Things/people that bother/annoy me in pharmacy school

[crazybob]

It should be pretty easy to find an exploit in the system for LockDown browser somewhere, it uses Internet Explorer, what a joke.

We didn't use LockDown browser last year, but I think the professors got suspicious when people were at home taking 100 question exams and finishing them in 15 minutes.

They were meant to be take home exams (not worth much on the grade though).

You had take home exams?? We never had any of those.

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[Sparda29]

You had take home exams?? We never had any of those.

Hmmm, exam is the wrong word. Take home quiz fits better. Yeah, and we had this one thing where we had to read this book about medical terminology and taking assessments on it like within a month, that was the only major thing we used the online system for exams.

Only other course that used that was public health.

 

[crazybob]

Hmmm, exam is the wrong word. Take home quiz fits better. Yeah, and we had this one thing where we had to read this book about medical terminology and taking assessments on it like within a month, that was the only major thing we used the online system for exams.

Only other course that used that was public health.

The only "take home" assessments we had was taking those practice quizzes for biochem. They didn't count for a grade or anything, but we could see what the exam questions would be like.

 

[eeyore spice]

We didn't use LockDown browser last year, but I think the professors got suspicious when people were at home taking 100 question exams and finishing them in 15 minutes.

They expected you to take exams in the privacy of your own home and not cheat? Who needs a hack, you can print out the notes or have your laptop next to your desktop.

 

[Sparda29]

Only other time we had actual exams on our computers, we were in the classroom, the exams were activated on Blackboard at a specific time and you had to physically sign in on a paper in the classroom to have your grade counted (so you can't just chill at home and take the exam at the same time as everyone else), and we had proctors walking around. Proctors walking around is all they really need.

 

[Tinkerbell22]

I took an online class once but we also had to come in to campus for the exams. We used a platform called Angel for the virtual learning and exams, but they were both multiple choice/fill in the blank as well... SO whenever there was a fill in the blank you would get it wrong if you didn't spell it correctly or if you were TOO specific. One time we had to name something and I named the basic thing plus it's specific name and I got the question wrong for knowing TOO much basically. The professor never fixed the answers either they just curved the exams.

 

[Quiksilver]

Only other time we had actual exams on our computers, we were in the classroom, the exams were activated on Blackboard at a specific time and you had to physically sign in on a paper in the classroom to have your grade counted (so you can't just chill at home and take the exam at the same time as everyone else), and we had proctors walking around. Proctors walking around is all they really need.

seems like a good ole scantron would have done the trick.

 

[Praziquantel86]

seems like a good ole scantron would have done the trick.

Until the aforementioned Scantron gets shredded by the grading machine.

 

[diastole]

I especially hate that for MULTIPLE CHOICE exams. I can somewhat understand that if the exams were writing a paper...but on MULTIPLE choice exams its downright stupid. There can only be ONE answer...either you got it right or wrong! If the answer is B and you put D, then its WRONG, why argue? Or worst try to make the professor change the right answer to the wrong answer so you can get an extra two points!

Our exams are almost all multiple choice and arguing over the points is built into the schedule. They set aside time to go over the whole test and we can argue the questions at that time. Sometimes the profs phrase things in a way that can be interpreted more than one way or is just plain confusing. In that case, they will accept more than one answer or just throw out the question. This happens fairly often. Since our exams are pass/no pass, one point can be a huge deal to people on the borderline so lots of people are rooting for someone to make a good argument. When there is a three day weekend on the line or a week in the summer at stake, people can get pretty passionate.

 

[SHC1984]

They expected you to take exams in the privacy of your own home and not cheat? Who needs a hack, you can print out the notes or have your laptop next to your desktop.

I had a take home exam in undergrad. I thought it was going to be cake, but then found out the professor made it take home b/c it was so diffcult that we would not have time to finish it at school!!!!!

So the next time he ask the class if we wanted a "take home" exam, we all said hell NO! b/c we know he will make it a lot harder to make up for the fact that it was a take home exam!!!

