Failed a block of medical school and extremely distressed...

[nope80]

Hi everyone,
I just got my grade for one of the two first year medical school blocks that I completed this year and I failed the most recent For anatomy we had 9 exams and so we had a large # to be judged upon. For the second block, we only had two exams and the passing score was 68. I failed the first one and wasn't able to score high enough on the second to bring my overall average up high enough. I'm extremely depressed by this. The first time, I caught a stupid cold a week before the exam, fell behind, and while desperately tried to catch up, just couldn't. I'm extremely frustrated as I just got a call from our office of med education saying that I have to meet with the dean, etc. I just feel so ashamed of myself beyond my ability to describe. I don't know what the implications of this are for residency match but either way I want to make sure that this doesn't happen again. Can anyone give some words of comfort or wisdom?
When I look back on this block and ask myself what specifically I had so much trouble with, I think it boils down to several things. 1) I have a lot of trouble staying on schedule with the material - when we have like 3/4 lectures per day, it takes me SO long to go through them, read books, take notes, let alone actually memorize and learn the material. Once you fall the slightest behind in these courses, its almost impossible to catch up. 2) I have found that since our exams are a compilation of all of the questions put together by the various instructors, that the nature of the questions varies a lot. Sometimes, I will get a given lecturers questions all write and then another prof will decide to create these complicated, clinical usmle style questions that I haven't been prepaired for yet, and I'm thrown for a loop. I guess thats my own fault and I have to work harder at that...but along the same lines, i'm sure this is the case at every med school, but our exams are SO extremely detail oriented. Profs tend to ask questions about a little detail from some random chart tucked in one of the ppt slides - how do you all actually know when you have studied everything and are ready? How do you account for so much detail in such a large quantity?
Anyway, sorry for my rant but any any help, advice, insight, anything would really be appreciated. Thanks!

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[njbmd]

Have a look at this recent thread Failing a class/block in Medical School

 

[smq123]

I'm extremely frustrated as I just got a call from our office of med education saying that I have to meet with the dean, etc. I just feel so ashamed of myself beyond my ability to describe.

I'm know - it's very frustrating. But I don't think that you need to be so ashamed of yourself. You didn't do well in one block, but it doesn't mean that the rest of your career is over or that you don't deserve to be in med school. It'll be okay.

I don't know what the implications of this are for residency match but either way I want to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

Well, I wouldn't plan on matching into derm or integrated plastics, but other than those things, you should not even notice a difference.

I have a lot of trouble staying on schedule with the material - when we have like 3/4 lectures per day, it takes me SO long to go through them, read books, take notes, let alone actually memorize and learn the material. Once you fall the slightest behind in these courses, its almost impossible to catch up.

Sometimes, I will get a given lecturers questions all write and then another prof will decide to create these complicated, clinical usmle style questions that I haven't been prepaired for yet, and I'm thrown for a loop. I guess thats my own fault and I have to work harder at that...but along the same lines, i'm sure this is the case at every med school, but our exams are SO extremely detail oriented. Profs tend to ask questions about a little detail from some random chart tucked in one of the ppt slides - how do you all actually know when you have studied everything and are ready? How do you account for so much detail in such a large quantity?

With 3-4 lectures per day, I don't know if it should be taking you that long to go through them. How long is it taking you, exactly? Do you really need to read multiple books to understand it - or do you think that maybe just reading ONE really good textbook (while sacrificing some details) would be enough? I don't know - it's up to you to figure it out.

That's true - all exams at all med schools focus on detail. If possible, go back over your tests, and figure out what the problem was. Did you miss easy questions that DIDN'T test on tiny details? Did you run out of time? Analyze your test performance objectively, and I'm sure you'll figure out how to do really well from now on. Don't let it get you down! Just keep forging ahead. Good luck!

 

[ANCAdoc]

Don't sweat it! Just give a good effort the second time around...do you have to repeat the block, re-take a department exam, or re-take an NBME shelf exam?

A good number of students have to repeat an exam every year to pull a pass in a course. It likely will not affect your residency chances at all. Just try to figure out how to study more efficiently and do your best. The meeting with your dean is standard practice and he will probably try to set you up with a mentor if you need one and make sure you have a good plan in place to succeed the second time.

