Anyone here ever had to repeat a class in medical school?

[mr.applesauce]

If so, from your experience what is it like? I may have to repeat anatomy.

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[flightnurse2MD]

If so, from your experience what is it like? I may have to repeat anatomy.

I hear anything the 2nd time around in medical school is painful. 🙁

 

[mr.applesauce]

I hear anything the 2nd time around in medical school is painful. 🙁

Can you expound on that?

 

[gapyearguppy]

I actually don't know. It's kept so hush hush at my school. From what I hear in the wind, there's a make-up test. But some courses actually have a summer option. Like a dude who failed the cardio organ system couldn't take step until after he completed the summer cardio course. So I'm not really sure how it works tbh.

 

[Osteoth]

I'm gonna be completely honest, it's bad. The people in my class who repeated were gossiped about, and I can't begin to imagine what they must have felt. Same with the people who failed step 1. it's a pretty big red flag for residency apps too. do w/e you can to not fail something.

I always wonder what a "red flag" means to PDs.

Like if you fail anatomy block 1 year 1 of medical school but go on and crush everything else, how much trouble are you actually in? Like can you not even apply for competitive specialties? How far down in the "competitive" spectrum can you attempt?

 

[mr.applesauce]

I'm gonna be completely honest, it's bad. The people in my class who repeated were gossiped about, and I can't begin to imagine what they must have felt. Same with the people who failed step 1. it's a pretty big red flag for residency apps too. do w/e you can to not fail something.

Yeah the shame worries me too. :/

 

[libertyyne]

I always wonder what a "red flag" means to PDs.

Like if you fail anatomy block 1 year 1 of medical school but go on and crush everything else, how much trouble are you actually in? Like can you not even apply for competitive specialties? How far down in the "competitive" spectrum can you attempt?

2000 applicants 500 with spotless records and possibly from schools that have better reputations. At some point they are just arbitrarily finding reasons to exclude people. Failing a class is an easy out for the PD. Leaving 499 qualified applicants to sift through and disqualify until you start sending out interviews. But more to the point, its probably a highly improbable scenario that you fail anatomy and yet manage to crush boards, other classes and clinicals, research without massive amounts of change. But on a more positive note, I think PDs care little about preclinical grades as long as you pass everything.

 

[Lnsean]

I always wonder what a "red flag" means to PDs.

Like if you fail anatomy block 1 year 1 of medical school but go on and crush everything else, how much trouble are you actually in? Like can you not even apply for competitive specialties? How far down in the "competitive" spectrum can you attempt?

From what I've researched...PDs don't really care about pre-clinical grades. Obviously if you fail an entire course and your dean's letter/MSPE or whatever blatantly cites that then it might raise an eyebrow.

 

[Crayola227]

I know someone who had to repeat an entire *year*
they weren't going for an uber competitive specialty but they still got great interviews at great and even prestigious programs

there's someone I know.... cough... even better, who repeated gross anatomy, the first med school class, over the summer

it turned out to be a blessing in the disguise, Georgetown is one cadaver-based program that does summer gross anatomy make ups for medical students

staying in the dorm with the other med students from around the country is fun
food in the cafeteria downstairs is really good but spendy
get $50 bike from Target and sell it for the same on craigslist 6 weeks later when you leave
meanwhile, ride your bike to/from the dorm to the lab to beat that humid DC heat
just be sure to get a good U lock AND cable.... wheels get stolen
lab was 8 am to noon or whenever you were done
it goes by soooooo much faster your second time
enough time to study, the course is pretty easy to pass
then ride your bike a couple miles along the Potomac river to where all the action is
explore Dupont Circle
see every Smithsonian Museum - they're all free
Holocaust Museum is a must see too
ride the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument at night
the other monuments are best at night imho
contact your Congresspeople to get an intern-led private tour of the Capitol building
go the African district and try different types of African food
get Ethiopian, best in the country
I forget where the clubbing district is, but it was really fun and bikeable
a few blocks away from campus Georgetown cupcakes
you can order online for pickup and avoid the lines
Fourth of July in our nation's capitol... it doesn't get any better
day parade by the Washington Memorial
Concert on the Lawn of the Capitol... top artists, then fireworks

downside was the expense... your school might tell you that you have to pay out of pocket, but you can definitely get your aid extended to borrow the money to do it

not exactly vacation but you can make the best of it

 

