Are Rotation years like school

[FSUMED]

For any of those folks who have been through it, are M3 and M4 years like regular school? I realize that you do rotations and stuff, but I would like to think that after my undergrad I will only have 2 years of classroom type learning situations left. I mean who wants to spend 8 years in and out of lecture halls. Also, How do you get graded on roations. Do you have tests in these years? I guess in general I would just like somebody to explain what exactly they consist of.

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[Annette]

Thank goodness rotations are not like the classroom years! But the hours are alot longer. Most of the day is spent in the hospital, with forays to the library. Often, there is reading to do when you get home as well. At my school, we have exams for 3rd year rotations, but they are only once every 15 weeks.

 

[tussy]

Third and Fourth years of medical school are very different from the rest of your post-secondary education.

At my school we had exams every 12 weeks. The exams were based on a book of objectives that were distributed at the beginning of third year.

Study was mostly done by independent reading (I read probably an average of an hour or 2 a day). We also had 3 or 4 hours of lecture a week as well.

The exams we had were multiple choice and OSCE (objective standardized clinidal exams). OSCE exams are basically an interview with a patient-actor where you either have to take a patient history or perform a physical exam. Usually there is a doctor sitting in the corner of the room grading you. Occasionally the doctor is the actor (pretending to be the patient). Some of my rotations also had oral exams. We also had to have a written evaluation from our preceptor for each rotation.

Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[Winged Scapula]

My final 2 years were similar to tussy's with oral, MCQ and OSCE exams during 3rd year. 4th year was pretty much exam free except for Psychiatry; some rotations required a short paper (except Psychiatry which required 2 long papers. Ugh...) or a presentation on a topic of my choice.

Grading will vary from school to school but is generally based on subjective evaluations as well as your clerkship exam score. Honors may require some additional work, a paper or presentation at some places, or may just be based on your wonderfulness at others.

We still had lectures, although not nearly as many as during the first two years and we were expected to attend Grand Rounds and other conferences. You are expected to read about your patients and the field at large - so don't think you can give up studying! The hours were much longer than in the first two years but *in general* more enjoyable and at times, much scarier (as you realize how close you are getting to being a doctor and how little you really know).

Hope this helps!