Keep in mind that years 3/4 are totally different than 1/2 and in some cases your personal interactions with program directors and influential physicians can write your ticket into a competitive field (even without SDN-like Step 1 scores where everyone has at least a 230). Grades aren't everything, board scores aren't everything. Your entire application is what counts.

 

[Instatewaiter]

OP:
I can understand why you are feeling so low but you have to realize that a lot of people end up failing a block in medical school. It is surprisingly common.

Med schools understand this and are going to do their best to get you to the level at which you need to be. For example, at my school the adminstration guides us to get tutored and we have a study skills office that aids those students who need it. Next if the person fails the class they get remediated (either take class over summer or take another final to allow them to pass the class). If they fail two classes they repeat the year. To give you an idea of how often this happens, we lost 5 people in my class last year who are currently with the M1s. Most of those will pass and move on.

The school made an investment in you and wont want to lose that investment. They will do their damnedest to make sure you finish medical school.

Your dean is going to be understanding and even better will help you get to where you need to be. He/She has dealt with this kind of thing in the past and should be able to help you. The worst thing you can do in medical school is not ask for help when you need it.



I figure there must be a few things wrong with the way that you study so if you dont mind I'll offer some things that have helped me:

I like to make 'review sheets' for each lecture. A lot of the time I used to spend studying for an exam is synthesizing the information into a format that I could absorb. By doing these sheets each day I keep myself on track and maximize the time I spend before the exam actually learning the material.

4 lectures a day make it really easy to fall behind. When I get behind I find that if I try and catch up first (before working on that day's material), I will get further and further behind. What worked best to catch up was to make sure to finish that day's material before you try and catch up. It may take several days to catch up, but if you make sure to get that day's material out of the way at least you wont get further behind.

Personally I like to try and get through all of the material for a given test a day or two early. There are connections between lectures that you just can't make until you have synthesized the information. This takes time.

Make sure to exercise- when I get really stressed out I am much less efficient in my studying. I get distracted easily and end up day-dreaming about what would happen if I do poorly on the exam. I am basically paralyzed by stress. When I exercise that is much, much less. Despite the half hour I spend in the gym everyday, I get much more done and end up being much, much less stressed out. Personally I do weights and 15 min cardio a day. It works wonders.

Get plenty of sleep- again, if you are stressed you work worse.

Make lists of things you should cover when studying- instead of feeling like you have a mountain of material to go through, you will know exactly what needs to be done. This will help organize you, should help de-stress you and will keep you from forgetting something important.

Pre-reading- helps but I rarely have time to do this.

 

[atyourservice]

I know exactly what you mean--keeping up with 4-5 hours of intense lectures per day, plus extra reading is really difficult. I've really found the best way to remember lots of material long-term is to just read over as much as possible from lecture that day, even if it doesn't feel like it's "sticking." You'd be surprised that many of those details fall into place later, after you have the big picture already learned/re-read. (I'm a big-picture first, details second kind of a guy)

Don't give up, my bet is the faculty will work with you to help you get through this on the road to being a great doctor.

 

[nope80]

Thanks everyone for your words of encouragement!
In terms of remediation, apparently a committee has to meet to decide on whether they will allow you to remediate (?) I think this is just a rubber stamping type committee and that they will definitely approve because in the course booklet it states that if you fail more than one block you have to take the whole year over but if you fail one block you just have to arrange to take a "remediation exam". (But just reading about how there is a committee that reviews your file, makes decisions about your progress, etc scares the hell out of me).

