Is there any benefit to scoring highly in preclerkship?

[FutureERDoc]

Honestly I'm so bothered sometimes by the fact that our grades are kind of useless. On one hand I like it, but on the other hand, I feel like I have to overprep (and overshoot) the mark I need. Is there any benefit to your marks if you go to a school with Pass/Fail grading?

[jlkhhylyiluh6]

i mean theoretically youll be better prepared for clerkship (which actually does matter for Letters/generally impressing faculty/residents), but no the grade itself literally doesnt matter in pass/fail. The transcript literally just says ''P' no matter when i got a 95 in a class or when i got a 75 . 

[Monkey D. Luffy]

No the mark doesn't matter but doing the bare minimum to pass is not advisable because you don't want to be re-learning basics in clerkship while also trying to impress.

[Lactic Folly]

Yes, assuming that higher grades equals a better knowledge base. Also, without knowing the contents/difficulty of a test in advance, I'm not sure how easy it is to calibrate one's performance so that you're not overprepping, but at the same time comfortably out of the borderline pass zone. Even if a school is pass/fail, there are still often awards where preclerkship grades come in the play and can offer a bit of distinction.

[Aetherus]

I think if you are able to get awards from your makes in preclerkship that definetly will benefit you for CaRMS. Otherwise, your marks don’t matter and I’m not sure how well they correlate with clerkship performance. You can excel in most of clerkship with being able to take a good history and physical and read up on UpToDate. Obviously as mentioned previously, you need to have a strong basic knowledge but everything else you will probably forget and look up when you see the presentation.

[robclem21]

I would disagree with those saying that higher grades = better performance in clerkship. I find that the two require an entirely different skillset and for the most part the way you practice and learn is very different. There is a good chance you will need to re-learn most things anyway since there is just so much. I would be surprised if there is more than minor correlation between somebody's pre-clerkship grades and their clerkship performance. IMO there is nothing wrong with barely passing.

[JohnGrisham]

Agreed with robclem. Clerkship has been about work ethic, attitude and likeability(sometimes).  Much of pre clerkship basic science hasn't come up as much as people make it seem(nephro though its super important). Even then you constantly relearn the relevant basics and apply clinically wrt guidelines and mgmt.

[jlkhhylyiluh6]

11 hours ago, robclem21 said:

I would disagree with those saying that higher grades = better performance in clerkship. I find that the two require an entirely different skillset and for the most part the way you practice and learn is very different. There is a good chance you will need to re-learn most things anyway since there is just so much. I would be surprised if there is more than minor correlation between somebody's pre-clerkship grades and their clerkship performance. IMO there is nothing wrong with barely passing.

 

ok but habits are habits. If you slack off for two years and just do the bare minimum what are the chances youll all of a sudden give 100% and completely change your work ethic just because clerkship starts? All of the slackers in my class continued to be subpar students in clerkship, and all the stars were still great students. Hard to believe there isnt a relationship.

its far easier to work hard when you already have good habits. Building them early is never a bad thing.

[Lactic Folly]

Not saying it's the basic science or the grades, but rather the work ethic that might correlate. Someone who is content to barely pass probably isn't coming in early to pre-round on surgery, but I could be mistaken. In any case, re-learning is easier than learning for the first time.

[Snowmen]

20 minutes ago, Lactic Folly said:

Not saying it's the basic science or the grades, but rather the work ethic that might correlate. Someone who is content to barely pass probably isn't coming in early to pre-round on surgery, but I could be mistaken. In any case, re-learning is easier than learning for the first time.

I agree that the basic sciences don't matter as much as work ethic or your focus. I personally go to a school with grades in pre-clerkship (the last class to have them here...) and I am bang on the average. The reason for that is that I don't have much interest in the basic sciences and put more efforts towards the clinical knowledge, which means I miss a lot of basic sciences questions but very few clinical ones. That might not give me the best grades despite studying a lot, but I feel that it's a big advantage at the hospital or for clinical assignments, and I personally feel like I am much more comfortable than most of my colleagues as a result. I feel like this is gonna be more useful than having a slightly higher GPA.

[freewheeler]

P=MD don't listen to these nerds. 

[robclem21]

2 hours ago, beeboop said:

 

ok but habits are habits. If you slack off for two years and just do the bare minimum what are the chances youll all of a sudden give 100% and completely change your work ethic just because clerkship starts? All of the slackers in my class continued to be subpar students in clerkship, and all the stars were still great students. Hard to believe there isnt a relationship.

its far easier to work hard when you already have good habits. Building them early is never a bad thing.

I don't disagree that building habits is a good thing and that those habits start early on. But it's hard to argue that the motivation to do well in clerkship is way higher, which in turn drives a lot of people to put in more effort than they otherwise would in pre-clerkship. The learning is way more interesting, more fun, more meaningful, and your evaluations are arguably worth more. Those factors alone drive you to put in the extra time and work.

[Edict]

On 12/4/2018 at 6:06 PM, FutureERDoc said:

Honestly I'm so bothered sometimes by the fact that our grades are kind of useless. On one hand I like it, but on the other hand, I feel like I have to overprep (and overshoot) the mark I need. Is there any benefit to your marks if you go to a school with Pass/Fail grading?

In a sense, the diminishing importance of grades is a good preparation for your future career. After undergrad, grades become less and less important in almost every career. In undergrad, you study for grades, but now, you study for your own knowledge. One of the great things about medicine, is that what you study directly affects your career, very few careers are like this. The knowledge you learn now will save lives one day. 

[FutureERDoc]

On 12/7/2018 at 3:24 AM, Edict said:

The knowledge you learn now will save lives one day

Well said!