Anyone ever remediate??

[LeverArm]

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Please help! I know there are many threads similar but I want to especially hear from people who have lived through this nightmare of failing Anatomy (by 1 $&*@ percent!!) and had to remediate.

My school's policy is to allow for a summer remediation. The concept of a cumulative anatomy exam sounds really scary! Head and neck alone over summer would be terrible but to learn everything?!... that sounds damn near impossible. I DO NOT WANT TO FAIL IT!! My course director says 2/3 of the people generally pass it from those that try so maybe it wouldn't be as bad as I imagine.

ANYONE ever do this? Take a summer remediation/re-examination and willing to share? How did you feel it compared to your semester exams in trickiness and details and what did you do to prepare??

WORST. DAY. EVER.

 

[LeverArm]

Anyone? I'll take private messages or anything

I am really freaking out and could use some advice from you guys.

 

[cher25]

Anyone? I'll take private messages or anything

I am really freaking out and could use some advice from you guys.

Do you have to take a comprehensive exam? Can't you take it as a course over the summer? Some med schools offer Anatomy in summer school. What happens to the 1/3 that don't pass the remediation? Just curious.

 

[LeverArm]

Do you have to take a comprehensive exam? Can't you take it as a course over the summer? Some med schools offer Anatomy in summer school. What happens to the 1/3 that don't pass the remediation? Just curious.

No, all that is offered is a comprehensive exam 1 month after the last day of classes. They have to redo the class during the next year (lose a year).

 

[thepoopologist]

My advice for you is to focus on passing the rest of your classes and to maybe buy Acland Anatomy DVD's to watch in your spare time.

Otherwise I would push it to the back until the year is over.

 

[realbeast87]

hey man

so yea last in my first year, I did pass everything except for Anatomy. I marginally failed the course by 2% points and thus had to take a remediation course over the summer.

How it went for our school was simply, you take what you failed. So if you passed 2 failed 1, you only have 1 exam to take during the summer. If you failed all 3, you spread them out over the course of the summer and retake them slowly. It was a pain, I hated it, I never want to do it again, and it ruined my last summer off for sure. I still feel bitter about it because I got no vacation, but nonetheless its over, I'm an M2 and now worrying about this years classes haha

So yea I dunno what your schools policy is....but it was doable. the exams were much easier, however it was teh kind of exams where if you study your ass off you will do really well....as opposed what I'm used to during the year which is study your ass off, and barely pass trend.

I suggest you work your ass off, figure out what went wrong, learn from your mistakes, do your best, and hopefully you wont meet the same fate I once had..good luuck🙂

 

[LeverArm]

hey man

so yea last in my first year, I did pass everything except for Anatomy. I marginally failed the course by 2% points and thus had to take a remediation course over the summer.

How it went for our school was simply, you take what you failed. So if you passed 2 failed 1, you only have 1 exam to take during the summer. If you failed all 3, you spread them out over the course of the summer and retake them slowly. It was a pain, I hated it, I never want to do it again, and it ruined my last summer off for sure. I still feel bitter about it because I got no vacation, but nonetheless its over, I'm an M2 and now worrying about this years classes haha

So yea I dunno what your schools policy is....but it was doable. the exams were much easier, however it was teh kind of exams where if you study your ass off you will do really well....as opposed what I'm used to during the year which is study your ass off, and barely pass trend.

I suggest you work your ass off, figure out what went wrong, learn from your mistakes, do your best, and hopefully you wont meet the same fate I once had..good luuck🙂

Hey thanks for the encouraging words. At this point, I am no longer even thinking about enjoying my summer, summer research (which was my original plan), or even what long-term effect this will have on my future. I am just thinking "GOT TO PASS! (And kickass on the rest of my classes)"

I wish my school worked that way because then I'd be left doing just half the material and not all at once, instead of 1 cumulative exam that has everything (4 tests worth, including those I passed). I am just really worried about how to prepare for soo much material in about 5 weeks worth of time especially when I'm not taking it until the end of the year and would probably have forgotten most of it by then.

