"I just want to pass" - bad mentality to have?

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jack.jaret

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I just finished my second year and am in the process of dedicated studying and my peers are shocked when I say "I just want to pass" when it comes to this exam. Yes, I am aware that this will close off a lot of doors, and I'll probably end up doing my residency in Zimbabwe.

We're all in medical school. Getting here wasn't easy, and getting through the first 2 years wasn't easy. I honestly just wanted to pass the first 2 years, didn't really care too much about being on top. And I have that same mentality for this exam.

Is it as terrible as my friends make it out to be? We're so used to always being on the top in life (that's how we got into med school in the first place), that being below average sounds somewhat appealing at this point. Liberating, almost.

Or am I just crazy?
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No, it's not terrible. But, having a gunner mentality will likely serve you well when preparing for boards. After all those pesky exams are what anyone cares about these days.


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I sorta see where you're coming from. There are plenty of students in my class who freak out about the smallest things and it can sometimes become pretty stressful being around these individuals.

Just try to remind yourself that med school is what you make it. Are you content with how you're doing? That's all that matters. Don't worry about everyone else.
 
Most people at my school who destroyed boards did very well all along.
I have more than a few folks in my class who have always called me out for studying, and now, they are all stuck with bad board scores.
 
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jack.jaret said:
I just finished my second year and am in the process of dedicated studying and my peers are shocked when I say "I just want to pass" when it comes to this exam. Yes, I am aware that this will close off a lot of doors, and I'll probably end up doing my residency in Zimbabwe.

We're all in medical school. Getting here wasn't easy, and getting through the first 2 years wasn't easy. I honestly just wanted to pass the first 2 years, didn't really care too much about being on top. And I have that same mentality for this exam.

Is it as terrible as my friends make it out to be? We're so used to always being on the top in life (that's how we got into med school in the first place), that being below average sounds somewhat appealing at this point. Liberating, almost.

Or am I just crazy?
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It depends how this attitude is translating into your actions:

Are you doggedly working your way through UWorld questions and memorizeing FA, seeing your scores inch up towards the national average, and putting a happy face on the fact that you're probably not going to score a 280? No that's not crazy. A lot of us have been there and you're right, you can be an average medical student without really being average. Its important to step back and realize that sometimes.

Are you saying 'I just want to pass' and then taking lots of day off while others are cramming? Yes that's crazy. You have no idea what part of medicine you're going to like until you hit clinicals. Allowing some of those doors to close in exchange for two months of free weekends is just enormously stupid.
 
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It's not 2 months. To get a 260 you need to have studied hard for 2 years before the test. Most people don't do that and rather enjoy their time in med school rather than spend literally 10+ hours every day in the first 2 years to do well on the test. Most people who get 250+ did well during preclinicals and in order to do well during that time you need to study a **** ton. Passing is fine if you know that you want to do FM or IM and stuff like that. After all, some could argue it is stupid to get a 260 (and all the **** and sacrifice that goes along with that) to eventually practice FM when a 220 couldve gotten you there.
 
Aim to just pass...with a high score. That way if you fall short, then you're average.
 
Looking back near the end of third year it is very clear to me that there are many great attendings and residents out there, and then there are some who are.... not so great.

Medicine is what I enjoy, and even though I am not aiming for a competitive specialty I try and give it my all in the hopes that it will serve me well in the future. Goal #1 is to be good at what I do, and imo "just passing" would be very limiting to that goal
 
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Yeah, I know I'm limiting myself, but the competitive specialties never appealed to me anyway.

And by "low" I don't mean a 225. I'm talking 210-215. Throughout med school, my excitement from getting a 75 on an exam was equal to getting a 95 - I was happy I passed and could move forward.

And to the poster that said specialties are getting competitive - I completely agree. However, the match statistics from last year still predict that I'd have an 85% chance of matching something like EM, even if my score was between a 201-210!
 
jack.jaret said:
Yeah, I know I'm limiting myself, but the competitive specialties never appealed to me anyway.

And by "low" I don't mean a 225. I'm talking 210-215. Throughout med school, my excitement from getting a 75 on an exam was equal to getting a 95 - I was happy I passed and could move forward.

