Are exams spread out or on the same day during medical school?

[Satire5Texul]

Is it all in one week?
All in one day ?
Or are they fairly spread out ?

I am guessing its program specific...But was wondering if the different professors try to alleviate the load on students (foreshadowing: ) or conduct examinations without regard to the schedule.

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[trs88]

It's program specific. Some have exams weekly and some have block style. My block style is one sitting, all the exam questions jumbled up. I can have an anatomy question followed by histology and then back to an anatomy question - followed by 3 biochem in a row; it's random is what I'm rambling about.

Professors are human and know how hard the students have to work. A small example is that we have exams on Monday, and Tuesday was our Essentials of Patient Care lab practical - that consisted of all of the techniques we've learned on how to exam a patient using our tools. The professors had no clue that Monday was an exam Monday since all they did was submit their stuff to the person who makes the schedule. The professors spoke amongst themselves, rescheduled the lab practical for a future date and put something easy on that Tuesday (after the Monday exam) for us.

 

[Satire5Texul]

Okay cool thank you for sharing.

I didnt know the term "block exams", so nothing was coming up in search function.

Seems like people like the block schedule.

 

[lmn]

Totally dependent on the school and how they organize their blocks/schedules. When you apply/interview you can ask students about how they like it at their particular school, but really every school is different and I doubt you will really care once you're in it.

 

[Satire5Texul]

Totally dependent on the school and how they organize their blocks/schedules. When you apply/interview you can ask students about how they like it at their particular school, but really every school is different and I doubt you will really care once you're in it.

True lol I thought about this. Whever we get accepted is what we have. I was just wondering on the nature of exams in comparison to undergrad, because on the top 10 undergrad vs. medical school thread someone said that medical school feels like "finals week" from undergrad, every single week. So that got me thinking and was curious what exam week in medical school is like. Plus I have 4 exams several times next semester on the same date, so consolidation for that as well

 

[Law2Doc]

True lol I thought about this. Whever we get accepted is what we have. I was just wondering on the nature of exams in comparison to undergrad, because on the top 10 undergrad vs. medical school thread someone said that medical school feels like "finals week" from undergrad, every single week. So that got me thinking and was curious what exam week in medical school is like. Plus I have 4 exams several times next semester on the same date, so consolidation for that as well

It's such a different animal than undergrad that I'm not sure you have much of a useful frame of reference. It doesn't really matter if they spread out med school tests or not because the volume is so great that cramming simply won't work. So you won't really approach it too differently if your tests are on the same day, week or multiple weeks. You need to be studying and learning the material well before the test and have already done multiple passes through the material. and nothing you do the couple of days before the test better be other than mild review/refresher or you are already sunk. In undergrad you basically studied for the test the week before the test. In med school if you wait that long games over.

 

[LizzyM]

at my school, students take an exam every 6-8 weeks that covers absolutely everything covered in lectures and small group discussion since the last exam. This includes not only histology, anatomy and other medical science classes but bioethics, community health, and other "softer" subjects.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Depends on the school. At my school, we have two "classes" at a time which are organized into blocks. We have an exam after each block. Usually they're spread out by a couple of weeks, but once or twice this semester we have two exams in close proximity.

 

[Goro]

Some schools have exams literally every week.

I think one school has a mid term and then a final.

At my school it's roughly every three weeks.

 

[Satire5Texul]

at my school, students take an exam every 6-8 weeks that covers absolutely everything covered in lectures and small group discussion since the last exam. This includes not only histology, anatomy and other medical science classes but bioethics, community health, and other "softer" subjects.

Thank you, everyone for that matter.

Just to clarify. The students have one exam. On all the subjects covered. Its all condensed into one exam?

It's such a different animal than undergrad that I'm not sure you have much of a useful frame of reference. It doesn't really matter if they spread out med school tests or not because the volume is so great that cramming simply won't work. So you won't really approach it too differently if your tests are on the same day, week or multiple weeks. You need to be studying and learning the material well before the test and have already done multiple passes through the material. and nothing you do the couple of days before the test better be other than mild review/refresher or you are already sunk. In undergrad you basically studied for the test the week before the test. In med school if you wait that long games over.

I love your last sentence. Its motivating. I am trying to study every day for each subject as its presented right now and its working out well. I imagine you have to do that and x 10000 for medical school.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

We have blocks that last about 9 weeks. We have an exam every 3 weeks basically. The last week of the block we have 3 tests. On that Monday we have an anatomy practical covering all the labs from the block. On that Wednesday we have our third block exam. On that Friday we have a final exam that consists of questions pulled from the nbme bank on whatever subject we just covered. I kind of wish it were different, maybe have an exam every other week and a mini lab practical every 3 labs or something. It also sucks to only have 1.5 days to study for the final but if you learn the material well the first time it's not so bad.

To everyone considering different med schools, definitely take into account when the tests are. At my school the exams are always on Monday so we essentially never have a weekend without material hanging over our head. Yes it's nice to have the weekend to study but every once in a while it would be nice to be able to watch football all weekend guilt-free.

 

[Glandzburg]

We have a block system with 5 concurrent classes right now (Biochem, Genetics, Cell structure/function/histology, Epidemiology, and our "doctoring" course). Every 5 or so weeks, we have an exam week where we have all our tests within a few days. I love it because it allows a week or two after the exams to catch our breath a bit. Of course the week or two leading up to exams is not fun. But I would prefer that cyclic system over constantly worrying about an exam every week. I would be a lot less happy in anything other than a block system.

TL;DR - block systems are awesome

On that note, I am actually in the middle of exams with my last two tomorrow, so I should probably be getting off SDN now...

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you, everyone for that matter.

Just to clarify. The students have one exam. On all the subjects covered. Its all condensed into one exam?

Yes, multiple choice based on questions submitted by all the faculty who lectured during that period.

 

[Satire5Texul]

Wow I am seeing just how diverse the system is. I suppose like @FindMeOnTheLinks if you can choose between schools then you can look into how exams are administered.

Yes, multiple choice based on questions submitted by all the faculty who lectured during that period.

That sounds....amazing actually but what a beast that one test is. That is an awesome system, thank you for clarifying. I would rather have this one, or all exams on same date than any other system (if I had the preference).

Thank everyone for sharing your medical school system.
I was trying to psych myself up for having all exams on same date, using medical school as a comparison, so I would learn to cope with being ready for all material for that one day.

But as it was pointed out....totally different Beast

 

[Goro]

Ditto at our school. We don't mind teaching to the Boards.

Yes, multiple choice based on questions submitted by all the faculty who lectured during that period.

 

[Ad2b]

follow up question: what are shelf exams?

 

[WedgeDawg]

follow up question: what are shelf exams?

National standardized exams you take at the end of each rotation during your clinical year

 

[Ad2b]

National standardized exams you take at the end of each rotation during your clinical year

Thank you. Noticed your new banner - congrats!!

Are the shelf exams prepped for with something like BRS? or other materials?

 

[WedgeDawg]

Thank you. Noticed your new banner - congrats!!

Are the shelf exams prepped for with something like BRS? or other materials?

That is a question that I would ask the current third and fourth years that frequent here (I'm just a first year). And thank you!