 

[justdoit31]

Honestly a comprehensive anatomy exam isn't too bad- check to see if you will be taking an exam written by the school or the NBME shelf. My school requires a comprehensive final (NBME) for each course. Make sure you know BRS Anatomy cold and focus on the red chapter summaries and questions. If you have a firm grasp on all that material you should be fine for a shelf- if it is a school exam see if you can talk to them about what to expect.

 

[LeverArm]

I found out the school writes the test 150 questions on all topics 25% of it practical (pictures). I should really turn my attention to all my new classes and focus and doing well in those but I am still in shock by my situation. 😕

 

[cher25]

I found out the school writes the test 150 questions on all topics 25% of it practical (pictures). I should really turn my attention to all my new classes and focus and doing well in those but I am still in shock by my situation. 😕

you'll be fine... just focus on your other classes as others have mentioned before you dig yourself into a bigger hole. The temptation will be to try to fix Anatomy so that you won't fail, and your anxiety levels will increase substantially, and you won't be able to focus on your other courses which will leave you in an even worse position than you are now. Remediating Anatomy may not be as bad as you think. You won't be learning everything from scratch, instead, you'll be filling in the blanks that were there when you took your exams that you didn't do so hot on. One month to study/review nothing but Anatomy sounds doable to me. The biggest obstacle will be getting past your own fear and anxiety.

 

[AnxiousStudent]

Urrrg, I'm in the same boat. I've got to remediate Anatomy over the summer. I'm not looking forward to it at all, for my school, you have to take a summer course. However, they told me everyone who took it before passed it, so that's a relief. Still, it sucks I have to retake Anatomy, when I don't ever want to deal with it again.
But like others said, I'm focusing on my new classes, and working hard to pass them all. Forget about Anatomy until when the summer rolls around, OP, just concentrate on your current classes.

 

[medstudent87]

I failed neuroscience last year by 1% as well and had to re-take it over the summer. The material is exactly the same w/ the same amount of detail...so I was just as freaked out about having to cover all that in less than 2 months...but you gotta remember that even though you failed the first time around, you still know MOST of the content. I can't speak for taking anatomy over again, but freaking out won't help.

 

[LeverArm]

You guys are right I suppose. I just started studying for my new classes and I am gonna make sure I don't have to relive through this nightmare again. It still stings and everytime anyone talks about anatomy or their plans for the summer I just try to ignore them.😳

 

[ruiner]

My school doesn't have a remediation for anatomy so if you fail you are a year behind no matter what 🙁 I'm not worried about it but it sucks for some of my classmates who are in danger of having to extend.

 

[Mister J]

I remediated some first year content, including Anatomy.

It is not the end of the world. If you can learn from the experience and improve your study skills, you will be in a much better student come the start of second year.

Your goal now should be to figure out why you had trouble in the class. Don't harp on failing by 1%. Look to see what you can do to improve how you're taking in information so you're scoring comfortably in the high pass range or better instead of struggling to pass. What helped me here was increasing the numbers of passes over the material, I'd say I saw everything a minimum of 3 times between lecture an the test, ideally closer to 5.

Big picture, this won't kill you.

I'm interviewing for residencies now. I was able to trend my grades up strongly including 2 strong Step scores and lots of clinical honors. My first year grades really haven't been an issue and I'm getting interviews at some selective programs. These things will take you far and you still have plenty of time to make it happen if you're willing and able to put the effort in to figure out what wasn't working and fix it.

If you have questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.

 

[AnxiousStudent]

My school doesn't have a remediation for anatomy so if you fail you are a year behind no matter what 🙁 I'm not worried about it but it sucks for some of my classmates who are in danger of having to extend.

Wow, that really sucks.😱

 

[KarateSocks]

I had to remediate anatomy over the summer. it sucked because i was so close to passing the first time and failed by only a small margin. i was really scared that I would fail again and have to repeat the year. The good news is that there's no new material, you're just going back to the same material, and you're given this time to finally get it to stick. I found that with these extra repetitions, I was able to make sense of the things that I had really struggled with before, as well as reinforce the rest of the material.
If I got through it, so can you.

