HAAD exam- my experience...

Dear readers,
I've been receiving overwhelming response after I kick started this blog with my very minimal skills in content writing, blogging, coding, and all those language and IT stuff. So i thought why not, i should test my writing skills and share my experience regarding HAAD exam. Like most among us, me too choose Physiotherapy as a profession after my high school graduation based on some of the facts such as, I hated maths and physics, i was not brilliant or patient enough to get a place in medical school in merit, and most importantly i always wanted to work abroad since my school days.

Here starts my journey into great field of Physiotherapy. I started my Bachelor of Physiotherapy course affiliated to Calicut university in mid 2006. Soon after starting the course i understood life is not easy anymore with that huge syllabus and coursework. In the initial days those anatomy terminologies were like bouncers. i successfully finished my course and internship in May 2011 by gods grace. i was not worried about job that time as i already planned for my graduate school I dint waste any time after my Bachelors, with in 3 days of receiving my bachelors degree I managed to start my Graduate school...those days were awesome i must say..graduate school helped me a lot in my professional development. In June 2013 I successfully finished my graduate school with a publication in credit.

Here start the real story, suddenly from the comfort of being a student , it was time for me to start earning. Anyhow i joined in my undergraduate school as a faculty and physiotherapist. Soon after i started working i realized that i must check my options abroad as the earning factor from a regular job early in the career was pretty much low in India. First of all i checked out my options in US, but it seemed to me like the whole process including finishing the deficiency credits would take me very long time and money which i din''t have. So US and CANADA was out of my reach that time. Then came the GCC. It was pretty clear that i need to make some experience before i could work there. Then came another miracle, i found an option in Abudhabi for physiotherapists with master degree without experience( from November 2014 that option does't exist, now u need minimum 2 year experience if undergraduate and 1 year if graduate) . I had a wonderful colleague who shared the same thought as mine and I discussed with him about HAAD. We came to the conclusion that there is nothing bad in trying our luck with HAAD. So we started our HAAD documentation in December 2014 and by end January 2014 we received eligibility to attend exam. 

Another thing was that we did't discuss with many people regarding our HAAD plan. Once we received our exam eligibility, people around us started to know that we were processing. The people around us gave us negative idea about this exam. Some even asked why we wasted around Rs 30K in documentation. Even though we seemed to the outer world as being composed in spite of all those mounting negative energy, inside we had fear to fail (Lesson no 1: please don't listen to others too much and ask for too much opinion,believe in yourselves.People around say many thing but at the end what matters is your hard work)

Under all these circumstances we started our preparation, collected as many study materials as possible. In the initial days preparation was all scattered, but soon realized it need to be bit more systematic(lesson 2-make a good timetable and stick on with that). So first thing i did after enlightenment was to make a time table considering my job, family commitments, entertainment etc etc. Then decided i should stick on to the time table as much as possible . Even though i was preparing with a good timetable, the fear of failure still prevailed. We didn't attend exams in February and March . Then came April, we decided that we need to try our luck this time.So from mid March we started our exam oriented intense preparation. The attitude in fact was " Nothing to lose" ,But did work hard to our maximum. Our exam was scheduled at Pearson vue, Bangalore on the evening of 16th of April 2014 , that is finally after 4 months of starting our processing. We planned to reach Bangalore on the morning of 16 th April which is 8 hour journey by bus. Good friend of ours helped us with our stay in Bangalore. 

Finally we are in Bangalore after that tedious 8 hour journey. We started to our exam center after a light lunch around 2 PM ,as we wanted to make sure that we were not late. We carried our identification documents and hall ticket along with us. After we reached the exam center, the staffs over there verified our documents,took our finger prints and digital signature. those staffs are pretty patient and helpful, they ll guide you well. After initial formalities we were asked to wait in their reception.

After half an hour of waiting i was instructed to enter the exam room and i was accompanied to my exam terminal by a staff at the center. I must say that i was pretty nervous. Then you will start your exam after your after automated instruction session. The exam is 100 multiple choice questions and 2 hours. Questions are mostly application type covering all aspects of Physiotherapy, research methodology, statistics ,pharmacology. You have an option to leave questions and attend later. U can also change the answers if you want. You are not allowed to turn during your exam. I you are in need of help you can raise your hand and staff will help you out. In my exam what happened was that, i was shivering during first 10-15 questions. For me every choice seemed to be correct. We don't have much time to think too. So finally i decided to go with my instincts( That proved right for me, if you have prepared well,then believe your instincts). i left around 20 questions without answering , which i attended later. Then with just 3 minutes left for 2 hours i finished my exam and i submitted my answers. Then there was a post examination survey which we have to fill about exam setup, staffs there etc etc...

i came out of the exam room with a confused mind and lot of thoughts. When i reached the reception to my shock the staff over there told my result is ready. i got chills all over my body and felt cold in my tummy. Then she handed over me a result certificate and told me " congratulations, You have cleared your exam". That was a moment of joy for me and I literally i jumped. Then i came out of the center, my friend was waiting for me. He told me that he too cleared i was very happy for him too.
After clearing the exam it was all easy, received license in June and as i wanted to complete at least 1 year experience  in India i delayed my travel abroad for job till August and finally landed Abudhabi in the early September 2014.

Now that i have my HAAD license , even if i leave UAE  for 5 years and even if am not working as physiotherapist for 5 years i can always re-register here with out much difficulty ,gives me some scope to take risk for US or Canada processing.
So in short HAAD is a cheaper and less time consuming  alternative to NPTE and PCE. Once you are working in UAE you can always process for US or CANADA with affordability factor flavoring you if you are not affluent enough to bear the cost for NPTE or PCE.
Working in UAE makes it easy to get your US and CANADA visiting visa.
For NPTE and PCE you can start preparation from were we stopped for HAAD .
For people who want to settle here also can make good money here. U ll get entry level compensation currently from Rs 150000 to 200000 tax-free with other medical and travel benefits attached with far low cost of living compared to US and CANADA.
Hope you enjoyed reading. Excuse the grammatical mistakes in my writing, still i am trying to develop my writing skills .....for those who felt bored about the whole thing..never mind... :-)