And to the poster that said specialties are getting competitive - I completely agree. However, the match statistics from last year still predict that I'd have an 85% chance of matching something like EM, even if my score was between a 201-210!
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I see that data for 2014, but I would not be confident at all applying to EM with a 215 (the mean step for unmatched applicants that year). It's getting increasingly competitive, and it doesn't sound like the 215 would be an outlier for you, it'd just be "lower quartile student meets his bar and gets low step". You may have the attitude that you'll just go into clinical years and kill it, but in my experience, people who just coast the preclinical years (to the extent that's possible) don't tend to be able to turn it up during clinical years to do so. If you're entertaining going into anything other than IM, FM, peds, psych, PM&R, path, rads, I'd suck it up for a few weeks and do what you can to help yourself for step. Actually, I'd do that regardless. It's such a time limited endeavor that can have such a meaningful impact on your later career options, I just can't justify recommending anyone not bust ass on it
 
Cytarabine said:
I see that data for 2014, but I would not be confident at all applying to EM with a 215 (the mean step for unmatched applicants that year). It's getting increasingly competitive, and it doesn't sound like the 215 would be an outlier for you, it'd just be "lower quartile student meets his bar and gets low step". You may have the attitude that you'll just go into clinical years and kill it, but in my experience, people who just coast the preclinical years (to the extent that's possible) don't tend to be able to turn it up during clinical years to do so. If you're entertaining going into anything other than IM, FM, peds, psych, PM&R, path, rads, I'd suck it up for a few weeks and do what you can to help yourself for step. Actually, I'd do that regardless. It's such a time limited endeavor that can have such a meaningful impact on your later career options, I just can't justify recommending anyone not bust ass on it
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Oh absolutely. I'm trying my hardest for sure (11-12 hour days). But everyone else is so nervous about doing well. I just see it as - try your hardest, but if you don't do well, so be it. A lot of people see a <220 as a failure. I mean you tried your hardest, so why beat yourself up?
 
jack.jaret said:
Oh absolutely. I'm trying my hardest for sure (11-12 hour days). But everyone else is so nervous about doing well. I just see it as - try your hardest, but if you don't do well, so be it. A lot of people see a <220 as a failure. I mean you tried your hardest, so why beat yourself up?
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That's a fine attitude. Not the gist I was getting from the OP. Put the time in and work with what you got, all you can do. Not worth stressing beyond that. Good luck!
 
jack.jaret said:
Yeah, I know I'm limiting myself, but the competitive specialties never appealed to me anyway.

And by "low" I don't mean a 225. I'm talking 210-215. Throughout med school, my excitement from getting a 75 on an exam was equal to getting a 95 - I was happy I passed and could move forward.

And to the poster that said specialties are getting competitive - I completely agree. However, the match statistics from last year still predict that I'd have an 85% chance of matching something like EM, even if my score was between a 201-210!
Click to expand...

I mean if you were a low C student I don't like your chances of doing well anyways. Comfortable with passing might just be your reality.
 
Ive heard many people say class success doesn't translate to Step 1 success, but I disagree. You will be surprised how going above and beyond and really learning stuff well the first time around will help you on boards. It makes reviewing FA/UW much more manageable and efficienct, and I was always surprised how many random or "low yield" questions I got from some class knowledge stored in the deep dark corners of my brain.
 
At my school, the people who are only too happy to barely pass are the ones who fail Boards.



jack.jaret said:
I just finished my second year and am in the process of dedicated studying and my peers are shocked when I say "I just want to pass" when it comes to this exam. Yes, I am aware that this will close off a lot of doors, and I'll probably end up doing my residency in Zimbabwe.

We're all in medical school. Getting here wasn't easy, and getting through the first 2 years wasn't easy. I honestly just wanted to pass the first 2 years, didn't really care too much about being on top. And I have that same mentality for this exam.

Is it as terrible as my friends make it out to be? We're so used to always being on the top in life (that's how we got into med school in the first place), that being below average sounds somewhat appealing at this point. Liberating, almost.

Or am I just crazy?
Click to expand...
 
BOTTOM LINE: OP, if you want to barely pass that is fine...JUST MAKE SURE YOU PASS. Also, make sure you DO NOT WANT SOMETHING COMPETITIVE. Other than that you are golden.
 
Imo, it's always best to shoot for something a little above what you really want. If you're happy with a 210-215, shoot for a 225 or just getting above average. So even if you fail with that goal, you'll still be happy with your end result.

Also glad my signature is relevant to a thread, haha.
 
There is no right answer. Do what works for you.