 

[LeverArm]

I had to remediate anatomy over the summer. it sucked because i was so close to passing the first time and failed by only a small margin. i was really scared that I would fail again and have to repeat the year. The good news is that there's no new material, you're just going back to the same material, and you're given this time to finally get it to stick. I found that with these extra repetitions, I was able to make sense of the things that I had really struggled with before, as well as reinforce the rest of the material.
If I got through it, so can you.

Thank you for that! Was your remediation a single comp exam or mult exams spread out or a class?

 

[KarateSocks]

Thank you for that! Was your remediation a single comp exam or mult exams spread out or a class?

We only had to retake the parts that we failed, so for me it was units 2 and 3 (out of three). They scheduled the unit exams on different dates throughout the summer. They only arranged that for anatomy though; if you failed a different block, like biochem or neuro you took one comprehensive exam. I guess they determined a few years ago that more people passed anatomy remediation if they took the units one at a time rather than the comprehensive.
i got a lot of help from the professors and tutors over the summer, too. since at that point I knew the areas that I struggled with the most I would bring someone in to work with me on the harder stuff.

one of my classmates made the mistake of thinking remediation would be a breeze, didn't take it seriously, and failed, but 10/11 of us that remediated anatomy this summer passed.

 

[ruiner]

how many students did you have in your class. just curious about the percentage, wondering if ours will approach that.

 

[KarateSocks]

175

 

[cold agglutinin]

I actually had to remediate anatomy last year too. Don't freak out, even thought I know it is a blow to your confidence. I think you will find that anatomy just really sucks, and some of us have a few missteps with it. I did terribly in anatomy because of all the rote memorization, I'm terrible with spatial organization and the paucity of clinical info. My experience with the rest of first year went much better and I am rocking second year classes because it is just more clinical which is how my mind works. Hang in there and just study like hell to get past it!

 

[LeverArm]

I actually had to remediate anatomy last year too. Don't freak out, even thought I know it is a blow to your confidence. I think you will find that anatomy just really sucks, and some of us have a few missteps with it. I did terribly in anatomy because of all the rote memorization, I'm terrible with spatial organization and the paucity of clinical info. My experience with the rest of first year went much better and I am rocking second year classes because it is just more clinical which is how my mind works. Hang in there and just study like hell to get past it!

Thanks, that's exactly how I feel. Even now as a first year with my new classes, I feel its much easier because its more conceptual and clinical.
2 questions:
How was your remediation set up? How did you prepare/study for it?

 

[cold agglutinin]

Thanks, that's exactly how I feel. Even now as a first year with my new classes, I feel its much easier because its more conceptual and clinical.
2 questions:
How was your remediation set up? How did you prepare/study for it?

I missed the 70% pass by 2 points, due mostly to the last block of pelvis and lower extremity. At our school, we just have to retake the lowest scoring test during winter break. As far as how I prepared, I spent a hell of a lot more time in the lab than I did during the qtr, as the practicals were what tanked my grade. For the lecture portion, I finally developed a streamlined system of taking my own high yield notes from the course notes and then reviewing those like 3-4 times before taking the test. My advice would be to make a schedule of what you need to cover and plan it out for the days before your remediation exam. Hope that helps!

 

[LeverArm]

Hey everyone that might accidently read this old thread. I just finished my last test and did actually really well with little problem in all the classes after anatomy. But now starts my month of hell (studying and reading facebook statuses of classmates doing something fun in the sun). Wish me luck and give me any advice you may have. I will be checking this thread and will post how it goes.

 

[Isoprop]

Hey everyone that might accidently read this old thread. I just finished my last test and did actually really well with little problem in all the classes after anatomy. But now starts my month of hell (studying and reading facebook statuses of classmates doing something fun in the sun). Wish me luck and give me any advice you may have. I will be checking this thread and will post how it goes.

Failing just might have been part of the adjustment you made to the demands of med school. I say this because you did well on the rest of your courses. Congrats on that.

I have no advice on anatomy except good luck.

 

[LeverArm]

Dear diary... I mean SDN,

Yesterday I finished going over all my notes once. Fatigue is getting to me and my productivity is definitely going down. But the fear and realization of my situation gives me bursts of adrenaline. 4 more weeks until judgement day...

