Failed Block Exam: feeling lost

[southernerthrowaway]

Hello everyone,

SDN has provided me with plenty of support through the last 5 years or so both in good times and in bad, and once again I’m reaching out for help. Before I even get started, I just want to thank all of the contributors on this site of continually have given their time to help me and many others over the years.

So long story short, I failed a block exam at my medical school. I did well during the first two blocks, and passed by decent margins even though I always felt like I was teetering on the edge of breaking down. Finally, I did break down during this block. Some of the reasons had to do with my mental health and my worries about my partner’s health, and others have to do with my study habits just not being conducive to the volume of material in medical school. All in all, I know I have only myself to blame for this and I need to pick myself up.

My school basically has two different types of failing for the remediation of a block. The one they use most often marks the course as incomplete allows you to do a condensed remediation disappears from your transcript if you pass on the second try. If one does poorly enough, the other type of remediation does mark a fail on the transcript and you must do the whole course over again next summer. They are vague as to what the conditions are for the second remediation option. At this point I am just praying that they only choose the first option, although I will deal with whatever options I am given.

Has anyone here had a similar experience during their M1 year, or do they know students who did? If so, do you have any advice? I have reached out to the learning counselors at school and our therapy services to try and fix what I’ve been doing wrong. I know I should’ve done this earlier, but better late than never. I’m also just worried that I have ruined my medical career early, that if the fail goes on my transcript it’ll be a black mark on me, and I have failed those who believed in me. I know some of these aren’t the best feelings to have, but it is currently what I’m experiencing. I’m ready to be a better student and take a hard look at myself, I just am terrified that it won’t be enough.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Just writing it all out has helped me a lot.

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[DarkBluMage]

Get a tutor if you need one and change your study style if it’s not working for you, you can ask other classmates how they study and see what works for you. You don’t want to be in a position of barely passing every exam for preclinicals.

 

[Goro]

1) Attend to your mental health issues
2) Work with your education specialists
3) Reach out to all Faculty involved with the block exam too seek thier counsel on how best to prepare for the material and the remediation. I assume that all you have to do is pass the exam, so it's not like you need a 99% on the exam.
4) NO, it's not the end of your medical career, even if you have to repeat the year. Some specialties might be out of reach now, but you'll still be a doctor.
5) Always be proactive and not reactive; starting right now. HOW are you going to prepare for remediation and more importantly, make sure that failing is no longer an option in the future.