health&wellness&balance Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 How do you deal with scoring below average in medical school. I usually try to do my best but I often end up with grades that are slightly below average. How can I improve my studying? How can I become better student? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rice Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 Hey! A few points to consider: Impostor syndrome is real. Being "below average" in medical school is extremely common - objectively 50% of students will be below average overall and nearly everyone will be below average in a handful of courses. Even failing courses/clerkship blocks is common but people obviously don't talk about it. When you say you're scoring below average, the question is really how much below average? You scoring in the 25% percentile on a course is very different from borderline passing or your school notifying you of deficiencies. Are you below average in every course or only some courses? Are there specific topics that you are struggling with? Are you keeping up with lecture material or cramming before tests? It's important to keep your frame of reference realistic and realize that having below average grades will not impact your career in Canada as long as you are working hard and develop the right habits to succeed. One of my closest friends in medical school was literally in the bottom 20% on every course and had to re-write 2 exams in clerkship and matched to a very competitive specialty with an extremely strong CaRMS application. The most important things are that you are learning the material you need to and that you are taking care of yourself. There may be some lessons to gain from comparison with your peers in terms of improving studying habits and diligence, but beyond that extensive comparison when even your school hasn't flagged anything is counter-productive. Rabeprazole and ArdentMed 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DNA Doc Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 You got into medical school, so I have to assume you are already a good student! I'm not saying you shouldn't strive to get better grades, but it may not be as big of a deal as you think. I know it was a big deal in undergrad because your grade point average is a big deciding factor for your success getting into a med school. But here you are, and the game has changed. Medical school grades are not all that important in the grand scheme of things. As a former residency program director I can tell you that your med school grades, unless you're failing, are a very small part of your residency application success. Much more important are your preceptor evaluations in clerkship, your reference letters, and your electives. My advice would be to focus your energy on learning the material - not for grades, but for understanding and application to real life. Honing your clinical skills will make the difference in clerkship. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocBrown9 Posted April 18, 2020 Report Share Posted April 18, 2020 From my experience no one asks about grades when it comes to residency. I think the only benefit to having good grades is if you have retained useful knowledge from your studying. Realistically grades are a test of examinship and learning to study the high yield material. If you are doing below average you and you are doing the work, you are likely studying inefficiently. I'd recommend reflecting on what you study and what you skip, not for the purpose of getting better grades but so you can spend less time studying and more time doing whatever you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicine200000 Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 23 hours ago, rice said: Hey! A few points to consider: Impostor syndrome is real. Being "below average" in medical school is extremely common - objectively 50% of students will be below average overall and nearly everyone will be below average in a handful of courses. Even failing courses/clerkship blocks is common but people obviously don't talk about it. When you say you're scoring below average, the question is really how much below average? You scoring in the 25% percentile on a course is very different from borderline passing or your school notifying you of deficiencies. Are you below average in every course or only some courses? Are there specific topics that you are struggling with? Are you keeping up with lecture material or cramming before tests? It's important to keep your frame of reference realistic and realize that having below average grades will not impact your career in Canada as long as you are working hard and develop the right habits to succeed. One of my closest friends in medical school was literally in the bottom 20% on every course and had to re-write 2 exams in clerkship and matched to a very competitive specialty with an extremely strong CaRMS application. The most important things are that you are learning the material you need to and that you are taking care of yourself. There may be some lessons to gain from comparison with your peers in terms of improving studying habits and diligence, but beyond that extensive comparison when even your school hasn't flagged anything is counter-productive. How common is it to fail blocks in clerkship? I thought it is not very common! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rice Posted April 19, 2020 Report Share Posted April 19, 2020 41 minutes ago, medicine2019 said: How common is it to fail blocks in clerkship? I thought it is not very common! Well this is obviously not the thing that students and schools will advertise. I know a small handful of people in my class that failed clerkship blocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicine200000 Posted April 20, 2020 Report Share Posted April 20, 2020 On 4/18/2020 at 10:30 PM, rice said: Well this is obviously not the thing that students and schools will advertise. I know a small handful of people in my class that failed clerkship blocks. When talking to med students, I have been told it is only 1 or 2 students that fail a clerkship block.. it may be school dependant though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rice Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 On 4/20/2020 at 6:35 PM, medicine2019 