I couldn't disagree more with what most posters here are saying. I too go to a school whose first two years consist of non-required lectures, lots of independent study, PBL, and infrequent, pass/fail tests. Because of the freedom given to me, I didn't study nearly enough. I bombed step I and when I get pimped on the wards, I don't know squat and more often than not just give the deer-in-the-headlights look. Yeah, yeah, I know people will say I should have just manned up and studied more, and maybe if I went to a more traditional school I'd be cursing my school for putting so much pressure on me, but I also know myself and know that with more external pressure I'd have studied a LOT harder and be much better prepared for where I am now.
If I could do it over... well, if I could do it over I wouldn't go to med school. But if I had to do it over and had to go to med school, I'd choose a school with a totally traditional curriculum. Entirely lecture-based, syllabi, lecture notes, graded tests every 2 weeks. Heck, give me a required lecture attendance policy to boot. (Oh, yeah, and get rid of all those useless clinical experiences during years 1 & 2. I needed to be memorizing my bugs and drugs, not practicing physical exams at a time when I had no idea what any of the findings meant.)
Maybe I'm just howling at the moon here because most people who gravitate toward medical school are type-A overachievers and they're going to do whatever it takes, but some of us slip through the cracks. And there has to be a reason the traditional curricula were the way they were for so long.