Exam stress?

I have my end of year written exam this afternoon.

Since I didn't do so well in my A Levels, and consequently had a horrifically awful results day involving rejection, clearing, and eventually Manchester changing their mind a few days later, you'd expect me to be quite bothered by exams. I'm not. I'm far too laid back. I usually get mildly panicky for the few days before, but never enough to actually do too much revision. When we had semester tests in the pre-clinical years my friend and I did 3 15hr days revision before every test and passed comfortably. I'm lucky, I seem to manage it somehow.

My professor the other day made the huge error of telling us that the progress test (the exam I have in less than 4hrs time) is designed to be cram-proof. If I don't know it already, I won't know it. This relaxed me even more than normal, and made me feel much less guilty about the fact I had a holiday booked the weekend before a Monday exam.

I've been away the past 3 days with 6 other girls to a cottage in the middle of nowhere. With the beautiful weather, we spent most of the weekend in the garden, in and out the hot tub, with a glass of something sparkly in our hands. Any fluids I lost through sunbathing were quickly replaced by champagne, gin and cider. Lots of fun was had. The books came out for an hour on Saturday afternoon.

Yesterday we intended to get back in time to do some practise questions, learn some of the common topics. Unfortunately after a weekend of problems, my car finally gave in as we tried to leave, and whilst awaiting AA men and tow trucks we ended up back in the sunshine in a beer garden, accompanied by a few more beverages of the alcoholic variety. I finally got back to Manchester at bedtime, and couldn't make myself do any work.

This morning, revision has started. 5hrs before my exam. And an hour later, I'm writing this.

I only hope my confidence pays off, that the work I've done throughout the year will be enough. I enjoy medicine, I pick it up fairly quickly when I try. I just don't seem to do that often enough.