 

[Mister J]

Dear diary... I mean SDN,

Yesterday I finished going over all my notes once. Fatigue is getting to me and my productivity is definitely going down. But the fear and realization of my situation gives me bursts of adrenaline. 4 more weeks until judgement day...

Mental health day?

Don't let yourself burn out. If you can increase your productivity by taking just a little time off, do that for yourself. You'll be more efficient when you get back to it.

 

[NontradICUdoc]

Hey everyone that might accidently read this old thread. I just finished my last test and did actually really well with little problem in all the classes after anatomy. But now starts my month of hell (studying and reading facebook statuses of classmates doing something fun in the sun). Wish me luck and give me any advice you may have. I will be checking this thread and will post how it goes.

Good luck. Do yourself a favor. Have someone change your passwords for SDN and Facebook and not reset them until you are done with your summer class and exam. They are time wasters and you have no room for them.

 

[LeverArm]

Thanks everyone. I let someone I trust handle my fb, and have actually been pretty good with SDN. But in all honesty, only about 4 people know my situation (or even where I am right now) and 2 of them are my parents. I have cut all communication and people back home think I'm at school, while people from school think I am home. I have been taking breaks but the problem is I've noticed with the more breaks I take, the longer and more frequent my breaks become. But cramming as if the test is tomorrow for over a month is proving to be unrealistic (tho it sounds ideal). Just got to get through this heh. I think about the not passing and it scares the living day lights out of me

Anyways, I'll be back on every so often.

 

[LeverArm]

Well I took 1/2 this long weekend off. Mostly because I am burnt out and also because someone asked me to be their dd. I wish I could say I feel better now but if anything I feel more anxious than ever. Seeing the nice weather and people having fun... Well I definitely feel like an old grumpy fart. What's happened to me? Eh sorry for the emo posts everyone whod read this but its back to work I go.

 

[AlexMorph]

Well I took 1/2 this long weekend off. Mostly because I am burnt out and also because someone asked me to be their dd. I wish I could say I feel better now but if anything I feel more anxious than ever. Seeing the nice weather and people having fun... Well I definitely feel like an old grumpy fart. What's happened to me? Eh sorry for the emo posts everyone whod read this but its back to work I go.

Block it out. At least, that's what I try to do as I hit the final couple days of step 1 studying. Good luck!

 

[officedepot]

Well I took 1/2 this long weekend off. Mostly because I am burnt out and also because someone asked me to be their dd. I wish I could say I feel better now but if anything I feel more anxious than ever. Seeing the nice weather and people having fun... Well I definitely feel like an old grumpy fart. What's happened to me? Eh sorry for the emo posts everyone whod read this but its back to work I go.

haha dude once you get through this seeing people having fun while you cannot will be the norm so sadly you'll have to get used to it. It's worse probably third year of medical school and then I imagine it's pretty terrible during residency no matter what field you choose (some worse than others). Now, when you are finally in your 30s and at the attending level maybe it'll be better depending on your field. But look at it this way - we all go through this so you are not alone. Also people who aren't even in the medical field have to work all the time on nice sunny days. They have to work weekends when other don't. They have to work holidays when others don't. It's not a feeling isolated to our field and no matter what specialty you choose (aside from primary care most likely) you'll be doing the same stuff. It's just the way life is as you get older. Kinda sucks going from MS2 to MS3 in a way because that's when you actually start "real life" working in some sense - without the pay. No more golf during the week... or on weekends...


I'll add that what you are doing now is similar to what you will do when you study for step 1. It's good practice. Keep it up with the anatomy. I'm sure you'll pass. Schools really don't want their students to fail.

 

[LeverArm]

So it went a little something this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMHaiMzgCNA&feature=related
... anatomy scared me and thats how I responded. 96% and a new record for the re-exam! I almost want to tell people that I failed the class and took the retake exam just so I can brag about that... ALMOST. Ironic that I know anatomy better than most people who honored it first time around and that in the end the residency directors may frown on my record. Who cares? Now I got my eyes set on year 2, Step 1, and all the rest. But first, tequilla!

