Could you please describe the block and exam schedules? I've heard people say they have a lot of exams in one week and was wondering how it all works exactly...
First year:
2 fall blocks- after each block: 1 exam for basic sciences class and 1* anatomy exam
End of fall- cumulative exam
3 spring blocks- after each block: 2 or 3 exams organized by course (IE: 1 for Immunology, 1 for Infectious Disease, etc) and 1 anatomy exam
Second year (which is actually only a semester):
5 fall blocks- after each block: 2 exams- organized by course (for instance, right now we are doing Cardiology and Heme/Onc)
End fall- cumulative End of Basic Sciences Exam
Half way through the block, each class will give a take-home, open-book, collaborative midterm so that you can assess your progress. The majority of the class gets together one evening and we spend 1 hr taking the exam on our own and then 1 hr going over the answers together so that everyone gets 100% (this counts towards your class grade, yay!) and gets to see how they would have done alone.
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Bottomline- you could have anywhere from 2-4 tests during exam week. They step this up gradually, so your first 2 blocks you only have 2 exams during the week (bonus: you get the rest of the week off) and then you gradually add more. I really don't think it's that bad though because it's not like you can cram for these kinds of tests. You have either been learning it all along or not. Plus it's pass/fail. It's almost nice to get all of your exams done at once and then not have to stress for a month or two. It also gives you a lot of flexibility to travel/go home (I went to Canada for a week this past term- did fine).
Hope this helps!
*Note: the anatomy exams are broken down into multiple choice "written" exam and a pinned practical exam, which actually take place at 2 different times (usually on the same day) because you have to be in lab for one and in the classroom for the other.
TL;DR: blocks every 1-2 months, 2-4 exams the week after each block, not too overwhelming, potentially even preferable
