How To Emerge With The Highest Scores during a Medical Internship Exam
In 2022, when I told someone I was reading for internship exams, he reacted as though I had told him I used gutter water to boil rice. His tone was one of genuine concern, as though he pitied me for wasting my time. Honestly, I felt a bit foolish to have confided this to him. He said, “Securing an internship is just luck and connection.”
Even though I was tempted to believe him, I was stubborn.
While there may be some truth to his statement, I do not believe in leaving my fate to chance or placing my future in the unpredictable hands of others. So I continued reading, and it paid off.
I emerged with the highest score during the Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) internship employment exam.
So. This post is for people who are like me. Those who believe in trying their best even when the odds are 0.0000001%. This post is for people who want to get the highest score in a medical internship exam.
***This post is geared towards medical laboratory science students, but students in other disciplines can incorporate it and apply the guidelines to their respective disciplines.
Let’s begin.
- Identify the places you intend to apply to and what you want to get out of the internship. This clarity will guide everything else going forward.
- Find out if your target internship destination conducts examinations, interviews or both.
Different places have different operating procedures for their internship recruitment process. For instance, at Saint Nicholas Hospital, after a review of your application document, the only thing you’d be asked to do is conduct a thin film reading. Thus, for such a place, a haematology atlas would be the only thing needed in preparation for this. On the other hand, the Federal Medical Centre, Ebutte Metta conducts only interviews, and the Military Hospitals carry out examinations split into specialised laboratory knowledge and current affairs components. The Lagos State University Teaching Hospital carries out both.
If you intend to apply to multiple places, that means you have to combine the different strategies. Even if you don’t end up using all the knowledge, it will eventually pay off during your internship.
3. Ask for frequently asked questions from the current workers or interns.
Networking is a very vital skill. As the person in the introduction paragraph stated, when used appropriately, it can help you secure an internship one way or another.
Interact with current workers, seniors and current interns at your target hospital(s). Usually, every place has a guideline or format they follow in setting the questions. Inquiring from these people will enable you to work smarter. For instance, Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Yaba asks questions from the MLS handbook. Also, you never know; even some of the interns or workers may be involved in setting the questions. And if they’re nice enough, they can provide you with hints on the topics you should focus on.
4. Treat your Monica Cheeseborough textbook like a bible.
Seriously.
If your school was anything like mine, you would’ve specialised in one department or the other. What this means is that you would have forgotten a lot of things. Most places would ask a broad range of questions culled from other departments beyond your speciality, so pick up the textbook and refresh. This would also help you when you start your internship. It’ll be easier to remember the components.
5. Brush up on your current affairs.
Depending on where you’re applying, you may need to catch up on current affairs. Usually, private organisations do not bother with this. For state organisations, the current affairs questions are usually limited to the state level. And for federal and military organisations, the questions expand to include the national level.
6. Make use of ANKI
ANKI is an app that makes use of spaced repetition to help you better retain information. Spaced repetition is a learning technique based on the idea that you tend to forget information over time if you don’t review it. To combat this, spaced repetition schedules reviews of the material at increasing intervals.
Want to find out how spaced repetition is better than rote memorisation? Or if you’re confused about how to use ANKI, you should follow this publication. I’ll subsequently be talking about it.
With Anki, you can create flashcards that will help you better retain what you’ve learnt. It is especially helpful for people who will be applying to multiple places and need to retain a large volume of information.
***ANKI has a bit of a learning curve to use it, so you can also watch YouTube videos on using the app. I tried to get my hands on some of the flashcards I used while preparing, but it has unfortunately been deleted from ANKI’s database.
7. Interviewing
Before going into the interview hall, make sure you have adequately perused the website of the hospital. Learn their vision, mission, the name of the Chief Medical Director, the name of the director of MLS, and whatever information you can get your hands on. If the information on the website is outdated or sparse, this is where the connections you have made come in. Ask them the relevant questions and ensure you’re well prepared.
The most important thing when it comes to interviewing is: DEMONSTRATE CONFIDENCE IN ANSWERING ALL QUESTIONS.
My anecdotal experience of the LASUTH internship exam and interview
The exam was unbelievably easy.
Honestly, I think if you follow the tips I gave in this guideline, the exam will also be easy for you.
The exam was slated to start at 9 a.m. However, it didn’t start the exam until 5:00 p.m. So, here’s an unofficial tip for you: bring a lot of food or snacks. We answered 60 computer-based questions in about 45 minutes. Everything was based on MLS knowledge spanning haematology, microbiology, histopathology and chemical pathology. They also set a lot of questions that concerned quality control, what it means to be a quality control officer versus a supervisor, etc. No current affairs questions were included at this stage.
Only candidates who passed the examinations were invited to the interview stage. The interview was conducted two days after we wrote the exam. On that day, once again, we didn’t write our exams till 5 p.m., and all the successful candidates had their interviews in the same room and at the same time. If the person before you cannot answer a question, the question will be transferred till someone eventually gets it right.
We sat before a panel consisting of the CMD, DMLS, and other executives, and they took turns asking us questions in this order:
- Your name
- Your school
- Where you’re from
- Two medical laboratory science questions
- One current affairs question
Just to reiterate, please be confident in answering your questions. If you do not know, still attempt an answer. You could give a related answer to show you have an understanding of the concept, or you could politely ask to get another one.
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