I definitely agree that I have to give myself 1-2 days before the exam to review but I have never managed to do this - i am always learning the weeks material right up to the exam. The way our school works is that we have lectures all the way up till thursday, review sessions on thursday and then exam on friday - so basically one day where there is no new material and no weekend in between to actually synthesize the material of that week. That always kills me.
When people say that you should try to read ahead - how do you go about doing this? I don't exactly have a single textbook that I use for a give class - every lecturer seems to focus on a different thing and it *seems* that you really have to go by their ppt slides. Thats what they really test on. Right now we are doing a pharm/biochem/histo/physio block - the books I have used so far are lippincotts biochem, boron physiology, and a book for pharm whose authors name isnt coming to mind now. Another issue that I have (and I don't know if this is common or not) but I don't seem to learn anything in lecture. Its very difficult for me to synthesize in lecture - I have to teach it to myself afterwards and that usually takes a long time. Sometimes I will go to the library take out the book, read it, take notes, look back at the ppt, and i'll be okay...but for some topics, I just won't understand the material, keep trying to go at it myself, and thats when I fall behind. On the last exam, which was mostly biochem, histo and a little physio, I was on top of the material up to the 2nd week (our exam involved glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, ketone bodies, oxidative phosphorylation, etc - all of those pathways). I had made notes and just kept reviewing to shove all of the material, names of enzymes, clinical correlates, etc into my head. Along comes the third week (our exam was on the friday) and here we have 10 more lectures (most of which I found to be extremely technically challenging) on cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle function. Thats when I fell behind, didn't *really* grasp the material to the degree that was necessary to answer the highly clinical questions. The rest of the test was "okay" but of course there were questions here and there that were so detail oriented that I just couldn't believe that out of all of the questions a professor could have asked about a given topic, they chose that particular one. Anyway, I shouldn't blame this on anyone but myself. I can't change the system, i can only work with it..and for now, I have to figure out how I change my habits such that I do the best I am able to do. Its also very hard for me to actually admit that I did so poorly - it hurts the ego so bad and its going to be even harder to admit that I need "help" to the dean of our med school. Jeez, what a mess I have gotten myself into.
Sorry for the vent

 

[umza]

what I found helpful was to stop worrying about getting "caught up" but I would start to study ahead, making sure that I had read my lectures for the
next day, study the anatomy before the anatomy lab, do the tutorial material and the readings before the tutorial that way, I could sit through a complicated lecture and the stuff would reinforce that which I had tried to teach myself the previous night. So long as you can stay ahead that way, you have more time to go back and "catchup" that which you had let lapse,
or even punt-it, risking the chance of a question on that portion of material.

You can't learn it all the first time around and the board exams of third and
fourth year are reiterations of material that you have already learned...
repetition is key. You will understand it all sooner or later, and then there will be new evidence.

 

[smq123]

Its also very hard for me to actually admit that I did so poorly - it hurts the ego so bad and its going to be even harder to admit that I need "help" to the dean of our med school. Jeez, what a mess I have gotten myself into.

Awww...(big hug). It's okay - no need to beat yourself up for it.

So look at it this way - you just learned one of THE hardest lessons for a doctor to learn: how to ask for help. Knowing how/when to ask for help is crucial as a doctor, but it's one of those things that you have to learn the hard way (it seems).

And don't beat yourself up, really - you didn't pass one block. There's no reason why this means that you won't be a good doctor, or you won't be a good med student, or why your career is over. It'll all be okay. You're not the first, and you certainly won't be the last. There's no reason to get embarrassed or ashamed. Just pick yourself up and do better next time. That's all.

In terms of remediation, apparently a committee has to meet to decide on whether they will allow you to remediate (?) I think this is just a rubber stamping type committee and that they will definitely approve because in the course booklet it states that if you fail more than one block you have to take the whole year over but if you fail one block you just have to arrange to take a "remediation exam". (But just reading about how there is a committee that reviews your file, makes decisions about your progress, etc scares the hell out of me).

It's just a formality. Don't stress out too much about it.

Another issue that I have (and I don't know if this is common or not) but I don't seem to learn anything in lecture. Its very difficult for me to synthesize in lecture - I have to teach it to myself afterwards and that usually takes a long time.

Does your school record lectures? If so, then don't go to lecture - stay home and listen to the lectures. This will let you learn at your own pace, and allow you to pause/rewind whenever there's something that you don't understand.

When people say that you should try to read ahead - how do you go about doing this? I don't exactly have a single textbook that I use for a give class - every lecturer seems to focus on a different thing and it *seems* that you really have to go by their ppt slides. Thats what they really test on. Right now we are doing a pharm/biochem/histo/physio block - the books I have used so far are lippincotts biochem, boron physiology, and a book for pharm whose authors name isnt coming to mind now.

Are you focussing on the right details? And do you really feel like you need to read Boron for physio? I'm just asking because Costanzo's BRS physio is excellent, and usually enough to help you understand the key concepts.

It sounds like you really need to know when not to review certain things. If you don't find the time to go over one lecture in depth - fine. If it means that you have some time to review 5 other lectures, then it's worth it. Sometimes you just have to take the hit.