Thank you to all of my supporters. And part of the reason I continued posting is because I know in future years people will be in my shoes. I was literally minutes from telling my counsler that I had to do a modified extended 5 year program because I can't handle it. But I am so happy that I didn't do that. It made me a better student and I believe it gave me the work ethic needed for this profession. Keep that in mind future failures (jk jk).

 

[LeverArm]

Oh and 1 more thing for future readers, do not assume that your test(s) in summer will be any easier. It was NOT any easier and in fact 2 of the people I knew who were taking it with me (there were about 16 of us total but I only knew 2) did not pass it. I studied A LOT. I pretty much knew every word of my notes after going over it start to finish 7 times plus making my own notes and going over those 3-4 times. Work hard and you will be rewarded... with more work haha.

 

[okdocrx]

Congrats,

And is there anything you would've done differently learning anatomy the first time around?

 

[tehdude]

It sounds like you had it easy. 😉 I know the anatomy remediators at my school were only given 1 week!!! I've only spoken with two of them, but they're pretty sure they failed. That's freaking crazy.

 

[tigress]

It sounds like you had it easy. 😉 I know the anatomy remediators at my school were only given 1 week!!! I've only spoken with two of them, but they're pretty sure they failed. That's freaking crazy.

I think the OP had a fair chance, and your school is crazy. Isn't the whole point to make sure that people learn the material? It's not just to jump hurdles to get to the next sprint. 🙄

oh and congrats to the OP--sounds like you worked hard and it paid off!

 

[Mister J]

So it went a little something this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMHaiMzgCNA&feature=related
... anatomy scared me and thats how I responded. 96% and a new record for the re-exam! I almost want to tell people that I failed the class and took the retake exam just so I can brag about that... ALMOST. Ironic that I know anatomy better than most people who honored it first time around and that in the end the residency directors may frown on my record. Who cares? Now I got my eyes set on year 2, Step 1, and all the rest. But first, tequilla!

Thank you to all of my supporters. And part of the reason I continued posting is because I know in future years people will be in my shoes. I was literally minutes from telling my counsler that I had to do a modified extended 5 year program because I can't handle it. But I am so happy that I didn't do that. It made me a better student and I believe it gave me the work ethic needed for this profession. Keep that in mind future failures (jk jk).

Strong work! Congrats!

 

[LeverArm]

Congrats,

And is there anything you would've done differently learning anatomy the first time around?

Thanks!

Here is the secret to anatomy and in fact to all med school courses: re-read your notes as many times as humanely possible. Avoid using outside resources as much as possible and if you are stuck on a concept in your notes then directly contact your instructor to clarify it. Do not rely on information that is not in your course notes... ever. To be honest, I have both a new Netters and a new Rohens. I used them a lot when I failed originally and never opened it for studying for the retake. I suggest you only use it to help you with the practical portion of your exams but better still, spend as much time with your cadaver as possible.

My number 1 mistake was reading my notes once and thinking that just because I understood it that moment, that I will remember it for the exam. My second mistake was googling stuff that was interesting but never in my notes. The strategy that has been working for all my classes that I did well in (ie everything after failing anatomy) was reread your notes at least 3 times. Highlight, underline, make margin notes, etc., each time. Then and only then go through it a 4th time but this time have some paper and a pencil or pen out and write down things that either you have a hard time remembering or are very essential to subject (like nmemonics that you have a hard time keeping straight).

After that if you have time try to reread your notes 1 more time and make sure you have everything on your notes that you missed or if not then just make sure you know everything that you wrote on your notes.

 

[LeverArm]

Strong work! Congrats!

Thanks! You've been a big help along the way! All the best.

 

[tigress]

Reading my syllabus notes, re-reading, re-reading, and making a list of important points to memorize is also how I ended up studying 1st year. I used review books a bit right before the test. For anatomy I did use Netter a lot but that's about it for outside resources. I also went to class, and did NOT read the notes beforehand, because I found it much easier to read and learn the notes after I'd heard the lectures. That's what worked for me.

Just in case people are reading this for advice on how people eventually learned how to study (after a lot of trial and error), I just wanted to completely agree with the OP as far as his description of what ended up working for him. I had a good friend going into 4th year when I started M1, and she told me from the beginning to study this way, and I didn't listen...a number of months in, and I wished I had!