[Crayola227]

remediating gross anatomy isn't the end of the world

didn't even make it into the MSPE - that typically just has comments from instructors about you as a human

the remediated grade will appear on transcripts

this didn't even come up on interviews AT ALL

this person was an otherwise average student from a well-regarded school, aimed for average academic programs

 

[mr.applesauce]

I know someone who had to repeat an entire *year*
they weren't going for an uber competitive specialty but they still got great interviews at great and even prestigious programs

there's someone I know.... cough... even better, who repeated gross anatomy, the first med school class, over the summer

it turned out to be a blessing in the disguise, Georgetown is one cadaver-based program that does summer gross anatomy make ups for medical students

Thanks for making the time to reply. I'm just bracing for the inevitable at this point. There was/is just so much to memorize that I couldn't keep up. I'm doing decent in my other courses though. Anatomy is the only class where I'm well below average compared to my peers.

 

[Crayola227]

Thanks for making the time to reply. I'm just bracing for the inevitable at this point. There was/is just so much to memorize that I couldn't keep up. I'm doing decent in my other courses though. Anatomy is the only class where I'm well below average compared to my peers.

no problem, it's my pleasure to come in and give real world hope

every school is different, some might have you repeat the year, others have you remediate in some other fashion
that said, knowing this isn't the end of the world might take some pressure off and help you succeed
reach out for help, my school gave me extra tutoring

spend as much time as you can stand in lab, that was an issue for me
I recommend studying other bodies too, I know it's hard enough getting it on your own cadaver, still

I won't lie, it's possible that this might mean you don't get an interview at Mayo for ortho
just do your best to get over this, you can do well in your other classes because there's really nothing quite like anatomy

the person who didn't pass anatomy got a respectable, not fantastic, Step 1 and Step 2 score

you really can get over these hiccups, for sure

 

[takeurmeds02]

I'm gonna be completely honest, it's bad. The people in my class who repeated were gossiped about, and I can't begin to imagine what they must have felt. Same with the people who failed step 1. it's a pretty big red flag for residency apps too. do w/e you can to not fail something.

To offer another perspective...I know a person who is currently repeating first year and we love them; no gossip at all. I've known people who had to remediate a few courses and they did fine. Most importantly, I know someone who had to repeat first year and is now an intern in an IM residency in a major city. You can still be successful.

What's done is done. Make sure you kill it the second time around and move on.

 

[Affiche]

Lol we've had a good number of people have to re-take exams because they failed the first one. We've also had a (smaller) handful of people have to remediate courses over the summer because of failure during the year. Not a big deal.

I guess people asked around about who was remediating because of natural curiosity, but once the cat was out of the bag the only talk that happened was regarding whether or not they were doing okay or if they needed any help. We all made it here, we're all smart, and we don't fail because we're stupid or incapable but likely because something else is going on.

I'm sorry about the M1 stress you're going through, OP. M1 sucks. Rest assured though that most of us also hated anatomy and it's just something you have to get through and get done. I passed anatomy by like 1% lol and I've scored very well in every other course in medical school since, so this doesn't have to mean anything if your **** is otherwise together. Good luck!

 

[mr.applesauce]

Lol we've had a good number of people have to re-take exams because they failed the first one. We've also had a (smaller) handful of people have to remediate courses over the summer because of failure during the year. Not a big deal.

I guess people asked around about who was remediating because of natural curiosity, but once the cat was out of the bag the only talk that happened was regarding whether or not they were doing okay or if they needed any help. We all made it here, we're all smart, and we don't fail because we're stupid or incapable but likely because something else is going on.

I'm sorry about the M1 stress you're going through, OP. M1 sucks. Rest assured though that most of us also hated anatomy and it's just something you have to get through and get done. I passed anatomy by like 1% lol and I've scored very well in every other course in medical school since, so this doesn't have to mean anything if your **** is otherwise together. Good luck!

I'm currently in your same situation right now because I'm passing by 2% and my next exam is going to be quite a bit more difficult. I'm also doing fine in my other classes...

 

[neoevolution]

I know anecdotally that the re-take exams for a couple of the harder preclinical courses had ~10% of our class in them. Failing those leads to a repeat of the course for us, but IDK how often that occurs (might be kept a little more quiet?)

 

[libertyyne]

Our school has roughly 5-12% of the class re-mediate anatomy in some fashion either through summer or repeat anatomy the following year. It is a brutal class to go through twice since there is full body dissection, I dont know how it impacts their schedule for year 2.