It also sounds like you need a plan. For instance, plan on doing at least 2 hours worth of review questions the two days before the exam - even if it means sacrificing in-depth review of some lectures. Being able to answer those review questions and knowing certain key concepts cold will be worth it.

Good luck!

 

[humuhumu]

OP:
I figure there must be a few things wrong with the way that you study so if you dont mind I'll offer some things that have helped me:

I like to make 'review sheets' for each lecture. A lot of the time I used to spend studying for an exam is synthesizing the information into a format that I could absorb. By doing these sheets each day I keep myself on track and maximize the time I spend before the exam actually learning the material.

4 lectures a day make it really easy to fall behind. When I get behind I find that if I try and catch up first (before working on that day's material), I will get further and further behind. What worked best to catch up was to make sure to finish that day's material before you try and catch up. It may take several days to catch up, but if you make sure to get that day's material out of the way at least you wont get further behind.

Personally I like to try and get through all of the material for a given test a day or two early. There are connections between lectures that you just can't make until you have synthesized the information. This takes time.

Make sure to exercise- when I get really stressed out I am much less efficient in my studying. I get distracted easily and end up day-dreaming about what would happen if I do poorly on the exam. I am basically paralyzed by stress. When I exercise that is much, much less. Despite the half hour I spend in the gym everyday, I get much more done and end up being much, much less stressed out. Personally I do weights and 15 min cardio a day. It works wonders.

Get plenty of sleep- again, if you are stressed you work worse.

Make lists of things you should cover when studying- instead of feeling like you have a mountain of material to go through, you will know exactly what needs to be done. This will help organize you, should help de-stress you and will keep you from forgetting something important.

Pre-reading- helps but I rarely have time to do this.

 

[OncHeme2B]

Failing one or two classes or repeating a year really isn't a big deal. Everyone knows med school is hard and the amount of junk you have to memorize is insane. Keep going up to your teachers and asking them for help (not in an annoying way, just so they know you care) as long as you eventually end up passing and don't keep on failing multiple classes, the promotions committee isn't going to kick you out.

 

[Blade28]

I like to make 'review sheets' for each lecture. A lot of the time I used to spend studying for an exam is synthesizing the information into a format that I could absorb. By doing these sheets each day I keep myself on track and maximize the time I spend before the exam actually learning the material.

God that's a great idea. I wish I had done that during med school!

It also sounds like you need a plan. For instance, plan on doing at least 2 hours worth of review questions the two days before the exam - even if it means sacrificing in-depth review of some lectures. Being able to answer those review questions and knowing certain key concepts cold will be worth it.

I agree that doing questions can be invaluable. Nothing helps quite as much to solidify your studying, test your understanding/comprehension, and bring all the important (read: testable) concepts together.

 

[OncoCaP]

I'm in Basic sciences. Here's what I'm finding works best for me: I take my notes as flash cards in lecture (I use RecallPlus, but there are plenty of other programs or paper cards, of course). I walk out of lecture with something that I can study. I don't even bother to take notes for the sake of a having a transcript. I skim through the books and syllabus and make flash cards.

I accept the fact that I won't remember many of the details. If necessary, I review and tweak the flash cards as I study (we have recorded lectures). I go back and listen to the lectures and work through the flash cards as I study. I'm spending more time studying the material as flash cards and less time staring at material with the osmotic method of memorization (passive staring). As I approach the test, I work STEP 1 board questions out of BRS review books or other board study sources about half the time and relisten to lectures and work my flash cards the other half of the time.

A lot of material is available as MP3's (instantanatomy.net) and I listen to those on my drive to school. There are pathology MP3's as well, and I plan to listen to those as well when we study that. I find that by seeing listening to, seeing, testing (flash cards, review questions), and working with the material I have an easier time remembering it. I have 3D anatomy software (Primal 3D) so I can go through an anatomy section without having to find a muscle or innervation in some figure tucked away somewhere (saves time flipping pages).

Our school has a lot of anatomy tutoring and practice tests. Take advantage of what your school offers in this regard (if it helps you). I shadow physicians from time to time, which inspires me to learn the material because I realize how important is to know this information or at least to know how to learn quickly.

