Exams in medical school

[MDmaybe]

I tried to search for this in the forumns but didn't find exactly what I was looking for...myabe someone can point me in the right direction.

I've heard that exam schedules vary greatly between medical schools. The example I was given is that Northwestern has about 6 exams a term, whereas Columbia has exams almost every monday.

For all I know, this could be completely false to begin with, but does anyone have any idea how these things work in general.

Thanks

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[Mattabet]

Well, I'll tell you how my schedule is going to work this semester (Medical College of Wisconsin, btw). There's an exam week about every month in which exams are taken for all the major courses, with a sprinkling of a few quizzes not on exam week. It comes out to a little less than a dozen exams over the course of the semester, counting the final.

 

[QofQuimica]

I tried to search for this in the forumns but didn't find exactly what I was looking for...myabe someone can point me in the right direction.

I've heard that exam schedules vary greatly between medical schools. The example I was given is that Northwestern has about 6 exams a term, whereas Columbia has exams almost every monday.

For all I know, this could be completely false to begin with, but does anyone have any idea how these things work in general.

Thanks

You're going to have to research each school individually. Exam schedules range from quizzes every single week at some schools to no exams for the whole first two years at others.

 

[Forthegood]

The goal is to avoid schools with quizzes/exams every week. That is a good way to encourage students to hang themselves with their stethescopes.

 

[RySerr21]

The goal is to avoid schools with quizzes/exams every week. That is a good way to encourage students to hang themselves with their stethescopes.

This isnts true at all. It may be for you, but you speak of it as if its some universal rule. You should do your own research and make the decision for yourself. There are drawbacks to every schedule. Why do you thikn there are so many options among schools? Some people will swear PBL is the worst way to learn medicine, and others will say they cant imagine learning it any other way. Everyone is differnt. Back to the test schedule, Im going to a school that has tests on a weekly basis (for the most part) and I think i would actually prefer this than having massive block tests every 6 weeks or whatever. There are people at my school that enjoy the test schedule and those that would prefer something else. To my knowledge, no one has committed suicide.

 

[Forthegood]

Yeah... I agree with him. I was just being facetious. I

MO, I would hate PBL and seriously hate test/quizzes every week. I feel like you need the occasional week of down-time from tests. You will move so quickly and have so much information to read/memorize/process that even the slightist break can be a godsend.

That being said, definitely ask the schools about their curriculum. And do not take simple full/partial blocks as an answer. Different schools do their blocks differently, so the words are meaningless. Find out exactly what you are getting yourself into. (These questions are often best served by students, so if you know someone...)

 

[Disinence2]

Test every week can be great.

The way it worked at my school for was, for first year you have Tests almost every week, sometimes multiple times per week. The advantage to this is that with so many tests its very hard to fail a course. You can have a few "bad days" and be fine. This reduces really reduces stress, and keeps you studying throughout the whole year, not just before exams.

Then 2nd year we moved to having just 1 big test every few weeks at the end of each PBL system. And that's it for your grade. If you have a bad day then you have to remediate.

3rd year its all shelf exams...

 

[Depakote]

My school varied block to block. Some were every few weeks, some were spaced out as far as every month and a half. One block had weekly quizzes between the tests, they were a very small percentage of the grade but I found them useful as they helped me keep up on the material and gave me a good feel for how I was doing in the class. There's nothing worse than studying for a month then seeing the exam and realizing you were looking at the wrong material or didn't have a good feel for the details they wanted you to know.

 

[Schemp]

Yeah, lazy as I am, I think I'd actually prefer to go to a school with weekly tests. I can't always motivate myself to start studying way in advance of a test date, but I can always do a few days in advance at least. If every test you take is only a few days away from the last one you studied for, there'd be no shortage of motivation!

 

[BlueElmo]

I would prefer weekly exams myself. Otherwise, I just wouldn't be motivated. It's a good idea.