I do what works for me and I have no regrets.
 
jack.jaret said:
Oh absolutely. I'm trying my hardest for sure (11-12 hour days). But everyone else is so nervous about doing well. I just see it as - try your hardest, but if you don't do well, so be it. A lot of people see a <220 as a failure. I mean you tried your hardest, so why beat yourself up?
Click to expand...

If this is what you're doing then your attitude is just fine.
 
It's fine to have the mentality of just wanting to pass in terms of not being too stressed about grades or disappointed if you don't honor everything.

However, having that mentality translate into slacking off is risky. You risk not learning enough and as a result struggling throughout training. Also, you risk falling short of the pass and actually failing something as important as step 1.

Throughout med school, I studied as much as I could and constantly worried that I wasn't going to pass, yet never came near failing an exam (actually did fairly well). Point is, I don't know how one could study "just to pass." Same with step 1. If you set out to cover everything you're supposed to, you'll have your hands full. For some, that results in "just passing." For others, they do fairly well. For students who are hell bent on doing the best they can, they put a study plan that goes above and beyond that (at the risk of burning out). So, if you're asking if it's ok not to go all out at the expense of mental health, sleep etc, then sure, that's ok.
 
My school is graded A-F and we're ranked down to our XX.X%. No such thing unfortunately. I often envy true P/F schools, mainly because I can't allow myself to decelerate from where I am.
 
I think it's important to try and remember that all of this garbage you're filling your mind with may very well play a role in taking care of someone when you're calling the shots, have the responsibility, and don't have anyone backing you up. The magnitude of that responsibility is difficult to appreciate early on, but perhaps you'll get a sense of it once you start on your rotations and certainly once you start preparing to start residency. I found that to be an extremely motivating force for learning, even when I didn't want to, and even when I wasn't interested in the content. This came to me later on in the training process (towards the end of M3), which I might argue was a little too late, but maybe that can help keep things in perspective and provide some motivation for learning.

In other words: to parrot what @Perrotfish said, if you're "just passing" and using that time to slack off, then perhaps not the best attitude to have. I would hope that we all want to do more than "just barely take care" of our patients when you're at that point in your career. If by "just passing" you are working as hard as you can without driving yourself off the deep end and accepting your level of achievement with that work ethic, then I think there's nothing wrong with that. In a lot of ways, the work ethic is just as, or perhaps even more important than, the result. Not strictly true, but I'd argue that the person that has the grit to keep their nose to the grindstone is much preferred over the person who scores well on exams but has no work ethic at all. As a resident, I would much, much rather work with the former than the latter.
 
Perrotfish said:
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herman-cain-smile.gif
 
Aim high, and be happy with wherever you end up. Coasting by on the minimum is a just plain bad habit to foster in this career of high expectations. People work hard in medicine because there's a ton to know and lack of knowledge can literally kill people. There will always be a range of abilities but let that spread present itself naturally -- don't strive to be the lower border.
 
Throwing out a question:

Lots of people are saying there is definitely a link between preclinical studying and Step 1 scores. In a study on Einstein, the correlation between preclinical scores and Step 1 scores was established empirically.

My question is, do you think that this link is still present if you attend a school where you take Step 1 AFTER a year of clinical work? I can't imagine that having studied extra hard on e.g. endocrine or neurology or whatever (which you learned *literally two years before you take Step 1*) would be that helpful on Step 1. And if does have an effect, that effect would be dwarfed by the effect of what you learned during your clinical year.

Thoughts?


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jack.jaret said:
I just finished my second year and am in the process of dedicated studying and my peers are shocked when I say "I just want to pass" when it comes to this exam. Yes, I am aware that this will close off a lot of doors, and I'll probably end up doing my residency in Zimbabwe.

We're all in medical school. Getting here wasn't easy, and getting through the first 2 years wasn't easy. I honestly just wanted to pass the first 2 years, didn't really care too much about being on top. And I have that same mentality for this exam.

Is it as terrible as my friends make it out to be? We're so used to always being on the top in life (that's how we got into med school in the first place), that being below average sounds somewhat appealing at this point. Liberating, almost.

Or am I just crazy?
Click to expand...
I, of course, want to annihilate Part 1, but outside of that, I'm competing with myself. I always have been. And I'm a mean SOB of a competitor. That means I'm always up against the best. I'm always going to study my a** off. Not because I want to beat you. Because I want to beat me. So if you want to take a break and think in terms of pass/fail, I encourage you to do so. It's just med school. It's just what you chose to do. If being okay and not the best is okay with you, then it's okay with me. Good luck. Have fun!
 
