It's never easy to prepare for a board exam, even more so if you're a working student. Still, it's not a completely impossible feat with smart time management and the right mindset.Â
ALSO READ:Â What It's Like to Balance Acads and a Part-Time Job as a Working Student
Case in point: Angel Kate Caritan is a BS Medical Laboratory Science graduate who managed to study for the Medical Technologists Licensure Examination (MTLE) while working as a Healthcare Assistant. In a Facebook post, the San Pedro College alumni opened up about all the struggles she faced in her board exam journey.Â
Angel was initially planning to take the MTLE in August 2022, so she started reviewing even months before she graduated from college. Unfortunately, Angel was pushed to find a job a month later because her batch's test schedule got moved to March 2023 instead.Â
"10 months ago, even before our graduation, I started to review for the MTLE in August 2022. A month into it, it was later announced that our batch is to take the MTLE in March 2023," she wrote online. "Over great needs, I started to look for something I can do and make money to help my family in any way. I started looking for jobs, and applied to different small laboratories for part-time and also online."
Eventually, she became a Certified Healthcare Virtual Assistant at Hello Rache thanks to a friend's recommendation. Although the job allowed her to pay for her own tuition fee and build her network, it still ate up a good portion of her rest time.Â
Touching on her hectic schedule, she shared, "The last 3 months of review and work were the toughest and lowest part of my life. Every day, if lucky enough, I get only 3 hours of sleep. I work 9 PM to 6 AM, get myself ready after that, and go to the review center from 8 AM to 6 PM. My parents would make their way to fetch me at the right time so I could have at least 3-4 hours of sleep considering the traffic in Davao, so I would sleep from 6 PM-9 PM."Â
At some point, Angel even faced health complications due to high levels of stress. "After months with this setup, my body started to react. I’ve started to have hives that can spread throughout my body. That’s when I knew I needed to slow down," she added, also admitting that anxiety hindered her from doing well in her pre-board examination.
"Pre-boards happened and I only got 73.88 (FAILED). This circumstance humbled me and gave me a slap in the face that I CANNOT do this my way," she shared. Afterwards, Angel learned to slow down and trust her own skills and prayers to God.
It wasn't long before her hard work *finally* paid off; Angel became a Registered Medical Technologist soon after! Her message read, "To the families of A6, thank you nay & tay for keeping my family strong. I AM HERE BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU. RMT NA PO AKO!"Â
Congrats on passing your board exam, Angel!Â
From The Candy Bulletin Community
