your hands!

- Build good rapport and have eye contact with patient, respect the examiner as well.

- Take patient identification data! (name, age, marital status, occupation) follow by their chief complain

- Balance with open and close ended questions about the assessment. especially : mental assessment, suicidal risk, OCD criteria, trauma related. -- they are very important and often carry high points
- Always say thank you to the patient and also the examiner
- I know you will be nervous in the room, but try present your finding as organised as possible, so the examiner can understand you and it helps you with your diagnosis too!

I wrote a post on what came out on that day, you can learn more from here.

So try your best and have fun in the exam! You will meet a lot of new friends who are in the same situation. Get their contacts and keep in touch😁

Enjoy and pass the exam with FLYing colours!