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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 happened when the Hopkins team tried to put Beth's diseased hemisphere to sleep?

2. What unusual solution did one doctor suggest Maranda try twice a day for her seizures?

3. What type of animal did the author decide to focus his brain research on, in "Coming Into My Own"?

4. In "A Special Year," why was the author concerned about his wife traveling to Australia?

5. What celebrity came to Johns Hopkins to visit Beth while she was comatose?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did Theresa Binder, in "Separating the Twins," respond to the news that she was having Siamese twins?

2. Describe Maranda Francisco's improvements after her hemispherectomy.

3. Who does the author say he feels a self-imposed obligation to act as a role model for?

4. What was controversial about Denise Baca's hemispherectomy?

5. What complications did Danielle experience after her surgery in "Three Special Children"?

6. Why did the author tell a resident at the hospital in Australia that he came from a large family?

7. Why does the author say "no knowledge is ever wasted," in "Another Step Forward"?

8. Why did some doctors oppose a craniectomy for a patient named Charles in "Three Special Children"?

9. Why did Brian and Kathy Usher initially decide against the hemispherectomy for their daughter, Beth?

10. How does the author explain the phenomenon of plasticity?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How does growing up without a father impact the author? What father figures does he rely on throughout his life? How does his experience without a father impact his ability to be a good parent?

Essay Topic 2

What responsibility does the author feel to the Black community? What responsibility does he feel to all humans? Why does he pass up an opportunity that would allow him to help more Black patients?

Essay Topic 3

What does the author learn about himself at Yale? How does he change from the start of his freshman year at Yale to his graduation? How might the author's future have been different if he had failed a class and been dropped from the premed program?

(see the answer keys)

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