Hang in there. I'm pretty sure that my school offers tutoring to any student that fails a test; probably your school does also. I would get all the help I could if I was having trouble. Classmates are usually pretty helpful in my experience with various tips and study guides. Finally keep medicine in perspective. From what I can tell, medicine is a rewarding career, but there are plenty of other rewarding careers out there if in the highly unusual case it doesn't work out. Just do your best and good things will happen to you eventually.

 

[TitoMD]

I know of people who failed a block, they remediated and they moved on. I can only imagine how dissapointed you are, as I know you have put in the work! I have done very well in med school (Thanks to God) and this is what works for me.

1. I don't read any outside books, if I don't understand something I e-mail my professor, if they don't do a good job I meet with them in person or after class. With that said, I read my notes over and over and over... you get the point. It doesn't matter if I don't get every detail the first time, as long as I get the big picture, the repetition will take care of the details in the end. By doing this, by the time the test comes I have gone through my notes close to 10 times!

2. The day before the test do practice problems. I said I don't use outside books to read, but I use the BRS series, Robbins Question Books to guide myself by doing practice questions and this shows me what is important. In my schools professors give us formative questions to guide us to the "type" of questions for the exam. So the day before I spend at least 4 hours just doing questions and reading why the answers are wrong or right.

Well I know this seems kind of bare and not enough. But I have Honored all my classes but one with this method and I know of other friends who approach it this way and excel also. In the end, you will pull through and maybe this is a blessing in disguise and the motivation you need to step it up to another level that you are capable of. Best of luck and God bless you, He will guide you through!

 

[docofmedicine]

Hey,

I know how you feel. I've also had a really hard time trying to find the best way to study and I think I've found what works for me. Don't beat yourself up for not working hard enough, you're only human. Med school is hard! It's easy to get depressed and overwhelmed, and I speak from experience. Take it one day at a time. Stay positive & reward yourself for how far you've come. Don't let the type A personalities in your class get to you, just focus on your own progress & learn for the sake of learning. I think the problem is just finding the right study strategies and making the learning active! But once you've got a system down, it works. I'll tell you what I've learned and the advice I've gained from others:

1. Get the big picture of every lecture first & then fill in the details later. this is soo important. One can do this by reading the lecture notes 2-3 times quickly in about an hour & then write out 5-8 major concepts or questions. at least for me, this is how I make sense of the material before I attempt to commit it to memory.

2. Control stress & try to find some balance, i know, it's better said than done. but make sure you eat well, exercise a couple a times each week, try to keep a regular sleep cycle and take time to relax/chill with friends and family/nurture your other interests -- this is what keeps you sane! also there's no point in staying up until 2 am if nothing is going in. Listen to your body or else you'll get burned out.

3. REPETITION. This is key! Aim to pass over the material at least 4 times for something to get into your long-term memory. Cognitive psych research has shown that you will be able to retain information if you review within 24 hours after you study, then every 7 days later. That's how you keep it fresh - you'll be amazed by how much you retain that way. Know that you aren't going to get all the details down the first or second time round. that's fine.

4. Do what you can to avoid cramming/rote memorization. it just doesn't pay in med school (again, speaking from personal experience). Try to leave at least a day or 2 to have covered everything. besides, you want to know most of this material for the boards and beyond, not just for the test.

5. Join a study group. You can learn a lot if you share knowledge amongst your peers. One of the best ways of seeing if you know the material well is to explain it to someone else. Also, if each member came up with 2 mcq of each lecture and everyone discussed/went through them its really helpful.

As for me, in the last block I folded under pressure and went to every lecture (we have 3-5 per day) & all it did was eat up my time & make me more stressed out. I even preread beforehand and reviewed after, yet I felt like I wasn't retain the material as effectively as if I studied the same material on my own & read the accompanying text. Plus I was getting really burned out day after day. Hence, I've decided to forgo most lectures. I've looked at the week's course schedule, reorganized it in a sequence that I saw fit and and have planned out my week so that I will self-study 3 lectures a day. So long as I've cover all the material from that week, I should be fine. This permits time in the evening for me to relax, eat well, exercise and sleep.