 

[SHC1984]

Our exams are almost all multiple choice and arguing over the points is built into the schedule. They set aside time to go over the whole test and we can argue the questions at that time. Sometimes the profs phrase things in a way that can be interpreted more than one way or is just plain confusing. In that case, they will accept more than one answer or just throw out the question. This happens fairly often. Since our exams are pass/no pass, one point can be a huge deal to people on the borderline so lots of people are rooting for someone to make a good argument. When there is a three day weekend on the line or a week in the summer at stake, people can get pretty passionate.

Oh wow, I wish we had set aside time for reviewing the ENTIRE exam! lol... in that case it would be okay..as long as u aren't wasting class time!

 

[diastole]

The only professor I know who is fast about grading and posting grades is my pharmaceutics professor. Our tests are multiple choice and on paper. We don't use scantrons, and he still grades them very quickly.

We'll take an exam at 8 AM to 10 AM and then he'll have the scores up by the afternoon on the next day.

My school works like this:

Take exam from 8 to 10.

At 10:15 repeat exact same exam with your team. By this point, you pretty much know how much many you missed within a point or two.

Around 11:30, they hand back your old exam and we have our review which means that you argue over answers.

When that is done, they recalculate the grades if any questions were thrown out or they accept multiple answers and then we get the score sheet with our actual score. This whole process is usually complete by 12:30 or so.

Enjoy three day weekend if you passed or come back on Monday if you didn't.


My school is great to go to if you are one of those people who can't wait to see how you did.

 

[diastole]

Oh wow, I wish we had set aside time for reviewing the ENTIRE exam! lol... in that case it would be okay..as long as u aren't wasting class time!

Some people do come up with crazy arguments but it is really up to the prof to shut it down. Some profs let people argue way too much when they have no intention of giving in. That gets annoying when you know you passed but you have until the review is over to get your score sheet back.

 

[Sparda29]

seems like a good ole scantron would have done the trick.

I actually despise Scantrons. My personal favorite method of testing is they just give the question booklet, and you just circle your answers in the booklet and hand that back to be graded. I don't care if it takes 2 weeks to be graded. It prevents machine error, and you can write down your thought process and rational for selecting an answer right on the question sheet, so when they grade it, there's a possibility of partial credit.

 

[SHC1984]

Some people do come up with crazy arguments but it is really up to the prof to shut it down. Some profs let people argue way too much when they have no intention of giving in. That gets annoying when you know you passed but you have until the review is over to get your score sheet back.

your school is scary...90 to pass sounds very harsh!!! 75 to 80 sounds more fair! However my school is on a grading system and I have to get 90 on everything to keep my GPA at a 4.0
How do residencies look at your application? do you have a GPA? since its pass/fail won't it be hard to determine who is more quailified? how will they know what your class rank is?

 

[Quiksilver]

Until the aforementioned Scantron gets shredded by the grading machine.

thats what you get when you take the exam early.

 

[crazybob]

I actually despise Scantrons. My personal favorite method of testing is they just give the question booklet, and you just circle your answers in the booklet and hand that back to be graded. I don't care if it takes 2 weeks to be graded. It prevents machine error, and you can write down your thought process and rational for selecting an answer right on the question sheet, so when they grade it, there's a possibility of partial credit.

For pharmaceutics, we get multiple choice tests, but we write directly on the tests and it still takes the professor only a day or two to grade 125 of them.

 

[Ackj]

I especially hate that for MULTIPLE CHOICE exams. I can somewhat understand that if the exams were writing a paper...but on MULTIPLE choice exams its downright stupid. There can only be ONE answer...either you got it right or wrong! If the answer is B and you put D, then its WRONG, why argue? Or worst try to make the professor change the right answer to the wrong answer so you can get an extra two points!

Sometimes we get ambiguous questions where it MIGHT be one or the other, but one of them is better/more frequently observed/etc. Usually the teachers are good about accepting two answers for those cases, especially if the question has murky wording.

However, I hate when there is an answer that is definitely correct, but instead of choosing that, somebody instead circles and expects points for something that is obscure, yet still partially correct. Great, you realized that this other choice sometimes occurs, but you missed the general point that happens 99% of the time.

I actually despise Scantrons. My personal
favorite method of testing is they just give the question booklet, and you just circle your answers in the booklet and hand that back to be graded. I don't care if it takes 2 weeks to be graded. It prevents machine error, and you can write down your thought process and rational for selecting an answer right on the question sheet, so when they grade it, there's a possibility of partial credit.

