Is This Normal....

[Table for Two]

A good 90% of our class failed our first anatomy exam. I know we all will get a better grasp on the stuff as we go along, hence improvement but....

How is it at your school? I thought that once the medical school has you they strive to ensure you are successful. I know it's the first exam. Obviously, we're all not idiots, I mean we got into medical school.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[sistermike]

I am not in medical school yet, but I would think that most of the class failing is normal. Its like any other class; you don't know how the tests are gonna be or even what type of material will be on the test. I think once you get used to the tests and realize what you should focus your studying on, your grades will go up. But that is just an opinion of a non-med student.. )

 

[anamarylee]

The best person to tell you if this is "normal" is the course coordinator. Not all schools have the exact same curriculum. The coordinator can tell you how you did as a class compared to classes from previous years at your school. In my school, we've been told we've performed just like previous years. It's not too comforting when you fail, but you realize you are not the first one and will not be the last one.

Hope this helps you out.

anamarylee

 

[Table for Two]

Thanks, Sistermike. I appreciate your input.

Well, I see, at this point that 38 folks have viewed this thread, which I assume could possibly represent about 38 different med schools....come on people tell me what it is like at your respective schools

 

[Table for Two]

Also, thanks to you anamarylee. I'm not trying for anything scientifically specific to our school or the within the rest of the schools. I'm simply looking to see if this is perhaps a
general trend among the onshore schools.

 

[anamarylee]

How many people fail a particular test is not public knowledge at my school. We do know that people failed, we just don't know exactlly how many. We know the mean, standard deviation, highest and lowest grade.

anamarylee

 

[ckent]

90% failing a test suggests that the test was poorly written or the class was poorly taught in my opinion. In my class, 95% pass every test.

 

[Rigomortis]

90% Failed?! It's all good and fine if the class is curved, in which case "failing" means nothing. But I don't think our class was particularly impressive coming into medical school, and the great majority pass. And it's not like the tests were that easy...the class did pretty well on the shelf.

 

[mycin1600]

Are you at a Caribbean, or an Osteopathic school?

 

[Viva LV]

90% IS pretty impressive. But 60 of 170 students in my class failed the first anatomy exam, about a third. The prof seemed pretty hacked off about it, but I think they expect it and are just trying to scare us straight. She said only 50 failed it last year. I don't think they write the first test any harder than the rest will be, but the first one kills a lot of people. I think that the failers will get the help they need, profs INSIST, and everyone will learn the best way for him or her to study and will do better on the next test.

BTW I'm at a DO school and don't appreciate that silly last comment. I have a buddy at an MD school and he told me that a similar portion of his class failed the first test too.

 

[Smurfette]

Wow~~at my school if more than like 2 people (out of 150) fail an exam, we are horrified....and usually those people fail by only a couple points and b/c they didn't study.

However, schools vary a lot in how they do things...if traditionally 1/3 fail the first exam, so be it. Maybe that's how the school tries to motivate its students. If your school is strictly pass/fail, I wouldn't be too concerned with this since ultimately most everyone will pass. My school has grades (ABCF) so class averages are usually in the B range, which is ideal since there is a minimum GPA requirement (2.8) we need to maintain.

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

mi escuela:

you fail if you place 2 standard deviations below the mean.
i'm not a statistics buff, but that means that several people will fail each test, but it is possible that no one will fail, if there are alot of people who destroy the test and push the "curve".

nuclearrabbit
NUFSOM - class of 2006

 

[Scooby Doo]

Originally posted by sacrament
I believe only 2 people in my class (of 105 or something like that) failed our first anatomy exam. The mean exam score was almost 90%.

That just makes it seem like you guys aren't being challenged then....

 

[doepug]

90% of a class failing an exam means one of three things:

1) the exam was poorly written,
2) the class is not taught well, or
3) your class just doesn't get it.

In short, it is not normal for 90% of a class to fail. I dare say that this applies to >99% of American medical schools. At my institution, only a few people (1-3?) perform substantially below the mean on any given exam, out of 120 in the class. Typically, our exams have pretty tight standard deviations, so it's unusual for people to fail consistently.

Someone in your class should approach your course director; this is not a normal phenomenon.

Good luck,
doepug

 

[Centrum]

Originally posted by mycin1600
Are you at a Caribbean, or an Osteopathic school?

LOL. Mycin is such a biotch.

 

[none]

Anatomy should NOT be taught in the first quarter. It is far too different from undergrad to just throw at new students. UCI moved it to winter quarter, which is good, but UCSD has the best idea which is to put it in the second year.

 

[ckent]

Anatomy second yr??? Bleah, I'm sorry but that sounds like a bad idea to me. 2nd yr should be spent studying topics that are high yield for the boards, and anatomy is definitely not one of them. You guys at UCSD might be enjoying your first yr but you will be kicking yourselves 2nd yr because your colleagues at other schools will be studying subjects pertinent to the boards while you all are in scrubs cracking open your cadavers. Anatomy should be gotten out of the way as soon as possible.

 

[faerichilde]

I think it really depends on the school...at all schools most students should pass every class. Our average on our first anatomy exam last week was 83%, but I don't know how many people failed, I would guess not too many.

 

[THE instiGATOR]

At my school, about 1/6 of the class failed the first Gross exam (my guess). Gross is a very frustrating course. I ranked at or above the class average on our other exams (Histo and Devo) during the first test block, but was the absolute last person out of 67 on the Gross exam. Fortunately, the damage is not too great. With work and an understanding of how the test is administered, I can save myself. Just study like a madman/madwoman. I've been studying Gross so much lately that I do nothing but dissect cadavers in my sleep. It's actually quite disturbing. I want to dream of something else!

Pull yourself off the ground and rock the second exam. Take comfort in the fact that you are not last in your class for this subject, as I am (hopefully you aren't).

 

[Rumit]

Here, as far as I know, everyone passes gross. I guess the funny thing is that apparently Histo/Cell is the silent killer, getting a few people every year. But, they make sure that if you fail a test that you do something to ensure that it doesn't happen again. The overall attrition rates are VERY low. I think it's pretty hard to actually fail out of the school.

Oh, and I think that moving gross back into the middle of the year or second year is a terrible idea. One, anatomy is the vocabulary of medicine, so you really need it just to converse intelligently about medicine and learn the more complex stuff. It's also worth just getting out of the way as soon as possible. Get it done with so you can move on to more interesting and exciting topics.

That's just my opinion though,

Adam

 

[Diogenes]

Originally posted by ckent
Anatomy second yr??? Bleah, I'm sorry but that sounds like a bad idea to me. 2nd yr should be spent studying topics that are high yield for the boards, and anatomy is definitely not one of them. You guys at UCSD might be enjoying your first yr but you will be kicking yourselves 2nd yr because your colleagues at other schools will be studying subjects pertinent to the boards while you all are in scrubs cracking open your cadavers. Anatomy should be gotten out of the way as soon as possible.

Yeah, UCSD students do SO ****ty on the boards too.

 

[USeF]

what is the (un)advertised reasoning for having Anatomy in 2nd year? We start w/ histo and begin to open the cadaver in week 6.

I'm so excited. Orientation week has been incredible: 2nd city comedy club, pub crawl, house parties, salsa party and the final Cubs game of the season. But what's really cool is...
First day of classes tomorrow!!