Exam Format

[PteFabulous]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how you are tested at you schools? As in do you have exams for each course, or one exam on a block of material including all your courses? Are the questions itself similar to USMLE format? Are they more technical, or clinical?

I attend a Caribbean school, and I'm getting very frustrated with the way the test us. I seem to do fine on BRS questions, and other practice questions, but for some reason i never do as well as I think I should on the exams.

Just looking for a bit of perspective. Please be nice.

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[jtlc2345]

This may not be useful for you as I attended a UK school, but our exams were as follows:

Pre-clinical - progress tests at the end of each block and then end of year exams covering everything taught that year that determined whether you went on to the next year - a mixture of MCQs and short answer questions.

Clinical year 1 - we cover general medicine, general surgery, orthopaedics. There is a written progress test in the middle of the year and then an end of year exam consisting of two written papers (best of fives) and then a 16-20 station OSCE (5 minutes each) covering a variety of situations like examinations, communication, history and ethics and law.

Clinical year 2 - a written paper (best of five) and OSCE (again, 16-20 stations of 5-7 minutes) at the end of each block - neurology and psychiatry, obstetrics and gynaecology/infectious diseases, paediatrics and family health.

Clinical year 3 - finals which comprise two written papers (best of five) and then 2 OSCEs, a short station (20 stations of 5 minutes much like as previously described) and a long station (9 stations of 10 minutes long consisting of examinations: cardio, resp, abdo, musculoskeletal, neuro, surgical, communication, ethics and law, evaluation of evidence/public health and one 30 minute history station).

As for the written papers, I have taken the USMLEs and to be honest they were pretty similar to our exams in that they are all based upon a clinical scenario - the main difference was that I had to learn the US terminology and epidemiology of US infections.

Jonathan

 

[phospho]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering how you are tested at you schools? As in do you have exams for each course, or one exam on a block of material including all your courses? Are the questions itself similar to USMLE format? Are they more technical, or clinical?

I attend a Caribbean school, and I'm getting very frustrated with the way the test us. I seem to do fine on BRS questions, and other practice questions, but for some reason i never do as well as I think I should on the exams.

Just looking for a bit of perspective. Please be nice.

So your problem is that your professors are focusing on technical info?

I always try to do the BRS questions in the end right before the test. It helped me mostly in Anatomy. I usually performed the same on the real thing. I felt most of my exams were very much like BRS (same focus on clinical).

We tend to have an exam every 2-3 weeks. So, usually, we have two exams and a final for each block. Everything's cumulative obviously. Our exams are very clinical, and are all written in USMLE multiple choice format (no short answer questions).

 

[loppnisimadona]

What is the exam format for the MCP and MCSA exam?

 

[sunset823]

We have computer-based multiple choice exams. They had testing computers they would set up for us, probably to simulate the USMLE format. During first year, we had separate exams for each subject, although multiple subject exams would be taken during one testing session (six for our first monster, but usually 2-3). We were tested every week during the fall, but had more of a midterm/final thing in the spring. Questions were a mixture of just facts and some clinical. Anatomy leaned to just facts, physio leaned more clinical.

I've heard during second year that the exams will not be separated by subject, but covering all the material we did during the unit, but it will be organ-systems based.

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

We have computer-based multiple choice exams. They had testing computers they would set up for us, probably to simulate the USMLE format. During first year, we had separate exams for each subject, although multiple subject exams would be taken during one testing session (six for our first monster, but usually 2-3). We were tested every week during the fall, but had more of a midterm/final thing in the spring. Questions were a mixture of just facts and some clinical. Anatomy leaned to just facts, physio leaned more clinical.

I've heard during second year that the exams will not be separated by subject, but covering all the material we did during the unit, but it will be organ-systems based.

Hi, my name is Fran, and Joe and I will be your proctors for today.....

 

[theVster]

Most medical school classes (at least where I go) do not really prepare you for the USMLE in terms of the types of questions they ask, the notable exceptions at my school being Anatomy and Micro/Immuno. They basically test directly off the lecture material but will ask varying questions of integrative format too.