exam tips - OSPE

here's little something for my juniors sitting for EOS 2 -

I bet you're terrified of OSPE - you just sat for SAQ (and I bet it was hard as hell) and you're wondering - "what will come out!?" well here are some of the trends in questions i see-



pathology

they may give you pathology photos - for e.g. lung cancer. here's what you should do when they ask you to list out what you observe from the photo.

• identify the organ - say what is the organ in the first place.
• identify the size, shape, colour etc. anything out of ordinary?
• size can be looked at by looking at the scale - if there is a scale in the photo, by all means mention the scale.
• identify the pathology. - lets say its lung cancer.
• say where - where in the lung is the cancer? is it central / peripheral? near the bronchi, near the mesothelium?
• say how many - is there more than one?
• say how big - if it is multiple, give a range - use the scale
• say how it looks like 
• shape - irregular, cirucular, wedge-shaped, oval - whatever that comes into mind.
• is there any central necrosis etc? (important in cancer description)
• does it have a capsule?

etc etc. see, there is so many things you can say about a photo.

microbiology

in my semester 2 OSPE, they were very generous about parasitology - no life-cycles - just had to say WHAT is the organism was. make sure you can identify the major characteristic ones like filariasis, ascaris lumbricoides, Malaria, tricomonas vaginallis, eggs of necator, ascaris, enterobius etc etc. 

in bacteriology, you may be asked to describe a microscopic photograph 

• gram positive / negative?
• shape of organism - cocci? bacilli? elongated?
• in clusters / in pairs / isolated?
• any other cells you can see in the microscopic picture?

after asking these few questions, you should be able to answer what is the organism. which means you need to remember the characteristics of the different unique microorganisms.

also, they may ask you what may be their clinical manifestations. if they're feeling slightly mean, they might give you a clinical manifestation of an infection, e.g. cellulitis, meningitis and you may have to identify what the organism may be.

they may also give you a culture photo - a very characteristic one would be like... b-haemolytic strep, or Tuberculosis.

virology - same as bacteriology. you may be asked for their characteristics, like capsulate / non-capsulated, DNA / RNA etc etc. 

Physiology

it may be worth your while going through all the diagrams and graphs that you've come across in your physiology. for e.g. cardiac cycle, respiratory curve, blood-typing etc etc.

biochemistry

i hate biochemistry. i skipped it but the questions i got were mainly those protein synthesis pathways, oxidative phosphorylation and whatnot. they may give you a pathway, and you may be asked to fill it up. I filled all the blanks with one word - Aspartate. not recommended at all. *sigh*

immunology

they could do something similar with biochem and give you a pathway (WBC maturation etc), or they could ask you regarding structures of antigens (my year, they asked me to label an immunoglobin.)

other than that, nothing much i guess.

Pharmacology

ah another headache subject. they like to give you some tables for this - which drug works on which enzymes, what disease its for, etc etc. 

some exam techniques - 

• use your "rest-time" wisely. you may rest, but you can also do those;
• look back at your questions - check for spelling errors, silly mistakes etc
• look front to other questions - some questions doesn't need the photo to be answered. you'll know if you see the question - e.g. theme - GI "list 3 possible position of this organ" - obviously asking about appendix. retrocaecal, pelvic, subcaecal, - write them down at the side of the blank - it will save time.
• your friends may take the calculator with them as they go to the next station. (because they might think there is no time, and its okay) don't panic. you can always jot down the equation on the paper, solve it (algebra 101) and do it in one go once it comes back. try not to take the calculator with you to the next station. it gives people heartattacks.
• relax. its a long exam. you screw up one question, there will be 20 more to save your ass.

that is basically it i guess. 

all the best, sem2s!