Failed Lmcc Part 2

[Triceratops]

Hey everyone. I'm a Canadian family med resident, graduated from a Canadian med school, and I just failed the LMCC part 2. I didn't fail by very much, but I failed. It was unexpected because I'm actually quite strong clinically. I did really well on the LMCC part 1 (like 700-ish). I was on a pretty chill rotation when I wrote the exam and I took study days beforehand. I started studying on a pretty regular schedule in the early summer, going through the MCC objectives to identify and address areas I felt weak in and I also went through all of the old LMCC questions that are floating around the internet. My program doesn't do any kind of of LMCC prep, and their reasoning for not doing any is that family med residents "never fail" and also that the residency program aren't the ones who require us to write the LMCC, and they don't think the LMCC should still even be a thing, so basically they seem to see it as not their concern at all. My program director's and my preceptor's responses to this have basically been, "Oh, that's surprising that you failed, because you're a fairly strong resident. Sorry, that sucks for you." But they don't offer any kind of help or support for residents who find themselves in this situation, because in their opinion, family residents "never" fail, so it's not a problem.

I'm feeling pretty scared and upset right now. I really don't know what happened, and I don't know what I need to do to do better when I re-take it. And I feel like everyone I have turned to for help has told me it's not their problem and I just need to figure it out on my own. I have a lot of debt from med school because I come from a pretty low-SES background and I'm freaking out at the idea that I might not be able to work when I graduate, plus now I'm having to figure out how to find another $2500 to re-write this exam. And not gonna lie, I'm questioning my ability to be a doctor a little bit right now since I failed this exam that "everyone" passes.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions of what I can do?

[Fresh fry]

1) Everyone has a bad day. You know you are strong, you know your capabilities, it is "just a test". In this job no one will hold your hand. It can seem "cold" sometimes but you are at the top of the food chain and are going to have to find comfort and strength inside because there is no one above you to tell you you did good anymore, you need to know it yourself.

 

2) Re-write the exam in the spring. I think you guys get priority status or something. After reading this i would call them. yes it is 2.5gs but I'm sure you can find the money. i know you don't want to spend it but you will be making that in a few days this time next year.

 

3) Easy to say, hard to do: but don't beat yourself up. We are not used to failure on the whole, we as in people in this situation. We are used to being the best most of us have never failed anything. It hurts, I failed a test once in undergrad med and it made me physically ill. If you are having a hard time know this, you will feel better, you will get through this, in a year or two you will be looking back on this as an inconvenience and life lesson.

 

4) Study outside your comfort zone. Run the scenarios with some people who you are not very familiar with and who can be hard on you. You really aren't in a position where you want to re-write again so get'er done and get away from people who won't be tough on you.

 

5) No one cares about the test because no one cares about the test. It is a lame exam, it is not real life, it won't make any difference in what kind of doctor you are going to be. What will make a difference is how you let this affect you as a person. be the capable person you know you are and face this set back as what it is: a minor inconvenience, a chance to grow, and a check of your self confidence.

 

GL

[Triceratops]

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful. I have actually failed quite a number of things in the past (I wasn't from a typical pre-med background, medicine was a career change to me, so I didn't go through undergrad feeling any kind of need to get straight A's). I think what's really throwing me off this time is that I actually walked out of the exam thinking I did reasonably well. When I've failed things before, it wasn't a surprise, and I knew why it happened and what I needed to work on to fix things. I'm feeling like I just don't have any good way to find out what I need to improved right now. But I'm going to try to find some people who I can do scenarios with who will give some really honest feedback - that's a really good idea, thanks for that.

 

I have already pre-registered to write it again. I think we do get some priority, but I'm not sure how much - apparently it's still a lottery that we pre-register for, but they are aware that we are re-writing it when we pre-register.

[gongdoli]

Hey I'm in the same boat.  Please PM me if you are interested in practicing.  

[bloh]

Quite a number of people fail; your program is just being ignorant, so don't beat yourself over it. Also I believe that you can still practice with a probationary/limited license until you do pass. It's really disappointing that your program isn't helping you with this as they should be supporting you in this issue.

[rmorelan]

another reason I don't like that test - sometimes people do seem to fail for no apparent reason and worst you cannot find out why easily either (I mean say you failed because you somehow missed key diagnoses or treatments required for critical illnesses. Won't you actually want to know what those were? - even if you did pass?). 

 

Seems like the only reason consequence of failing is just to have to take the test again. Very annoying but at least it doesn't halt the training. 

 

More practise with more scenarios (there are a lot of questions about to practise with) seems to be the best approach. Best of luck of course!

[hkmedic]

Sorry this has happened to you. I am not aware of any programs offering LMCC prep to their residents. A lot of programs don't even offer time off for you to study. Best suggestion would be to do practice questions and develop an approach to the exam. A big component is style and making sure you say or do the simple things that would get you basic check points.