My Pathology Final Exam

At the end of my first year of med student, we took a class called Pathology. I can't even say exactly what we learned in that class, but we spent a lot of time identifying organs and trying to determine if the white spot on the organ was due to ischemia or a tumor. I was correct about the white spot almost 50% of the time.

The practical portion of the pathology final exam was a multiple choice exam where we had to identify a bunch of organs and figure out what was wrong with them. It was a little like looking at an abstract art exhibit in that I had no freaking clue what anything was. I probably could have bubbled in the answers before walking into the room and gotten the same score.

The only saving grace was that I could tell from the blank (and terrified) looks on my classmates' faces that everyone was equally clueless.

At the end of the practical, there was an "extra credit" question. I remember looking at the organ and having absolutely zero idea what part of the body I was looking at, much less being able to hazzard a guess what was wrong with it. I remember exchanging baffled looks with the other students at the station with me and finally we all started snickering. "Good thing we have this extra credit," someone commented.

I attempted to find a photo online of that particular organ and I did find one that's a pretty good likeness. It's the wrong pathology, but I think it illustrates my point:



Yeah, what the hell is that thing?