I would love that method, especially because I always bubble a few choices differently than I mean to. I'm always about to argue "#17 is marked wrong, and the answer is DEFINITELY B!" and then I realize for some reason, despite knowing the answer and circling B, I bubbled D.

On the contrary, I do like getting grades back as soon as possible. A few times this semester we had an exam from 9-10, and during our 10:00 class, they were dropped off in our lockers.

 

[crazybob]

Sometimes we get ambiguous questions where it MIGHT be one or the other, but one of them is better/more frequently observed/etc. Usually the teachers are good about accepting two answers for those cases, especially if the question has murky wording.

However, I hate when there is an answer that is definitely correct, but instead of choosing that, somebody instead circles and expects points for something that is obscure, yet still partially correct. Great, you realized that this other choice sometimes occurs, but you missed the general point that happens 99% of the time.

I see this at my school sometimes.

On the contrary, I do like getting grades back as soon as possible. A few times this semester we had an exam from 9-10, and during our 10:00 class, they were dropped off in our lockers.

You all have your own individual lockers? Most people at my school don't use them.

 

[diastole]

your school is scary...90 to pass sounds very harsh!!! 75 to 80 sounds more fair! However my school is on a grading system and I have to get 90 on everything to keep my GPA at a 4.0
How do residencies look at your application? do you have a GPA? since its pass/fail won't it be hard to determine who is more quailified? how will they know what your class rank is?

All we have is a P so I guess there is no way to tell how you rank. I have no idea how residencies view this but I can't imagine it is good for me. I'm doing really well in school and while I don't know how hard it is at other schools, I figure I'd have a pretty high GPA if I attended a traditional school. Now I have to stand out on all the other non-GPA measures and that isn't my strength. For one, since we are accelerated, it is hard to fit in all those other activities. On top of that, we have less time to get involved than others at a four year school. I think I may have hurt my competitiveness for a residency by going here but I do like the block system. If I just wanted to go retail, I'd be quite happy here.

 

[SHC1984]

All we have is a P so I guess there is no way to tell how you rank. I have no idea how residencies view this but I can't imagine it is good for me. I'm doing really well in school and while I don't know how hard it is at other schools, I figure I'd have a pretty high GPA if I attended a traditional school. Now I have to stand out on all the other non-GPA measures and that isn't my strength. For one, since we are accelerated, it is hard to fit in all those other activities. On top of that, we have less time to get involved than others at a four year school. I think I may have hurt my competitiveness for a residency by going here but I do like the block system. If I just wanted to go retail, I'd be quite happy here.

Yeah...I think thats the reason why I didn't pick P/F b/c I don't see how residencies are suppose to know how you rank and how well you perform with just a P.

I see what you mean by not having time too...I did research in undergrad and might do research in pharmacy school...but still don't know what I want to do yet. I just want a job that allows me to work from home. LOL...I will do research and/or whatever else that makes me more competitive for a job like that.

 

[crazybob]

Oh another thing that bothers me. Teachers who don't bump you up a point so you can have an A or a B.

 

[Sparda29]

Oh another thing that bothers me. Teachers who don't bump you up a point so you can have an A or a B.

We had a professor this year who said that if you got an 89.5, he'll bump you up to a A, and less than that gets a B.

 

[crazybob]

We had a professor this year who said that if you got an 89.5, he'll bump you up to a A, and less than that gets a B.

Some of my professors started using the point system instead of a percentage system. I guess they got tired of having to round up on some students.

 

[confettiflyer]

I especially hate that for MULTIPLE CHOICE exams. I can somewhat understand that if the exams were writing a paper...but on MULTIPLE choice exams its downright stupid. There can only be ONE answer...either you got it right or wrong! If the answer is B and you put D, then its WRONG, why argue? Or worst try to make the professor change the right answer to the wrong answer so you can get an extra two points!

...

Yeah, that is annoying too...I took my final exam online today on blackboard and the grade is still not up...why can't they just release the grade right after the exam? Its not like they actually have to physically grade the exam by hand...its all by computer now!

