Exam Scores

[Biology1234567]

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In undergraduate school, students can range from a 30/100 on an O-chem exam to a 100/100 in a biology exam. Doe students in medical school have a wide range of exam scores as well? For example, is it not uncommon for some students to get a 60/100 on an Anatomy or Biochem exam, or 70/100? Is it actually uncommon for a student to get a 95/100 or 100/100? I just had this random thought today and wanted to ask it on here. Thanks!

 

[Gimlet]

In undergraduate school, students can range from a 30/100 on an O-chem exam to a 100/100 in a biology exam. Doe students in medical school have a wide range of exam scores as well? For example, is it not uncommon for some students to get a 60/100 on an Anatomy or Biochem exam, or 70/100? Is it actually uncommon for a student to get a 95/100 or 100/100? I just had this random thought today and wanted to ask it on here. Thanks!

Exams at our school tend to range the whole gamut. There are always a few people who get 100% or only one wrong on a test, and there's always at least one person who totally bombs the test and gets a 50%. I don't think they're necessarily the same people each time and across subjects, though (i.e., the same guy who might have aced the biochem exam could be the guy who failed the anatomy exam). Overall, I think scores tend to follow a Gaussian distribution pretty consistently.

 

[45408]

our exam averages are usually between 80 and 90, although someone usually gets a 100, and somebody usually bombs it for whatever reason (I had one really low exam score because I had no idea what to expect for the class)

 

[deleted77919]

The mean in nearly all of my undergrad courses (lots of chemistry and physics) was much, much lower than anything in medical school. Most med school exams remind me of college biology, memorize a bunch of facts and you will do well. The trick is spending the requisit time to memorize all the facts. Averages are usually 80-85 with an SD of 5 or so. Passing is a 70, or 2 SD's below the mean, whichever is lower.

In ugrad chem and physics required being able to apply broad concepts to unique problems and thus a 50% could represent a very good score.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

At my school, the exam means are usually in the 80s somewhere -- in the harder classes, it's usually around an 82 and in the less challenging classes, it's in the 85 or so range. Oh yeah, in the easy classes like human behavior, it winds up being around 89. This is with a standard deviation of about 10. However, the score ranges usually go from 50 or so to 100.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Our exam averages are are usually in the mid 70s, but for easier classes may be in the high 70s. Occasionally they reach to the low 80s. People rarely get 100, but a few people may get only a few wrong and end up with a 95 or something. Generally about 10-15% of the class fails any given exam. There are usually 1-3 outliers with something in the 40s or 50s.

If you take out the outliers, it tends to look like a fairly tight bell curve.

 

[SeventhSon]

higher, of course. A hard MC test can still never touch a hard free response test

 

[anon-y-mouse]

What I see a lot of is a whole bunch of scores concentrated in a central region, like from 85-95 will be much of the class, then it tapers down... and a handful of people will fail, but still, it seems that many people have scores quite near each other "at the top".

 

[MarzMD]

higher, of course. A hard MC test can still never touch a hard free response test

I am going to have to disagree with this one. I had hard free response questions in UG, but at least I could use my knowledge of the big picture to come up with an answer. MC with 1 of the above, 2 of the above, or none of the above are correct are just annoying and make it so that you need to know every factoid in every answer choice to get the question correct.

 

[Kris1]

I am going to have to disagree with this one. I had hard MC questions in UG, but at least I could use my knowledge of the big picture to come up with an answer. MC with 1 of the above, 2 of the above, or none of the above are correct are just annoying and make it so that you need to know every factoid in every answer choice to get the question correct.

Agreed... I've never had a free response or essay answer test that I couldn't sound at least somewhat intelligent about and get plenty of partial credit. Our MC tests are so nit-picky and require that we memorize every last detail.

 

[Critical Mass]

At my school, the exam means are usually in the 80s somewhere -- in the harder classes, it's usually around an 82 and in the less challenging classes, it's in the 85 or so range. Oh yeah, in the easy classes like human behavior, it winds up being around 89. This is with a standard deviation of about 10. However, the score ranges usually go from 50 or so to 100.

Agree with this. Toss in biostats with the introductory psych stuff.

Maybe 10% score below passing (70%) at my house on any given exam (sans the heretofore-mentioned pud classes).

 

[Mardi-Bob]

Agreed... I've never had a free response or essay answer test that I couldn't sound at least somewhat intelligent about and get plenty of partial credit. Our MC tests are so nit-picky and require that we memorize every last detail.

Well, the hardest exams I ever had in UG were Free Response tests that were severely limited.

E.G. The question would be up to a half a page long, but the prof. only allowed one sentence answers. Basically taking out any chance that you can B.S. your way through it. 👎

But over all M.C. exam can usually be made harder then normal F.R. exams which are usually quite easy to B.S. your way through.

On the main topic, I would think that MS exam avg. would be significantly higher then UG avg. since all(or at least most) of the dead weight has been removed. 😀

 

[anon-y-mouse]

I am going to have to disagree with this one. I had hard MC questions in UG, but at least I could use my knowledge of the big picture to come up with an answer. MC with 1 of the above, 2 of the above, or none of the above are correct are just annoying and make it so that you need to know every factoid in every answer choice to get the question correct.

You are absolutely right about "none of the above" and "all of the above" (and perhaps to an extent "2 of the above") being horrible m/c questions. I believe it is an AAMC directive to eliminate these answers, and this ought to trickle down to the various schools, depending on how much your deans / faculty committees adhere to guidelines.

 

[SoCuteMD]

On the main topic, I would think that MS exam avg. would be significantly higher then UG avg. since all(or at least most) of the dead weight has been removed. 😀

Well, the class averages may be higher (or may not, as was the case in a few of my classes this semester) but remember you are taking the top students and then forcing them into a pretty bell curve.

