Apologies in advance if I have posted in the wrong section.
I was wondering how is the word “associated” correctly used. I used the word in one my examinations to describe some pathology and subsequently failed. My appeal rests on how the examiner may have misinterpreted what I have wrote.
In Summary:
I was given a slide of a particular structure of the eye. I was asked to describe it and then to make a diagnosis. The correct diagnosis was Disc Atrophy. I suggested a possible cause for the Disc Atrophy, which is Pappilloedema. This condition eventually results in Disc Atrophy.
Anyway, I recorded my diagnosis on the exam paper as “Pappiloedema associated Disc Atrophy”. Given that it was under exam conditions, I wasn’t able to elaborate fully to write what I fully intended i.e. “Disc Atrophy which has resulted from an episode of Pappiloedema”. The examiner has taken what I wrote as suggesting it was Pappiloedema with Disc Atrophy.
Now, given what I have wrote and what I intended to mean, I was wondering, is there any difference, have I used the word “associated” in an incorrect way?