Summary

“Doctor in the House”

The text under summarizing is entitled “Doctor in the House” written by Richard
Gordon, who was an English ship surgeon and anaesthetist and was well-known for his
“Doctor" series.
“Doctor in the House”, one of Gordon’s “Doctor” books, is written in the first person and
tells us about the author’s experience in having his final medical exams. Being a medical
student, he belonged to the category of students for whom the finals were not just a
method of testing their knowledge in medicine, it was something that raised his fighting
spirit. Cheating in medical exams was not very popular, as it
took much time to prepare for it technically, therefore before the exams, Gordon just
attended all ward rounds of one of the representatives of the examining Committee,
ticked the days off the calendar, and swotted up the spot questions.
The exam consisted of two parts: written papers and viva. It began with the written part
and was conducted in the presence of a single invigilator and the porters. For this part
were allowed three hours. After the papers, Gordon was feeling as if after a fight. His
friend Grimsdyke comforted him by telling him how the tripos were marked at
Cambridge.
A week after the written papers, the viva exam was held. This part was more difficult
than the written one because the answer was to be given in the spot without mistakes and
omissions. Before the exam, the author was waiting in a waiting room with the other
candidates, who by their behavior illustrated different types of students. After a while,
Richard Gordon was asked to the table to answer the examiner's questions. He was asked
about the lines of treatment in a case of tetanus and how he would help a young woman
not to gain weight. After the exam, Gordon was numbed and unable to realize what had
happened to him but one of his friends encouraged him and Richard Gordon began to
hope for the best.
At noon, the candidates arrived in the examination building to find out the results.
Precisely at twelve came the Secretary and porters and began to announce the results,
calling the examinees out one after the other. The successful students went upstairs and
the failures went out of the room. Richard Gordon was very nervous waiting for his
number to be announced and after a while he was standing on the top of the Secretary
who said that he had gotten through and Gordon went upstairs to receive the
congratulations and handshakes of the examiners.