I'm gonna argue with you on this one. I've had case studies where two of the answers would be appropriate therapy or you could reasonably argue that the 2nd answer applies given the information/lack of information on the question. It happens. Sometimes professors write questions with something in mind but it doesn't translate well into the question.

Which leads me to your 2nd point...they hold the exam for quality control (kind of like the BCPS exam as treatments can be argued per my preceptor last semester). At my school, they analyze each question to see the distribution of answers, so for example...if question 1 has 4 responses (ABCD), and most people select D (correct answer)...it's a valid question. If question 2 had a 50/50 split between B and C, it would be worth a look...if question 3 had 90-100% select the incorrect answer, you might want to throw that out.

So there's your answer

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

We had a professor this year who said that if you got an 89.5, he'll bump you up to a A, and less than that gets a B.

89.5 and up is an A at my school. I've had classmates get like an 89.3 and were mad about it.

 

[pharmwannebe2]

what the heck at my school...it takes the professor a week to give us the grades. I am on Blackboard like 8 times a day checking.

 

[crazybob]

89.5 and up is an A at my school. I've had classmates get like an 89.3 and were mad about it.

Yeah I've heard about thing like that even in high school.

In classes where teachers use the point system and not the percentage system (like my biochem class), 89.857% would still be a B.

 

[SHC1984]

I'm gonna argue with you on this one. I've had case studies where two of the answers would be appropriate therapy or you could reasonably argue that the 2nd answer applies given the information/lack of information on the question. It happens. Sometimes professors write questions with something in mind but it doesn't translate well into the question.

Which leads me to your 2nd point...they hold the exam for quality control (kind of like the BCPS exam as treatments can be argued per my preceptor last semester). At my school, they analyze each question to see the distribution of answers, so for example...if question 1 has 4 responses (ABCD), and most people select D (correct answer)...it's a valid question. If question 2 had a 50/50 split between B and C, it would be worth a look...if question 3 had 90-100% select the incorrect answer, you might want to throw that out.

So there's your answer

I agree, if you are talking about exams during the P2 year (therapeutic/treatment questions) I can see there being a lot of gray areas. I was only talking about the more obvious questions like stuff from Biochemistry, Pharmaceutics, etc. stuff from P1 year only. Those are more obvious. I guess thats also why everyone thinks the P1 year is so much easier. LOL...

 

[crazybob]

I agree, if you are talking about exams during the P2 year (therapeutic/treatment questions) I can see there being a lot of gray areas. I was only talking about the more obvious questions like stuff from Biochemistry, Pharmaceutics, etc. stuff from P1 year only. Those are more obvious. I guess thats also why everyone thinks the P1 year is so much easier. LOL...

I had some professors who would make things a bit tricky and confusing if we didn't really really know our stuff. In ceutics, we had to know things like the difference between sodium sulfite and sodium sulfate. the sulfite is an antioxidant, but the sulfate isn't.

 

[confettiflyer]

I agree, if you are talking about exams during the P2 year (therapeutic/treatment questions) I can see there being a lot of gray areas. I was only talking about the more obvious questions like stuff from Biochemistry, Pharmaceutics, etc. stuff from P1 year only. Those are more obvious. I guess thats also why everyone thinks the P1 year is so much easier. LOL...

Even in P1 we had these issues pop up... for example, a question gives you a case and the answers are the possible pathologies of the pt...if your case is missing a key piece of info, there's possibly two ways you get to something like FA deficiency.

But my "pissed off" limit is 4 business days after an exam. If you take a test on Monday, those scores better be out by Friday at the latest. After that, the only excuse is technical difficulty.

Oh another thing that pisses me off: disorganized titling of ppt/word documents posted. I want to see date, topic.

BAD:
SmithLecture1.ppt
pharmaceuticswk11.ppt

GOOD
051109-STD.ppt
March 5 2009 - Hyperlipidemia I.ppt
Lecture 7 - Primary Literature (050309).ppt

 

[crazybob]

Even in P1 we had these issues pop up... for example, a question gives you a case and the answers are the possible pathologies of the pt...if your case is missing a key piece of info, there's possibly two ways you get to something like FA deficiency.

But my "pissed off" limit is 4 business days after an exam. If you take a test on Monday, those scores better be out by Friday at the latest. After that, the only excuse is technical difficulty.