 

[katarina90]

Congrats,

And is there anything you would've done differently learning anatomy the first time around?

I second the congrats, leverarm! That is awesome. You've definitely proved that not only do you know anatomy, but you can kick butt on a big comprehensive exam--that will bode well for you in the future I think.

I myself finished my anatomy remediation yesterday, 85% so not as impressive as yours!!

As for if I would have done anything differently I say heck yeah! Less BRS (which was full of errors) and more Rapid Review. Not reading the textbook. Spending less time in lab dissecting and more time at home with the atlas.

One thing everyone kept repeating was not to memorize, but to 'learn the concepts' but one thing is there really aren't that many huge concepts in anatomy with the exception of nerves and blood flow through the heart/fetal circulation. I can't even articulate how many hours I wasted reading through numerous anatomy textbooks, hoping I would start 'appreciating the concepts' when what i really needed to do was sit there, rewrite and rephrase my notes, and churn it over in my head until it was stuck in there. *sigh* Hindsight's always 20/20 though.

Anyways awesome job on your exam leverarm! I am glad you are open about this, I think this will be a useful thread for people remediating in the future.

 

[Tapepsi]

I am getting very nervous about anatomy. The soon-to-be second years from my school were nice and posted an anatomy survival guide for us incoming MS1's and apparently we only need to pass half of the exams and have a cumulative grade of at least a 60%. Meaning, it has to be intense....

 

[premedchelli]

just remediated an exam myself - i think whats worse than studying for it is being the only person you know not having a summer - its so isolating!! I'm so glad its over with!

anybody have any tips for rising second years who had a rough first year? I dont want to be even CLOSE to remediation EVER again in my LIFE. (of course I have lofty goals for second year 😉

 

[mdeast]

I am getting very nervous about anatomy. The soon-to-be second years from my school were nice and posted an anatomy survival guide for us incoming MS1's and apparently we only need to pass half of the exams and have a cumulative grade of at least a 60%. Meaning, it has to be intense....

Hmmmm...anatomy is pretty simple compared to other classes. It's just rote memorization of anatomy and anatomy facts. It can get tricky when they ask you relationship questions (does this nerve pass anteriorly or posteriorly to this muscle? etc.). Our exam was 50% practical, 50% written (had to pass both). Practical was pinned anatomy specimens. i.e. you have a pin through a small nerve going to a section of the eye....an artery off the descending aorta, or a tendon of one of those random muscles in your hand. It's actually pretty low yield for Step 1 studying, but you need to know the basics to do well on rotations (particularly surgery) and be able to interpret radiological scans with a better basis. Don't sweat if you don't well in it. Just aim to pass. First year in general is pretty blah in it's importance in the long run.

 

[LeverArm]

My oh my... how a year changes things. Failing was the best thing that ever happened to me! Ok that's a lie but the momentum I built up during the summer just kept going, now I'm honoring year 2 and I can't believe that barely passing used to seem so impossible. I don't know why I came back to this site/thread now but I sighed in disbelief reading my first post about this time last year. 😛

 

[courtnes]

My oh my... how a year changes things. Failing was the best thing that ever happened to me! Ok that's a lie but the momentum I built up during the summer just kept going, now I'm honoring year 2 and I can't believe that barely passing used to seem so impossible. I don't know why I came back to this site/thread now but I sighed in disbelief reading my first post about this time last year. 😛

That's awesome, LA! Glad things are going better for you. I remember reading this thread when you posted it, I was worried about winding up in the same boat.

 

[LeverArm]

That's awesome, LA! Glad things are going better for you. I remember reading this thread when you posted it, I was worried about winding up in the same boat.

Thanks courtnes and congrats on not failing like me (I think that's what you meant, haha)! Hope things are going well for you!

 

[courtnes]

Thanks courtnes and congrats on not failing like me (I think that's what you meant, haha)! Hope things are going well for you!

Haha, that is what I meant. I was worried about being able to handle school (just started this August.) Things have been going really well though, thanks!