Note that by studying each lecture I mean:
1. actively reading the same material several times quickly until I get a sense of the material well, sometimes reading along with the reference text. i read/think outloud/ask questions to myself so that i don't lose focus and make sure I understand. (about an hour)
2. conceptualizing/processing/reorganizing the material, by making a study aid, ie no more than 1-2 pages of trigger words, drawing up a concept map, or flashcards whatever i think will help me remember the lecture. (this shouldn't take more than 30 - 45 mins, depending on the lecture) By then I'm done with that lecture for that day.
3. the following day, and this is really important, is making sure I remember what I've studied so I would basically take an hour or so in the morning and quiz myself on what I remember by going over my study aid/lecture notes and make sure that I'm able to recite concepts from memory. if i don't get it then, i read that part of the lecture over again. If something doesn't make sense, i email the prof/ask someone.

By the time the weekend comes around, hopefully I've covered more or less all of the lectures. This is when I would try view most of the lectures online as a review on 1.5 speed (taking about 20 mins) to see if the prof adds anything to what I already know. By then, i should be confident that I know most of the material, and that in a week I should just briefly look at the same material again to keep it fresh. Working through questions help too.

Please refer to the following resources that I found were helpful:

http://hsc.unm.edu/som/fcm/CNAH/docs/handbook_2004.pdf

Everyone has their own way of getting through the material. So long as you first try to get the big picture and then build time in for multiple revisions you will do well enough to pass. Best of luck & for the new year!

 

[OncHeme2B]

You will do it! Stay strong! Good luck

 

[45408]

It happens, and to a lot more people than you probably think. I failed my first neuro exam by a wide margin, and I felt horrendous. Never mind that I'd scored a moderate amount above average on our phys exam, I felt like a giant idiot for failing a neuro exam. If this is the only time it happens to you, then it really isn't that big of a deal. The advice already posted is very good, so I just wanted to let you know that it happens to lots of people.

 

[realgraverobber]

Whatever the problem is, try to fix it. Biggest predictor of failing later (2, 3, or 4th year) is failing in first year. Hopefully you have more strikes you can use. If not, perhaps line up another school or reapply to go elsewhere.

Example:
A school with the magic number of 3 fails dismisses you. 2 are used in first year. That leaves 3 years where you critically can not fail, or you are dismissed.

I do not agree with this sort of policy, but it is the way many schools write their rules.

Medicine sucks.

 

[Law2Doc]

Biggest predictor of failing later (2, 3, or 4th year) is failing in first year.

I'm not sure first year is a great predictor of clinical year success. Sure, you will still have shelf exams and will get pimped on material you should have learned during the basic science years (but this to a larger extent will turn on second year and board review material, not your first year experience). But for many, the clinical years are a nice reprieve from the basic science classroom setting. A larger portion of the grading is subjective -- how well you work in a team, how well you relate to patients, your presentation skills and the like. Quite a few people who weren't great classroom students are still able to shine on the wards. It's really a very different experience and requires different skillsets.

 

[RugbyJC]

Whatever the problem is, try to fix it. Biggest predictor of failing later (2, 3, or 4th year) is failing in first year. Hopefully you have more strikes you can use. If not, perhaps line up another school or reapply to go elsewhere.

Example:
A school with the magic number of 3 fails dismisses you. 2 are used in first year. That leaves 3 years where you critically can not fail, or you are dismissed.

I do not agree with this sort of policy, but it is the way many schools write their rules.

I am sorry, but I disagree. Well, I agree with trying to fix the problem if there is one, but I am not so sure that failing a class during first or second year would be a predictor of failing a class later on. The way you are tested in the basic science classes is generally different from how you are evaluated during the clinical years. It is also difficult to evaluate you during first year that anyway resembles how the USMLE judges competance. In my opinion, anatomy itself even involves a different learning style than most other subject areas and is low yield on the boards.

I would strongly advise against transferring. That will not solve this or give you any more chances. Different schools have different policies on failing/remediation. They might make you repeat the class or they might just sit you down in a room and tell you not to do it again. It varies, but try to hold tight until you find out exactly what is going on. You might be surprized at the lienency.

I heard that 15% of students will fail something along the way in medical school. I also heard that 30% of all statistics are made up

Maybe it will be a humbling experience or just a lesson of sorts. It sucks now, but this will pass. A lot of med students fail something along the way and most recover fully. Hang in there. You've gotten this far. You can finish what you've started.

 

[OncHeme2B]

Whatever You Do - don't Give Up Guys! If I Can Do It - You Can Do It Too!!!

 

[SnowTown]

A lecturer at my school told me that he taught a student from Harvard and that he failed SEVERAL classes the first year. He went on to do just fine.