busy lizzie

I’m not trying to ignore everyone, I swear. I am studying for my comprehensive examinations for my master’s in speech language pathology, as well as for the national licensing exam.
These exams cover everything I learned as an undergrad at Boston University as well as all material covered in the last 2 and a-half years at Cal State Northridge.

So, basically, my study partner (and bridesmaid!) Marisa and I spend every waking moment together. Well, every moment that I’m not student teaching, in class, tutoring, at the gym, or figuring out wedding stuff with James. Translation: Marisa and I are together every weekend, desperately trying to force our brains to recall random facts from years of schooling…what is the valence theory? By what week in fetal development is the inner ear completely developed? What are Brown’s 14 morphemes? What do ohms measure? Which vowels are front sounds? What is the Bernoulli effect? Who was Chomsky? Vygotsky? At what age do babies start babbling? What does the symbol for a pharyngeal fricative look like? Which cranial nerve, when damaged, causes Bell’s palsy? What does FAPE stand for?

Needless to say, I am rather stressed. Thankfully, since I have spent so much time in the couple of months studying neurology, I can tell you exaaaaaaaaaactly what happens in your nervous system as a result of this anxiety. You see, in response to the stress of my exams, the limbic system in my brain, which mediates emotional responses, activates the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic branch. This is the fight or flight mechanism. When the stress begins to subside, the parasympathetic branch…okay, okay—I’ll stop. Just wanted to give you a glimpse into my world.




Oh, and if you don’t see another post from me until after Halloween, it’s because as I typed those sample questions, I realized I couldn’t answer some of them. Back to the books!