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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What kinds of experiences prevent medical students from looking forward to initial encounters with patients?

2. How does Konner characterize Freddy Robertson?

3. Where do first-year medical students' clinical experiences take place?

4. Where did Konner go at the end of his last shift, when he wanted to reflect on the trauma patients he treated?

5. How does Konner characterize his work with Dr. Haley?

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Konner's experience working with Dr. Haley in pediatric outpatient services?

2. What lesson does Konner say he learned from John Williams?

3. What was the controversy around the patient Ruskin operated on?

4. Describe Konner's first 'Saturday Night Knife and Gun Club'.

5. How did Konner experience the medical world on his vacation?

6. What explanation does Konner give for why he wrote this book?

7. How does Konner characterize Howard Cullen's condition?

8. How is Konner different from the other students in his group?

9. What does Konner say he finds unrealistic in TV doctor dramas?

10. Describe the process of scrubbing in.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Which person or scene exemplifies everything Konner loves about medicine? Which person or scene exemplifies everything he loathed about the medical industry? Using examples from the text, describe the scenes or character that consolidate Konner's feelings about his training.

Essay Topic 2

Konner feels conflicted between psychoanalysis and psycho-pharmacology approaches to psychiatric treatment. How does he resolve this conflict within himself? What other conflicts does he feel, and how does he resolve them? Choose one and describe the reason for Konner's sense of self-conflict, as well as his method of resolving the conflict for himself.

Essay Topic 3

What are the different narrative threads Konner weaves throughout 'Becoming a Doctor'? One is the simple chronological experience of med school. What developments take place, and how does Konner's personality, or how do his attitudes about medicine or illness or his own identity change throughout the course of the book? Where do these themes intersect? How are they developed?

(see the answer keys)

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