Failed second anatomy exam, worried about repeating year

[causalinference]

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I've been having a hard time adjusting to the demands of med school. I was completely caught off guard by the speed and volume of the material and BOMBED the first exam (~50%). I studied a lot more for the second exam and passed the written portion, but still failed overall when the practical was factored in (for a final score of ~65%). If I fail another exam this year, I will have to repeat the entire year.

I feel like I finally understand what it's going to take (and what I have to do) to pass my exams going forward. I've identified a ton of problems with my study strategies for the first two exams. But I'm wondering what will happen if I have to repeat my first year. How will that effect my chances for residencies? I'm assuming I won't be able to match into competitive specialties if it takes me 5 years to graduate.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Bernoull]

I've been having a hard time adjusting to the demands of med school. I was completely caught off guard by the speed and volume of the material and BOMBED the first exam (~50%). I studied a lot more for the second exam and passed the written portion, but still failed overall when the practical was factored in (for a final score of ~65%). If I fail another exam this year, I will have to repeat the entire year.

I feel like I finally understand what it's going to take (and what I have to do) to pass my exams going forward. I've identified a ton of problems with my study strategies for the first two exams. But I'm wondering what will happen if I have to repeat my first year. How will that effect my chances for residencies? I'm assuming I won't be able to match into competitive specialties if it takes me 5 years to graduate.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

I'm sorry about your difficulties and I can relate somewhat; I just failed my genetics exam. But it's as a wake up call since I have some bad study habits (p-word) that I must fix.

My advice to you is try to kill the practical, for me that's the more straight-forward part of anatomy.. I assume u have a list of structures that u're responsible for, so go into the lab (personal time) and try to ID every single structure on 2-3 cadavers. Note the one u can't find and ask friends, classmates and faculty for help. It also helps to has a lab study group where u go in and ID stuff also. In essence the practical should be bonus points for the written part, it's always well dissected and it's all on u and the cadaver; there's no tricky question wording to worry about etc etc...

The written part, i'm struggling with myself so I don't have much to offer, but see the Prof and get suggestions from him/her...

Don' worry about residencies at this point BCOS all of ur focus should be on not failing anatomy!!! If you don't fail, then u don't hae to worry about hypotheticals!! First things first, don't resign to repeating 1st year just yet, kick ur behind, go all out and try to do sufficiently well on ur next anatomy class to pass the course.

Gdluck !!

 

[njbmd]

I've been having a hard time adjusting to the demands of med school. I was completely caught off guard by the speed and volume of the material and BOMBED the first exam (~50%). I studied a lot more for the second exam and passed the written portion, but still failed overall when the practical was factored in (for a final score of ~65%). If I fail another exam this year, I will have to repeat the entire year.

I feel like I finally understand what it's going to take (and what I have to do) to pass my exams going forward. I've identified a ton of problems with my study strategies for the first two exams. But I'm wondering what will happen if I have to repeat my first year. How will that effect my chances for residencies? I'm assuming I won't be able to match into competitive specialties if it takes me 5 years to graduate.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Take one thing at a time. Right now, your focus should be on not having to repeat first year. You need to do whatever it takes to pass everything remaining so that you won't need to repeat first year. Most schools have some kind of summer remediation before they recommend repeating first year for a student.

The next thing to realize is that should you end up repeating first year, you have greatly reduced your chances for the most competitive residencies. When it comes to a dermatology residency program director lining you up next to a person who didn't fail anything (likely has honors in most classes) and didn't repeat a year, you won't be much competition. With that being said, once you get to third year, you may find that those "competitive" specialties are not what you want to do in the first place and that there are plenty of good specialties out there that you will be competitive for but right now, you need to get your work done to get past first year.

Do your best but take one thing at a time. Check with your medical school administration and your course director so that you can place yourself in the best position to do well on your remaining exams. You can't change the ones that you have taken but you can affect the ones that you have yet to take and not fail them.

Next, if you have to repeat first year, then you repeat first year and get the best grades that you can. After all, some people either never get into medical school in the first place or fail out and don't have a chance to salvage a career in medicine by repeating first year. I am sure that any one of them would love to take your place.

Last, "when one door closes, another opens." By the time your get to residency application, you may find that your interests and talents have changed drastically. Odds are that this will be the case anyway. You simply have to make the best decisions with what will be working for you at that time. Fortunately, if you don't fail anything else, you may find that you have more options that you think so get busy with the task at hand.

 

[Jay Leno]

I've been having a hard time adjusting to the demands of med school. I was completely caught off guard by the speed and volume of the material and BOMBED the first exam (~50%). I studied a lot more for the second exam and passed the written portion, but still failed overall when the practical was factored in (for a final score of ~65%). If I fail another exam this year, I will have to repeat the entire year.

I feel like I finally understand what it's going to take (and what I have to do) to pass my exams going forward. I've identified a ton of problems with my study strategies for the first two exams. But I'm wondering what will happen if I have to repeat my first year. How will that effect my chances for residencies? I'm assuming I won't be able to match into competitive specialties if it takes me 5 years to graduate.

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Dude have you sent the corrections or challenged some of the answers? Technically I failed the practical as well, but then I looked over the answers and realized that I didn't get points because I used variations on spelling terms or was too specific in some of my answers (at my school, we type in the answers to the practical portion of our anatomy - and the computer doesn't give us points unless we specifically spell out the answers). I have a feeling that if you are on the borderline, you should submit the practical portion for a regrade. Also, keep in mind that the professor might throw out some of the questions or decide that some questions that were marked incorrect have multiple correct answers.

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

OP dou you have a tutor for anatomy? They are vital for anatomy practicals.

