Professional Exam Episode I: My Road to the ‘D’

Please excuse me for the delay in sharing my Professional exam case which has ended more than 1 month ago.

Masih baru melayari bahtera rumahtangga,

Menghirup manisnya nikmat bercinta,

Dengan seorang jejaka,

Yang langsung tidak pernah dikenali sebelumnya,

Melalui satu-satunya saluran perCINTAan yang HALAL di sisiNya...

Maybe dah basi, but I promised myself I would share my experience in professional exam with others, and late is better than never. To begin with, I don’t have a proper study group like others. We met as rare as once a month or so. I could not commit to any study group due to other ‘co-curricular’ programmes I needed to attend almost every weekend, in Kuantan and in KL. The nights during my weekdays are mostly devoted to usrah, at least 3 times per week. Near the exam, I only managed to parasitically attach with other study groups, special thanks I bid for their willingness to accept this ‘parasite’.

I had to do most preparation for my wedding myself. I had to find the caterer, I had to buy and do the hantaran, make the invitation card, order and buy the doorgifts, buy and order my wedding attire, and about a week before professional, I had to buy a new lace for my wedding attire because the tailor wrongly sewed the original lace. 3 days before the big exam day, I was still searching for a house to rent in Selayang area for us to stay after our wedding (with the hope that I’ll get a placement in Hospital Selayang). Indeed, preparing for the wedding was fun and pleasurable, but thinking about the approaching professional exam gave me bees in the stomach...

More than once, being a mere human, I was engulfed by stress; I felt afraid and unready. No matter how far we tried to run away from the exam, the clock kept ticking, the professional exam kept chasing us from second to second. When I was conquered by anxiety, I just cried & turn to Allah and recite the Holy Quran. And He never failed to console me. I remembered once, I cried to my fullest and randomly opened the Quran, this was the first verse which my eyes caught, a relief from Allah:

(This is Allah's Way) regarding those who deliver the Messages of Allah and who fear Him, and fear no one else than Allah. Allah is Sufficient as a Reckoner [33:39]

“(iaitu) orang-orang yang menyampaikan risalah-risalah Allah, mereka takut kepadaNya dan tidak merasa takut kepada siapapun selain kepada Allah. Dan cukuplah Allah sebagai pembuat perhitungan...”

Subhanallah, Thank You Allah...!

The weekend before the exam (21^st & 22^nd May), I had yet another programme which I have to attend. It was a decision which tested my tawakkal, priority, faith and trust in Allah. I know well that Allah had promised, “O you who believe! If you support (the cause of) Allah, He will support you and make your foothold firm”. But knowing and believing are two different entities. When you believe, you need to prove it. Just like a delusion, due to the strong belief, patient will act upon it.

So although my professional exam preparation was hardly even 50%, I braved myself to go to the programme, with all the books and notes brought along, together with my forever supportive soulmates – iman, solehah, and kak mirah. When other people was fast asleep, I read my orthopaedic notes, topics I encountered for the 1^st time since Orthopaedics posting in 4^th year – yup, 2 days before the exam! And subhanallah, among the topics read during the programme was those which came out in my clinical exam. Alhamdulillah. Innallaha laa yukhliful mi’aad. Allah never breaks His promise!