Reassurance

This afternoon one of the chief board examiners came in to talk to us about the oral practicals. Initially I was quite scared about the oral practicals... I mean you're asked to perform a treatment on an examiner with TWO examiners watching you and making you as well. Talk about a scary situation. You also have 90 minutes. That's a 90 minute window that you have the chance to fuck up! Hell it's only your career on the line! Not a big deal right?
Well let me tell you I am SO glad I was there this afternoon! I now have a better idea as to how all of this is going to happen. The examiners are examining us on what we show them not so much on what we tell them. So if we have verbal diarrhea but our hands know what they are doing... then great! They are also going to give us a little bit of time to think about our pathology (thought we will not get a case study... we're going to have to find everything out about the pathology though a history taking portion of the exam which will last 15 minutes... this will also include two special tests that are most appropriate for the pathology in question). We then have 30 minutes to treat the pathology. During that 30 minutes we have to do a full treatment, demonstrate a technique from the following category: Muscle energy, craniosacral, myofascial and sensory stimulation. The examiner doesn't want us to talk though the work that we're doing... we're just supposed to do it. If we want to explain to our guest what we are doing then that's fine. After that all we have to do remedial exercises... one hydrotherapy modality, one stretch, one strength exercise and then one modification to their activities of daily living. Oh we also need to palpate (fancy word for feel) a muscle, trace a nerve (this is scary), find a bony landmark and palpate a pulse. All of this in 90 minutes... Should be manageable.
Anyways I know this is quite the drawn out explanation but I wanted to write this so that before my board exams I can read this over and remind myself that it is not as scary as I may make it. So if I am reading this before board exams... Take a deep breathe, clam down and trust that you have it in your hands and in your heart. The knowledge is in your mind and just relax to access it. Good luck to me!