Done! A checklist of the essays I attempted in the exam:
Day 1 : Pharmacology of Integrated Systems (3 essays – 1 hour each)
Reverse Cholesterol Transport – a feasible therapeutic target?
Current and future pharmacotherapy for asthma
Blood brain barrier: roles and function
Day 2 : Pharmacology of Integrated Systems (2 essays – 1.5 hour each)
Discuss, with examples, angiogenesis as a viable therapeutic target.
The roles and regulation of nitric oxide in cardiovascular diseases.
Day 3 : Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology (3 essays – 1 hour each)
What do we know about the activation gate of voltage gated ion channels?
Discuss the viability of aquaporins as drug targets.
Activation and inactivation of trimeric G-proteins.
Day 4 : Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology (2 essays – 1.5 hour each)
How do transcription factors decode second messenger signals?
Protein-protein interactions in the regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels
The exam was a rollercoaster ride, to say the least. And I don’t think I’d survive this grueling week, if not for the support from my family.
More updates coming soon. It’s post-exam celebration in Cambridge!
Salute! These topics all sound so familiar..but to write whole essays on them must be quite a task! :O
So what will you be up to post-exams?
hehe.. yes, those are familiar. And you’re quite right. The stuff to throw into those essays come straight from the latest research articles and review papers listed on PubMed. There’re loads of theories, hypotheses etc. and nothing is right or wrong in medical research. It’s just how you argue with the interpretation of your data. 😀
Post exams will see me doing absolutely nothing, except watching movies, reading a good book, and hanging out. I’m just idling my time, waiting for my graduation at the end of this month. Then I’m heading back to Malaysia, to get a real good summer break for the first time in three years. 😀
You’re done with your exams, aren’t you? How did it go?
Unfortunately, there’s still another…64 hours to go before I can call myself liberated :p
So far, it’s been OK, except for the clinical skills bit – not too confident about that. Anyway, it’s good to hear that you’re going to have a decent summer holiday this year! Have fun and all the best starting a new chapter of your education in London.
Wow, it must be gruelling to write so many essays in a row, especially in such excruciating detail
Congrats on graduating!!
Hi Tracy!!! Nice to have you on my blog. You must’ve followed the link from my Facebook, didn’t you? 😉
Yeah, Part II is really demanding. But not in the same manner at Part IB. IB had loads of stuff that you had to study, like it or not.
In Part II, you get to dump stuff you hate. But they really expect you to go into detail for the topics that you choose to study. And that involves checking up PubMed for loads of latest original research articles and review papers. Very different from Part IA and IB.
You’re lucky to escape doing Part II hahaha.(joking :P)