 

[coup de chance]

Solid advice 👍👍

Right now focus on -- DO NOT repeat first year 😱

Take one thing at a time. Right now, your focus should be on not having to repeat first year. You need to do whatever it takes to pass everything remaining so that you won't need to repeat first year. Most schools have some kind of summer remediation before they recommend repeating first year for a student.

The next thing to realize is that should you end up repeating first year, you have greatly reduced your chances for the most competitive residencies. When it comes to a dermatology residency program director lining you up next to a person who didn't fail anything (likely has honors in most classes) and didn't repeat a year, you won't be much competition. With that being said, once you get to third year, you may find that those "competitive" specialties are not what you want to do in the first place and that there are plenty of good specialties out there that you will be competitive for but right now, you need to get your work done to get past first year.

Do your best but take one thing at a time. Check with your medical school administration and your course director so that you can place yourself in the best position to do well on your remaining exams. You can't change the ones that you have taken but you can affect the ones that you have yet to take and not fail them.

Next, if you have to repeat first year, then you repeat first year and get the best grades that you can. After all, some people either never get into medical school in the first place or fail out and don't have a chance to salvage a career in medicine by repeating first year. I am sure that any one of them would love to take your place.

Last, "when one door closes, another opens." By the time your get to residency application, you may find that your interests and talents have changed drastically. Odds are that this will be the case anyway. You simply have to make the best decisions with what will be working for you at that time. Fortunately, if you don't fail anything else, you may find that you have more options that you think so get busy with the task at hand.

 

[PassionReborn]

University of Michigan has awesome quiz with feedback. All organ systems.

http://anatomy.med.umich.edu/

They have videos too.

Anatomy guy has awesome dissection and review videos that are great prep for lab so you get the most prep for lab. The reviews are short and awesome for after lab.

http://www.anatomyguy.com

The clinical questions on U mich are really helpful

U-Mich is a good starting point, however, in many areas it was too basic for my school. Using U-Mich to get started, SUNY Downstate Practical Quizes and tags to make the mental image and then finally going to Clinical Anatomy Text to fill in the gaps from Lecture powerpoint helped me raise my Sub 50 anatomy score my first semester throughout the first year. Oh and before the exam, practice questions from BRS to gauge my level was usually a good trick. Sometimes clinical textbook was too verbose, (esp. for upper limb and lower limb) so I used Baby Netters just to study the dermatomes, nerve supply and vasculature.

Anatomy.... well to some can come easy, but it demanded a good chunk of my time, I recall on one exam during my first year it actually asked for a sacrifice from another subject where I had a decent cushion 🙂

 

[fahimaz7]

Get a tutor for anatomy. If that isn't an option, find a 2nd year that did well in anatomy, and pay him $20/hour to come in and help you. I'm a tutor for anatomy at my school, and I have seen drastic increases in grades (practical), by spending 3-4 hours with a person in the lab. 35% of the Freshman class was required to get a tutor after the first anatomy exam (<75 on the practical), so you're not alone.

 

[Tereana]

I was actually in your position a year ago and I managed to save myself by the skin of my teeth. Passed the third anatomy test and the remediations and haven't failed an exam since-- and hopefully will never fail one again *cross fingers for luck* because that was insanity and horrific.

I would second (third? fourth?) the people who are telling you to get a tutor. I didn't (just wallowed in my misery + studied maniacally), but I really think it would have been a good idea. I checked your profile and saw you went to the same school as me (guessed that might be the case by the date you were posting), so I can give you a little more specific advice. You can talk to Patti Fertel (OSUCOM counselor) about how to go about getting a tutor. You could also probably ask Dr. DePhillip, Dr. Vandre (both from the anatomy department), or Dr. Lynn (associate dean for student life, and very nice and helpful). Ask TAs/professors who are present during your lab time if they can spend some extra time with you. They're the best people to ask really, because they know what sort of relationships between the body parts they want you to know. If they have any review sessions in the lab, go! Write down what they say ('cause it's all gold). What really worked for me was taking the vessels/nerves/muscles/bones they wanted me to know (aka: the bold ones in Grant's) and memorizing the pages of my atlas which had those items on it. Ask if they have any old practical exams that they could show you/go over with you. Make sure you check TutorNet and look at the old practical exams (2006? I think) that have been posted. They like to repeat certain relationships and the old practical exams tell you specifically why you were supposed to be able to ID something. Make sure you memorize all the parts that you should know in your atlas before they are presented in class/in lab.

I know I didn't really answer your question, but the best thing to do is to focus on NOT failing. Worry about the failing if that happens, but right now just focus on passing this next test and the remediations. Also, if you decide to restart the year after failing a third test, it won't go on your record as you failing the year (at least, that was OSU's position last year when I was in the same mess). So residencies may or may not ask about why there's a year gap between your undergrad/the rest of your life and starting medical school. If you restart the year after failing the FOURTH test THEN it will go on your record.

Best of luck! And just know that there is at least one person out there (three actually, from my memory of who was retaking the exams with me) who did the exact same thing and managed to turn it around! If you'd like to get together and talk in person, I would be happy to do so (I also go to OSU).

PS: Congrats on finally making me register here so that I could post this. I've been a lurker for 3-4 years =P

 

[2012mdc]

In addition to having a study group that looks at multiple bodies together you should try to organize practice practicals. They are obviously helpful for the simulation of the practical but also in setting up you will get familiar with all the other bodies while tagging them. The practice ones really helped for some of the harder dissections - we could see what structures were good on which bodies and the overall variation

Anatomy is one of those subjects that's very dependent on effort and you just have to be smart with your effort. An efficient study group of 3-4 people will really help you in the lab - find stuff easier, different ways of memorizing stuff, and partners to make it thru long nights