Oh another thing that pisses me off: disorganized titling of ppt/word documents posted. I want to see date, topic.

BAD:
SmithLecture1.ppt
pharmaceuticswk11.ppt

GOOD
051109-STD.ppt
March 5 2009 - Hyperlipidemia I.ppt
Lecture 7 - Primary Literature (050309).ppt

I know what you mean. Teachers always name it stuff like Lecture1.ppt or AuthorChapter23.ppt

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

You guys are picky. Just rename em.

 

[confettiflyer]

You guys are picky. Just rename em.

I don't go to class, one less thing for me to do/figure out when you have a whole clusterf*ck of lectures to download and no idea what order they go in without opening them. That's 10 mins of my time I'd rather not waste...I'd rather spend that on SDN.

Oh and sometimes a lecturer will spend 2-3 lecture sections on one set of notes. NO, don't freaking do that. One powerpoint, one lecture. If you don't finish, make a new one. Done.

 

[diastole]

I don't go to class, one less thing for me to do/figure out when you have a whole clusterf*ck of lectures to download and no idea what order they go in without opening them. That's 10 mins of my time I'd rather not waste...I'd rather spend that on SDN.

Oh and sometimes a lecturer will spend 2-3 lecture sections on one set of notes. NO, don't freaking do that. One powerpoint, one lecture. If you don't finish, make a new one. Done.

You are complaining about the labeling because they aren't making it easier for you to skip class? Yeah, I'm sure your profs are going to get right on that.

 

[crazybob]

I don't go to class, one less thing for me to do/figure out when you have a whole clusterf*ck of lectures to download and no idea what order they go in without opening them. That's 10 mins of my time I'd rather not waste...I'd rather spend that on SDN.

Oh and sometimes a lecturer will spend 2-3 lecture sections on one set of notes. NO, don't freaking do that. One powerpoint, one lecture. If you don't finish, make a new one. Done.

One of my pharmaceutics professors would make a powerpoint with 200+ slides and use that throughout the semester in his lectures. He printed it out on the set of course notes he gave us though.

 

[confettiflyer]

You are complaining about the labeling because they aren't making it easier for you to skip class? Yeah, I'm sure your profs are going to get right on that.

f*ck yeah i'm complaining!

well all my professors already have immaculate organizational skills...it's just a chronic problem with one set of professors we have.

yes, this is the only problem i'm facing in my program...horribly labeled powerpoints, life is great

 

[crazybob]

f*ck yeah i'm complaining!

well all my professors already have immaculate organizational skills...it's just a chronic problem with one set of professors we have.

yes, this is the only problem i'm facing in my program...horribly labeled powerpoints, life is great

I have yet to reach that point in pharmacy school, I think. Maybe it's just me though. I used to constantly worry about tests and gossip that happens in class to see if people were talking trash about me

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

I have yet to reach that point in pharmacy school, I think. Maybe it's just me though. I used to constantly worry about tests and gossip that happens in class to see if people were talking trash about me

I'm sure some people are talking crap about me but whatever. I'm not in school to please anyone except myself. I have a goal, and that's what I care about. Plus, the people I think might be talking to me are the ones I want nothing to do with. I have my group.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

That's the #1 thing I hate about pharmacy school though. It is SO high schoolish. I think it's actually worse than high school. At least in high school, I didn't have to see the same people every single day in every single class. I feel too old to be in the drama.

 

[crazybob]

That's the #1 thing I hate about pharmacy school though. It is SO high schoolish. I think it's actually worse than high school. At least in high school, I didn't have to see the same people every single day in every single class. I feel too old to be in the drama.

Yeah definitely. I'm starting to think that there are some people in my class that get on my nerves and everyone else's nerves

But I like other people I've met. Sometimes I see them so often and I really like them. I love my friends here and I don't know what I would do without them.

 

[confettiflyer]

I'm sure some people are talking crap about me but whatever. I'm not in school to please anyone except myself. I have a goal, and that's what I care about. Plus, the people I think might be talking to me are the ones I want nothing to do with. I have my group.

Yeah I'm pretty easy going, but I have my set group of friends and am not very interested in pursuing anything more with anyone else. Not that I don't like them, I'm just a realist...I'll probably only keep in contact with the people returning to California with me, hence why they make up 95%+ of my inner circle.

