Failed a second assessment - will I have trouble progressing to the next year?

[bigoof]

I'm a little worried about what will happen and at what point there might be problems progressing to the next year. Thanks in advance!

[robclem21]

Tough to give any advice. This is very vague.

[Butterfly_]

What was the assessment? What year are you in?

[bigoof]

Sorry I didn't want to add too many details to stay anonymous but it should be fine. Essentially I am a first year student at U of T and I scored <60% and <70% on two mastery exercises for one of the core courses. The course coordinator contacted me after failing the first exam and said that I would probably have to do a short answer retest for that first test. He also emailed me again for the <70 exam as I scored under the passing overall average of 74%. My overall average is actually about 80% as I did well on all my other exams (>90%), but I dropped the ball for those two exams due to burnout/stress and from also studying for the super heavy anatomy exams. Maybe I'm overthinking it but I'm wondering if there is a point where they just tell you you have to stop and just redo the year. There was another student who "is taking a leave of absence" and I don't know the details but I feel like it's possible it is due to poor academic performance.

For context: the requirements to pass the course is technically to get over 60% for all assessments and an overall average of over 74% for that particular course.

[bearded frog]

Not meeting expectations on a single course you can usually come back from, but if you start to get into situations where you are being held back or have to retake a year then that is a significant red flag when it comes to CaRMS. Not a lethal one for most things, if you can come back strong and do well in clerkship. Now the question what does it take for your admin to hold you back is a question only they can answer. Check your documents to see if there's an official policy of "not passing X courses in X units requires repeating a unit etc." kind of language. OP I would strongly arrange to meet with someone in admin to discuss your performance thus far, exactly how close you are to being kept back, and what the expectations are going forward. Hopefully they can work with you to arrange remediation depending on the circumstances/topics and if you are proactive about doing this with a significant improvement then that may make any long term repercussions much less likely.

[shikimate]

I don't know about UT policy, but as long as it doesn't show up on MSPR or transcript I doubt it'll ever have any effect on CaRMS. Maybe if you fail 2 courses that's a bigger deal. Hard to say without knowing the official policy. Hate to say this but UT trolls their students (not just med students, but in general) wayyyyy to often, they make people's life miserable for the sake of making people's life miserable.  

People struggle more often than people realize. Nobody likes to tell other people they didn't do well on something, so everyone thinks every other person is doing perfect except themselves. It's not a big deal if you just have to re-take a test or re-do an assignment.

You said you are getting >90% in other exams, so you're smart guy and you can overcome this. You are definitely smarter than I was as a first year med student lol.

I've seen people repeat year(s) for academic and personal reasons. In the end they matched, maybe not top notch specialty but they are doing residency just like other people. Once you finish residency and get board certified, patient's don't give a damn what mark you got in your anatomy class. Med school is full of road bumps, but as long as you keep the end goal in sight, you'll find ways to overcome them.

Even when you are attending **** will happen, last month I just found out a well respected GI guy perfed someone scoping. If he was a resident he probably would get a not meet expectation evaluation for that day lolz but life goes on and he's still employed.

[hero147]

12 hours ago, shikimate said:

I don't know about UT policy, but as long as it doesn't show up on MSPR or transcript I doubt it'll ever have any effect on CaRMS. Maybe if you fail 2 courses that's a bigger deal. Hard to say without knowing the official policy. Hate to say this but UT trolls their students (not just med students, but in general) wayyyyy to often, they make people's life miserable for the sake of making people's life miserable.  

People struggle more often than people realize. Nobody likes to tell other people they didn't do well on something, so everyone thinks every other person is doing perfect except themselves. It's not a big deal if you just have to re-take a test or re-do an assignment.

You said you are getting >90% in other exams, so you're smart guy and you can overcome this. You are definitely smarter than I was as a first year med student lol.

I've seen people repeat year(s) for academic and personal reasons. In the end they matched, maybe not top notch specialty but they are doing residency just like other people. Once you finish residency and get board certified, patient's don't give a damn what mark you got in your anatomy class. Med school is full of road bumps, but as long as you keep the end goal in sight, you'll find ways to overcome them.

Even when you are attending **** will happen, last month I just found out a well respected GI guy perfed someone scoping. If he was a resident he probably would get a not meet expectation evaluation for that day lolz but life goes on and he's still employed.

That's funny, we just had a bowel perf from a colonoscopy a couple of weeks ago that had to be repaired. 

[The Ace of Spades]

13 hours ago, shikimate said:

Even when you are attending **** will happen, last month I just found out a well respected GI guy perfed someone scoping. If he was a resident he probably would get a not meet expectation evaluation for that day lolz but life goes on and he's still employed.

Perfs happen... that's a rare but known complication lol. I don't know a single GI who has not had at least one perforation during their career.

[bearded frog]

Yeah it's pretty rare for routine screening scopes but some people with riproaring inflammation/cancer may have borderline necrotic bowel that can tear very easily.

[bigoof]

17 hours ago, bearded frog said:

Not meeting expectations on a single course you can usually come back from, but if you start to get into situations where you are being held back or have to retake a year then that is a significant red flag when it comes to CaRMS. Not a lethal one for most things, if you can come back strong and do well in clerkship. Now the question what does it take for your admin to hold you back is a question only they can answer. Check your documents to see if there's an official policy of "not passing X courses in X units requires repeating a unit etc." kind of language. OP I would strongly arrange to meet with someone in admin to discuss your performance thus far, exactly how close you are to being kept back, and what the expectations are going forward. Hopefully they can work with you to arrange remediation depending on the circumstances/topics and if you are proactive about doing this with a significant improvement then that may make any long term repercussions much less likely.

Thanks for the insight! I'm definitely working on managing my time better while also focusing on self care so I have the motivation to learn the material well for every exam. I'll meet with my course director and see what the next steps will be. Btw, do you know anyone that was held back a year? What was the outcome?

[bigoof]

14 hours ago, shikimate said:

I don't know about UT policy, but as long as it doesn't show up on MSPR or transcript I doubt it'll ever have any effect on CaRMS. Maybe if you fail 2 courses that's a bigger deal. Hard to say without knowing the official policy. Hate to say this but UT trolls their students (not just med students, but in general) wayyyyy to often, they make people's life miserable for the sake of making people's life miserable.  

People struggle more often than people realize. Nobody likes to tell other people they didn't do well on something, so everyone thinks every other person is doing perfect except themselves. It's not a big deal if you just have to re-take a test or re-do an assignment.

You said you are getting >90% in other exams, so you're smart guy and you can overcome this. You are definitely smarter than I was as a first year med student lol.

I've seen people repeat year(s) for academic and personal reasons. In the end they matched, maybe not top notch specialty but they are doing residency just like other people. Once you finish residency and get board certified, patient's don't give a damn what mark you got in your anatomy class. Med school is full of road bumps, but as long as you keep the end goal in sight, you'll find ways to overcome them.

Even when you are attending **** will happen, last month I just found out a well respected GI guy perfed someone scoping. If he was a resident he probably would get a not meet expectation evaluation for that day lolz but life goes on and he's still employed.

haha thanks for the encouragement! I definitely feel like we got trolled as they just put gave us a super heavy anatomy exam right in the middle of two cardiology block exams and I have never studied so hard in my life. Some people I know didn't even make it through all the material. The struggling part is so accurate I feel, but we also do get to see our class average and usually it's been in the 80s so I feel like most people are doing quite well. Oh well, just gotta learn from my mistakes and see how I can do better the next time!