Exam Results Anxiety

By Hannah Brown in A doctor's life on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 @ 11:53

Flipping heck, now I know how you guys feel when you're waiting for your Finals, MRCP, MRCS (or whatever) results.  I'm doing an MBA, and the biggest part of my course is a 60-credit 'Fundamentals of Senior Management' module. 

Since the exam at the end of April I've been counting down the days until the 19th June when the results would be announced.  The thing is, it's always said 'by' the 19th June, which planted the idea in my head that they might be available before the 19th June, which has then led to logging in and checking the results page twice a day for the last week.

Waiting for the results has been hell.  There have been days when I've managed to forget about it, and then suddenly something will remind me and I'll spend a couple of hours moping around the house worrying about the outcome.  I've even managed to convince myself that if I failed nothing bad would happen if I did fail (obviously that's not the case, the sky would clearly have fallen in).  I've spent a lot of time trying to distract myself with work - the European Working Time Directive was nearly an issue last week! 

So today, a link to 'course result' appears on the screen.  I didn't even think twice before clicking on it, which is unusual for me - when I got my A-Level results I had to get my Mum to open the envelope.  Despite all the performance statistics you need to wade through, there it is.  One word.  Pass.  I rang my husband, my Mum, told my boss, changed my Facebook status, Twittered (?tweeted) about it, before it occured to me maybe I'd misread it, so I then spent a good five minutes refreshing the page to see if the result would change or if it meant something else.  I didn't see the word 'Fail' appear at any time, so I'm taking this as a good sign.

I still feel a bit sick though, and anxious, like I'm going to get a phone call any minute telling me they've made a mistake. 

Pass or fail, I think getting the results is the biggest relief.  If you pass, you get on with it, and you start thinking about the next exam.  If you fail, you get on with it, and you start thinking about the resit.  There will be always be more exams.  Well, more exams until you're a consultant, but then saying that, the GMC will probably have brought something delightful in for you by then anyway!

If you're waiting for exam results, good luck, I know how you're feeling!