Below Average Student to Honors?

[deleted1181738]

I am in my first year at a mid tier US MD school.

Our preclinical grades are pass/fail, however we do get a percentage on each exam. The class average tends to be around 87% and I consistently get about 83% on all the exams, with the exception of a couple classes that I really liked and did above average on. I would attribute my low scores to only studying about 3-5 hours per day, as I just found myself getting very distracted.

The problem I have is that I really wish to go into ENT. I realize that I need to fix my habits and put in more hours, however I now feel anxious over the thought of having ruined my chances as I cannot fathom catching up on all the studying I have missed out on in my 6 months of medical school.

Is it too late for me to turn it all around and excel at clerkships and step 2 enough to match ENT?

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[SillyGenius]

The class average tends to be around 87%

Is this normal for a med school? I feel like this may be abnormally high. The averages at my school are in the low 70s.

Is it too late for me to turn it all around and excel at clerkships and step 2 enough to match ENT?

Definitely not. You have been in school for about a semester. You can definitely turn things around. Use BB, BootCamp, and Sketchy, and then do the corresponding Anki. I've learned that this is the best way to study during pre-clinicals. Also, your average of 83% is pretty good. That is definitely not a score to be concerned about

 

[deleted1181738]

Is this normal for a med school? I feel like this may be abnormally high. The averages at my school are in the low 70s.


Definitely not. You have been in school for about a semester. You can definitely turn things around. Use BB, BootCamp, and Sketchy, and then do the corresponding Anki. I've learned that this is the best way to study during pre-clinicals. Also, your average of 83% is pretty good. That is definitely not a score to be concerned about

Thank you for your comment.

I am not sure if it is normal or not. I do know that several students have failed these exams so they must not be overly easy, but I also think that the questions are fairly straight forward. The questions I miss tend to be the minutiae that some of these PhDs insist we memorize and aren't found in any of the 3rd party resources. I have pretty much just been studying how you suggested and then last minute trying to cram these random things from my professors.

 

[SillyGenius]

Thank you for your comment.

I am not sure if it is normal or not. I do know that several students have failed these exams so they must not be overly easy, but I also think that the questions are fairly straight forward. The questions I miss tend to be the minutiae that some of these PhDs insist we memorize and aren't found in any of the 3rd party resources. I have pretty much just been studying how you suggested and then last minute trying to cram these random things from my professors.

Sounds like your exams are more prof based and not NBME based? I guess this means that you need to rely more on lectures and less on 3rd part resources. Have you tried going to office hours? Sometimes even when you know a topic well, the prof may drop a hint on what topics are going to be strongly represented on the exam. You could also try asking upperclassmen who have already taken the course on what topics to focus the most on

 

[operaman]

It’s definitely not too late but you need to make some changes and turn things around. Your preclinical grades may not matter much by themselves, but the knowledge base and its impact on future exams could. More than that, it’s the overall trajectory - rare is the student who scores below average on all their class exams but aces all the USMLE and nbme ones.

If you haven’t already, reach out to every possible academic resource at your school. If you’re not already utilizing free tutoring or any other kind of academic help, get on it.

Figure out the distraction thing. 3-5h may be under doing it just a bit. Hard to know until you dial it up more. You may find that the extra hours don’t make a difference, but it’s worth a shot. I feel like I did more like 8h a day - just treated it like a full time job. Those extra hours gave me more passes at the material and that definitely helped. Find a way to be more precise in your study, scheduling your time more carefully.

If you’re thinking ent, now is also a great time to reach out to your home department and start looking for research. Start figuring out who the good mentors are and start making connections. Academics are most important, but you can get some research and connections going with minimal extra time at this point. If your studies take up too much time, then you may want to start planning ahead to do a research year between M3 and M4.

You’ve got plenty of time left. Use it wisely and you’ve got a shot.

 

[HighwayVagabond]

It’s not too late. I highly recommend finding a tutor. I was about like you my first semester or two, and got an amazing tutor (senior medical student) who taught me how to assimilate material more efficiently and effectively and study smarter. I received all honors from that point on and graduated AOA. Utilizing a tutor is not just for those ‘struggling’ or failing. They can be helpful for any student at any level and I am so grateful I worked with one!

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

I am in my first year at a mid tier US MD school.

Our preclinical grades are pass/fail, however we do get a percentage on each exam. The class average tends to be around 87% and I consistently get about 83% on all the exams, with the exception of a couple classes that I really liked and did above average on. I would attribute my low scores to only studying about 3-5 hours per day, as I just found myself getting very distracted.

The problem I have is that I really wish to go into ENT. I realize that I need to fix my habits and put in more hours, however I now feel anxious over the thought of having ruined my chances as I cannot fathom catching up on all the studying I have missed out on in my 6 months of medical school.

Is it too late for me to turn it all around and excel at clerkships and step 2 enough to match ENT?

83% is still very good.

I was always in the 10th-25th percentile scorer on every single one of my preclinical exams and now in the 50 to 75th percentile of clinical shelves (except peds. f*ck peds) and 75th-90th percentile on clerkship evals. Still waiting on step 2.

Biggest changes I made was getting treated for any underlying health/psych conditions, consistent Anki usage, and relying significantly more on Qbanks for studying.

Is this normal for a med school? I feel like this may be abnormally high. The averages at my school are in the low 70s.

This is normal at my school. I think our preclinical averages were at/near 84% every single time.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Have you started research? This is much more important than grades (aside from step 2 of course), although you need both to be competitive

 

[Styrene]

I am in my first year at a mid tier US MD school.

Our preclinical grades are pass/fail, however we do get a percentage on each exam. The class average tends to be around 87% and I consistently get about 83% on all the exams, with the exception of a couple classes that I really liked and did above average on. I would attribute my low scores to only studying about 3-5 hours per day, as I just found myself getting very distracted.

The problem I have is that I really wish to go into ENT. I realize that I need to fix my habits and put in more hours, however I now feel anxious over the thought of having ruined my chances as I cannot fathom catching up on all the studying I have missed out on in my 6 months of medical school.

Is it too late for me to turn it all around and excel at clerkships and step 2 enough to match ENT?

Nice username. Ask your peers what resources they are using, and if there are any identified as high yield or particularly helpful by your peers that you are not using, start using them. For example, my friend from another school did not do well on the the first couple anatomy tests, and then she found out that other students were using some review book that streamlined the studying process.