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Clinical science · 6 min
The organ clock is not a personality test
3 to 5 a.m. is Lung time on the chart they test. It is not your sleep-hygiene brand.
The clock shows up as a smoker who wakes at 3 a.m. with a cough, or a metal-element story with Large Intestine in the next block. It is a chart. It is not a vibe. The qi cycle in the usual teaching starts at Lung in the small hours.
Two-hour organ clock (standard teaching used on NYS-style items)
Hours
Meridian
Pair to remember
3–5 a.m.
Lung
Metal; next is Large Intestine
5–7 a.m.
Large Intestine
Metal pair
7–9 a.m.
Stomach
Earth
9–11 a.m.
Spleen
Earth pair; do not hook this as 'ten to eleven' if the key is 9–11
11 a.m.–1 p.m.
Heart
Fire
1–3 p.m.
Small Intestine
Fire pair
3–5 p.m.
Bladder
Water
5–7 p.m.
Kidney
Water pair
7–9 p.m.
Pericardium
Ends at the middle finger, not the thumb
9–11 p.m.
Triple Warmer
Fire-adjacent teaching varies; learn the clock they printed
11 p.m.–1 a.m.
Gallbladder
Wood
1–3 a.m.
Liver
Wood pair; green, not yellow
Sheng is generation (Earth is mother of Metal). Ke is control (Fire melts Metal). If you only memorize colors, you will still miss the mother question. Colors: wood green, earth yellow. Do not swap them.
Five Element table
NYS vs MBLEx
Flashcards
Study
Two-hour blocks. Pair the yin with its yang. Do not invent a 10-to-11 window because it rhymes.
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NYS paper exam vs the MBLEx
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How to use the two memory tips without memorizing the mnemonic
Exam format · 5 min
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