NEVERSURRENDERMD said:
I, of course, want to annihilate Part 1, but outside of that, I'm competing with myself. I always have been. And I'm a mean SOB of a competitor. That means I'm always up against the best. I'm always going to study my a** off. Not because I want to beat you. Because I want to beat me. So if you want to take a break and think in terms of pass/fail, I encourage you to do so. It's just med school. It's just what you chose to do. If being okay and not the best is okay with you, then it's okay with me. Good luck. Have fun!
Click to expand...

Check out THIS guy.
 
Salt Salt said:
Throwing out a question:

Lots of people are saying there is definitely a link between preclinical studying and Step 1 scores. In a study on Einstein, the correlation between preclinical scores and Step 1 scores was established empirically.

My question is, do you think that this link is still present if you attend a school where you take Step 1 AFTER a year of clinical work? I can't imagine that having studied extra hard on e.g. endocrine or neurology or whatever (which you learned *literally two years before you take Step 1*) would be that helpful on Step 1. And if does have an effect, that effect would be dwarfed by the effect of what you learned during your clinical year.

Thoughts?


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Click to expand...

Yes, I think that grades measuring how well you have learned a set of sciences will still correlate to scores on a test evaluating that same set of sciences. It seems obvious that this will be pretty durable a year out. It's not like someone who was barely passing courses is going to have the same ease reviewing the material as someone who was honoring everything.
 
sloop said:
Yes, I think that grades measuring how well you have learned a set of sciences will still correlate to scores on a test evaluating that same set of sciences. It seems obvious that this will be pretty durable a year out. It's not like someone who was barely passing courses is going to have the same ease reviewing the material as someone who was honoring everything.
Click to expand...
I think I am, perhaps, in a good position to answer this, since, because of my age, I am retaking courses like biology and chemistry that I took and learned before in college, several DECADES ago. And I can say, without a doubt, even after a couple of decades, and even after having NOT used that information, relearning it all these years later is MUCH easier than learning it was the first time around. Without a doubt, hands down. So that would make me think that in just that brief 3 year period, it would DEFINITELY be helpful when just brushing up for it for the USMLE 1. But that's my brain. I obviously can only speak for myself, but I hope it helps.
 
sloop said:
Yes, I think that grades measuring how well you have learned a set of sciences will still correlate to scores on a test evaluating that same set of sciences. It seems obvious that this will be pretty durable a year out. It's not like someone who was barely passing courses is going to have the same ease reviewing the material as someone who was honoring everything.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt the correlation is still there. What I'm wondering is how much of the causative effect (i.e. how much learning the material thoroughly in preclinical years "causes" a high Step 1 score) is still there.


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If you are here in the states.. MD or DO... you will end up in FM or IM (not bad if that's your thing) as long as you don't screw up and kill anybody or do something really really devastating to your application. Most US programs will not let you go unmatched. They'll find you a spot somewhere with all the links they got.

If you go to the Caribbean though...? lol yeah good luck with that. They continually move up their minimum percentage to pass in order to continually thin the herd. More hoops to jump through. What do the ones who work super hard and eventually make it through it all get?

That's right... a good ol' FM or IM spot ( or maybe peds... or a pre-lim year).

Don't settle for just passing.
 
Rekt said:
My school is graded A-F and we're ranked down to our XX.X%. No such thing unfortunately. I often envy true P/F schools, mainly because I can't allow myself to decelerate from where I am.
Click to expand...

Not all the glitters is gold. I was always that guy scoring an 89.99 when honors was a 90 and the class average was a 79. I got graded the same as someone who scored a 70 and our class was still ranked.
 
One of my buddies had a huge poster made over his desk that said:

C=MD
D= Dxxxx

(Dxxxx was the name of his Podunk craphole hometown.)
He also struggled with motivation and "just wanted to pass." He was bright but lazy and always just on the edge. A solid C student. He did have to repeat a class over 1st year summer break and was on probation after that. Passed step 1 fine though.
He eventually dropped out after 3rd year as he wasn't interested in pursuing a residency and wanted to open a business, which is what his undergraduate degree was in.


--
Il Destriero
 
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