said: When talking to med students, I have been told it is only 1 or 2 students that fail a clerkship block.. it may be school dependant though! Umm, no chance it's that low. Those students are either lying or their classmates haven't admitted it to them (the latter is usually the case). If anyone's from a Canadian school where the administration have confirmed only 1 or 2 people in their class failed a block in all of clerkship, feel free to correct me. This is definitely not the case at my school. Clerkship exams, especially the US shelf exams for medicine and surgery, are no joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medicine200000 Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 1 hour ago, rice said: Umm, no chance it's that low. Those students are either lying or their classmates haven't admitted it to them (the latter is usually the case). If anyone's from a Canadian school where the administration have confirmed only 1 or 2 people in their class failed a block in all of clerkship, feel free to correct me. This is definitely not the case at my school. Clerkship exams, especially the US shelf exams for medicine and surgery, are no joke. Are you at US school? Perhaps it is different in Canadian schools! In Canadian schools, it is probably less than 3 students a year fail a clerkship block! Maybe Canadian clerkship block exams are easier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrepid86 Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 Being below average is fine. Being in the bottom 10% is not though, as it would likely put that person on the radar as someone who needs extra attention/scrutiny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChemPetE Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 5 hours ago, medicine2019 said: Are you at US school? Perhaps it is different in Canadian schools! In Canadian schools, it is probably less than 3 students a year fail a clerkship block! Maybe Canadian clerkship block exams are easier! Probably depends on the block and the school. I know in my year there were double to 4x that amount who allegedly failed a certain block *per rotation* (so not a high denominator as not everyone is taking that block at the same time). So that supposedly got admin’s attention and things were restructured for the next year. Then it got better supposedly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1993 Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 6 hours ago, medicine2019 said: Are you at US school? Perhaps it is different in Canadian schools! In Canadian schools, it is probably less than 3 students a year fail a clerkship block! Maybe Canadian clerkship block exams are easier! It is definitely much higher. I go to a Canadian school and probably at least half of my class has failed at least one Clerkship exam and I've heard this is the norm across Canadian med schools. I'm not sure how many fail an entire block (ie. not just exam) but I'm sure it's more than 3. Likely just none of your classmates are talking about it because of specifically what you said which is the incorrect mindset that no one fails in Canadian med schools. It is much more common than you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1D7 Posted April 22, 2020 Report Share Posted April 22, 2020 For clerkship examinations my rotating cohort (~20) had 1 failure the entire year, so about 5%. We were not using NBME though and I've heard that past failure rates with NBME were significantly higher. For clerkship block failures, in the entire class of over >150, we had ~1% fail. To fail the block usually you needed to have poor clinical evaluations, fail the examination, and fail the retake, so it was very rare that this happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdentMed Posted April 23, 2020 Report Share Posted April 23, 2020 You sound like a conscientious student. I feel the most important thing is consolidating all of the information for the sake of your patients as opposed to worrying about exams. For example, reviewing cards in Anki on a daily basis outside of exam preparation. As long as you are passing, does it really matter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rice Posted April 25, 2020 Report Share Posted April 25, 2020 On 4/22/2020 at 2:02 AM, medicine2019 said: Are you at US school? Perhaps it is different in Canadian schools! In Canadian schools, it is probably less than 3 students a year fail a clerkship block! Maybe Canadian clerkship block exams are easier! No, I'm at a Canadian school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medisforme Posted April 25, 2020 Report Share Posted April 25, 2020 The other reason its hard to fail a clerkship block is that its not like you show up at your final clinical evaluation and are suddenly told "you failed, sorry." There are requirements for mid rotation evaluations and preceptors are obligated to tell you if you are not meeting clerkship requirements so you can make appropriate adjustments etc... Most med students who struggle are able to take this feedback and improve their clinical performance, hence, usually fairly difficult to fail the clinical portion. There was a well known incident at UBC probably around 10 years ago, where two med students failed their surgical block but were able to successfully appeal it as they were able to show that there was no documented feedback on their performance nor suggestions for improvement from their preceptor, throughout the clinical block. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockBottom Posted April 25, 2020 Report Share Posted April 25, 2020 1 hour ago, medisforme said: The other reason its hard to fail a clerkship block is that its not like you show up at your final clinical evaluation and are suddenly told "you failed, sorry." There are requirements for mid rotation evaluations and preceptors are obligated to tell you if you are not meeting clerkship requirements so you can make appropriate adjustments etc... Most med students who struggle are able to take this feedback and improve their clinical performance, hence, usually fairly difficult to fail the clinical portion. That can happen (wouldn't say "Sorry" is part of it) - despite "adequate" mid-rotation evaluation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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