Following my new victory, I was ecstatic, I mean who wouldn’t?! The feeling was unimaginable. This result had come out at the end of January and the march plab exam was pretty close already. I began to ponder on my ability to risk taking the march plab or to actually wait till November. The booking period for the march plab 1 exam was almost over and I had to make my decision quickly. I had initially joined a plab facebook group and was open to the kind of questions I could get. During this time, my clinical acumen was a little blurry in terms of knowledge. I calculated the extended timeline I would have if I waited for Novemeber. In that moment, I took the huge risk of sitting for the March Plab 1 exam.
I went ahead to book a place and knew I had to pull some stunts to catch up as I had just 6 weeks to prepare. I joined a whatsapp group soonest to start off the preparations. I gathered as much materials as I could. The whatsapp group was very active and I tried my best to get involved with discussions everyday. I practiced mock questions every other day for hours always scoring between 70 to 75%. Meanwhile, I was told the best place to be was 80% and above. I simply wasn’t making that cut with all my practicing. I decided to keep on no matter what.
One cannot over-emphasize the importance of having friends or people to cheer you on in such moments. I had 4 of my other friends also preparing for the March exam. We formed our own whatsapp group to have in-depth discussions and encourage eachother. These people became family to me over time. It will unfold as the story goes on. We were all relentless with our preparations, as we were practically in the same 6 weeks boat. IELTS wasn’t friendly to us.
Little by little, day by day, the exam day drew closer and closer. I thought I would be in panic mode but I was quite calm. My parents were praying for me, I was praying for myself and friends. Preparing for the exam was like a survival skill and I was determined to survive.
Afroplab 