I'm actually pretty mean...even my friends, but they know me, so they don't care.

Actually, I'm a pretty big a-hole now that I think about it.

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

Yeah I'm pretty easy going, but I have my set group of friends and am not very interested in pursuing anything more with anyone else. Not that I don't like them, I'm just a realist...I'll probably only keep in contact with the people returning to California with me, hence why they make up 95%+ of my inner circle.

I'm actually pretty mean...even my friends, but they know me, so they don't care.

Actually, I'm a pretty big a-hole now that I think about it.

My friends at school call me mean too. I guess I am, sometimes.

I'm hoping to keep most of the friends I make in pharmacy school, but I know how difficult that can be. I'm hoping to move to Cali actually, which I heard is hard so I don't know how that will go.

 

[crazybob]

There was one time when a lot of us got together to talk in between classes. And this girl who is the vice president of our class came up to me and my friends and
asked "is he nice to you?" and
my best friend in pharmacy school said "no he isn't"
Then that girl said "well, does he say nice things to you?" and
my best friend said "not really. Even that one time I got him to say something nice, I had to like drag it out of him."
Then that girl asked to me, "do you think she's pretty?" and
I said "yeah."

 

[confettiflyer]

My friends at school call me mean too. I guess I am, sometimes.

I'm hoping to keep most of the friends I make in pharmacy school, but I know how difficult that can be. I'm hoping to move to Cali actually, which I heard is hard so I don't know how that will go.

Licensing is a biatch, retail markets are saturated along the coast, taxes are high, but other than that, there's a lot of places you can go.

I'm considering working/doing residency for 1-2 years in Chicago or somewhere in the Pacific NW (Seattle or something) and do a license reciprocation into CA. That way, I'll be earning decent income instead of twiddling my thumbs waiting for CPJE/NAPLEX/CA BoP to get it together.

Unless you're IN California right now earning CA hours under a CA intern license or are hell bent on returning ASAP (I'm really not...but it's just 100% certain I'll return within 3-4 years of graduation), reciprocation such that you're working while the CA license is in progress/CPJE scores pending would be the way to go IMO.

 

[Sparda29]

Licensing is a biatch, retail markets are saturated along the coast, taxes are high, but other than that, there's a lot of places you can go.

I'm considering working/doing residency for 1-2 years in Chicago or somewhere in the Pacific NW (Seattle or something) and do a license reciprocation into CA. That way, I'll be earning decent income instead of twiddling my thumbs waiting for CPJE/NAPLEX/CA BoP to get it together.

Unless you're IN California right now earning CA hours under a CA intern license or are hell bent on returning ASAP (I'm really not...but it's just 100% certain I'll return within 3-4 years of graduation), reciprocation such that you're working while the CA license is in progress/CPJE scores pending would be the way to go IMO.

Watch out for those killer volcanoes in the Pacific NW.

 

[UES Girl]

My friends at school call me mean too. I guess I am, sometimes.

I'm hoping to keep most of the friends I make in pharmacy school, but I know how difficult that can be. I'm hoping to move to Cali actually, which I heard is hard so I don't know how that will go.

You and JamesUVA tying the knot ?

 

[GoldfishPharmD]

You and JamesUVA tying the knot ?

Not at the moment. We're talking about living together though.

 

[UES Girl]

Not at the moment. We're talking about living together though.

Wow, besides Carbon and Nutmeg, Braluk and his sweet heart, this is only a 3rd time that I have witness how SDN has brough two loving souls together. Awesome !!!!!

How is everything ? How is pharm school ? I am having fun here, survived my first quarter.

 

[crazybob]

Wow, besides Carbon and Nutmeg, Braluk and his sweet heart, this is only a 3rd time that I have witness how SDN has brough two loving souls together. Awesome !!!!!

How is everything ? How is pharm school ? I am having fun here, survived my first quarter.

I didn't know that was even possible

There's one girl I met in real life after we had talked on AIM for a while. Then when I saw her in person, I felt too nervous to say a lot. It was while she was working. I knew one of her coworkers from playing soccer with him, so it wasn't too awkward.