I can really empathize with those who suffer from pre-exam nerves! I was a wreck for weeks before writing the
exam, and on the fateful morning had to take several doses of medicine to keep out of the toilet. What
helped? - thinking of the adrenaline rushes as a positive force that was preparing my body to cope with the
stress, and knowing that this was something that I had been working towards for years, rather than just
cramming for the previous night. I found it really useful to have attended a one-day exam prep course and do
a mock exam (thank you Anne A.!) It helped me identify those areas which needed more work, as well as look at
the kind of slides used in the exam. It had been years since I last wrote an exam, so I needed every bit of
help I could get. Another tip - avoid the temptation to compare answers with the other candidates during the
lunch break! This can be unnecessarily disheartening, and may put you in a poor frame of mind for the
afternoon session. It is more calming to go and have a nice lunch with a friend and talk about other things.
You probably did much better than you thought - I did!
BTW, have you noticed that we Brits *write* an exam rather than *take* it?

Diane W., am I glad that I am not in your shoes! What a dilemma! I had a similar experience a few years ago
when I received a phone call asking if I could fill in for a sick speaker. I would be talking to a group of
childbirth educators from area hospitals who met once a month for dinner and a guest speaker. There was no
fee involved, but I would get expenses and dinner. It sounded as if this was a self-supporting group and I
saw no reason to suspect otherwise. The group was friendly during dinner and my presentation was well
received. After the question and answer period I was starting to gather my papers together when somebody
rapped the table and called the group to order. When she stood up and introduced herself as the Wyeth rep and
an IBCLC, I felt queasy. She started to go through a whole agenda of where the next meeting would be held,
who the speaker would be, and to give a run-down on new ABM promotions. I was completely taken aback by this,
and very angry that I had been placed in such an invidious situation. There was no way that I would have
accepted the invitation if I had known that it was being sponsored by an ABM company. As soon as the meeting
was over I went over to the person who had invited me and expressed my outrage. She said that while *she*
would have prefered not to have ABM sponsorship, the group had decided to accept it rather than pay their own
way. She simply hadn't thought that an outside speaker might want to know about this! Since then I have been
very careful about such things . . .

I used to teach a WIC infant nutrition class for pregnant women. We made it clear that we assumed that every
mother wanted her baby to get the best possible start in life, and would therefore be breastfeeding. We
explained that while others might have a commercial interest in persuading mothers to choose formula, our
only concern was the health of women and children. We never compared breastfed babies to those who were
artificially fed - why bother to compare a superior product to an inferior one? - but as soon as someone
mentioned how her neighbour's children always seemed to have colds or ear infections, we seized the
opportunity to explain *why* naturally fed babies are so healthy. We found that this method influenced even
those women who had not even considered nursing. By combining this approach with making sure that every woman
knew how to position a baby at her breast and had a peer counsellor's number to call when she had questions,
we raised the breastfeeding initiation rate from 12% to ever 50% in three years.

Norma Ritter, IBCLC, LLLL
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