That first test HURTS.

 

[SeventhSon]

ok i am biased. You guys have obviously never taken an upper-division math or engineering class.

 

[Kris1]

ok i am biased. You guys have obviously never taken an upper-division math or engineering class.

You've obviously never taken an upper level History of Cheeses of the World exam. That last question on gorgonzola was BRUTAL!

 

[SoCuteMD]

ok i am biased. You guys have obviously never taken an upper-division math or engineering class.

If pchem counts then I have (and trust me, even if pchem doesn't count - mine did). Ouch ouch ouch.

I could still fake my way through a pchem test (particle in a box what?!?!) way better than I can bs my way through anatomy and biochem crap.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

ok i am biased. You guys have obviously never taken an upper-division math or engineering class.

Nah, you're just acting all superior by saying that something else you did was harder than taking medical school exams. That's blasphemy around these parts. 😉

 

[browniegirl86]

Our class averages are usually around 85. I have no idea the actual range.

But as far as actual "grades" go, they range from P to F 🙂

 

[Critical Mass]

But as far as actual "grades" go, they range from P to F 🙂

UCSF--I knew that there was a reason why that school has a strong reputation. I think that system is definitely the way to go.

👍

 

[browniegirl86]

UCSF--I knew that there was a reason why that school has a strong reputation. I think that system is definitely the way to go.

👍

Oh God yes. When people ask me what I think is the most important thing to think about when choosing a med school, I always say it's the straight-up P/F schedule. I can only imagine how miserable school would be if we had grades.

Seriously. 😎

 

[Critical Mass]

I can only imagine how miserable school would be if we had grades.

Unfortunately I'm a case study of said misery. 👎 ABCDF

 

[MarzMD]

Oh God yes. When people ask me what I think is the most important thing to think about when choosing a med school, I always say it's the straight-up P/F schedule. I can only imagine how miserable school would be if we had grades.

Seriously. 😎

Yea, A,B, C, F with a minimum of 2.5 or you repeat. If I would have known that med school would be like this, I would have applied to nothing but P/F schools.

 

[Critical Mass]

Yea, A,B, C, F with a minimum of 2.5 or you repeat. If I would have known that med school would be like this, I would have applied to nothing but P/F schools.

Yeah but those seem to be the ones that only the best applicants can get into.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Yeah but those seem to be the ones that only the best applicants can get into.

And there's the catch. 🙁

 

[Dr. McDreamy]

Wow, and here i was thinking that my school was rife with grade inflation, with averages usualy around 85%. I guess that's what it always is.

 

[45408]

You are absolutely right about "none of the above" and "all of the above" (and perhaps to an extent "2 of the above") being horrible m/c questions. I believe it is an AAMC directive to eliminate these answers, and this ought to trickle down to the various schools, depending on how much your deans / faculty committees adhere to guidelines.

I don't have a problem with all of the above, because you only need to recognize two of the options, but none of the above is a horrible option to have. You need a really good handle on the material to pick that.

 

[deleted77919]

And don't forget the choice a) abc, but not de choice b) abcd, but not e c) cde, but not ab d) bcde, but not a e) ab, but not cde. Those drive me crazy.

 

[CHAINCHOMPER]

I hate to bump up an old thread, but after reading through this topic, it got me thinking...are ALL your medical schools have exam averages in the 80-85 range? In our class, the average for one test was in the 80s once. After that, everything was usually in the 72-76 range with one exception below a 70.

I dunno if our professors are planning on challenging us a lot, and just ranking us off of one another, and part of me is scared they are not going to curve

 

[vtucci]

Our second year classes tended to average around 82. Our students did well on NBME shelf exams during third year and were consistently above the national average but this does not as easily equate to a score of 75, 80, 85 etc.

 

[WellWornLad]

...are ALL your medical schools have exam averages in the 80-85 range?

Yes, ALL my medical schools have exam averages pretty close to 85. And by ALL, I mean the one I go to. And I could count the number of times that someone in the class didn't get 100% on one hand.

 

[PreMD86]

Our averages have been 87+/-2 points all year long. A couple exams were in the low 90s, but we've never had an average lower than 85.

 

[HPSPpayissues]

Where do you guys go to school? Our averages are around mid to high 70's or low 80's.
Do you guys get easy tests or something? Averagse being 85 with SD 5? WTF?

 

[MediumDef]

Where do you guys go to school? Our averages are around mid to high 70's or low 80's.
Do you guys get easy tests or something? Averagse being 85 with SD 5? WTF?

I wouldn't get too concerned about other schools means, for the most part the professor has at a least a few years of experience administering exams and sometimes you get a professor who wants the mean to be around 75 and sometimes one who wants it at 85.

Bottom line is unless the mean for your class at your school is significantly lower than previous years it doesn't really mean anything.

Bottom bottom line unless YOUR score is significantly below the mean for your class it doesn't really mean anything.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Where do you guys go to school? Our averages are around mid to high 70's or low 80's.
Do you guys get easy tests or something? Averagse being 85 with SD 5? WTF?

Grades are only a relative indicator to your immediate peers, doesn't mean anything to compare one school's test avg to another's. That's why we have the USMLE.

 

[Re3iRtH]

I hate to bump up an old thread, but after reading through this topic, it got me thinking...are ALL your medical schools have exam averages in the 80-85 range? In our class, the average for one test was in the 80s once. After that, everything was usually in the 72-76 range with one exception below a 70.

I dunno if our professors are planning on challenging us a lot, and just ranking us off of one another, and part of me is scared they are not going to curve

Hey, I was thinking the exact same thing as you. Our exam averages tend
to be in the high 70s or low 80s at best.