Just found out that Northwestern doesn't allow students to view their old exams

[NimbleNavigator]

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WTF? Definitely not going to apply there any more. I learn best from learning from my mistakes. If I don't know what I got wrong, how will I improve?

Are there any other medical schools that don't allow you to see what you got wrong on your exams? I want to know who to stay away from.

 

[DrBowtie]

WTF? Definitely not going to apply there any more. I learn best from learning from my mistakes. If I don't know what I got wrong, how will I improve?

Are there any other medical schools that don't allow you to see what you got wrong on your exams? I want to know who to stay away from.

Probably not a good parameter to narrow your school list by.

 

[NimbleNavigator]

Probably not a good parameter to narrow your school list by.

I'm pretty sure that I know how I learn best. There's a reason why I do very well on standardized tests, and it's not because I can't see what I got wrong on my practice tests.

 

[Terror Billy]

LOL

 

[DrBowtie]

I'm pretty sure that I know how I learn best. There's a reason why I do very well on standardized tests, and it's not because I can't see what I got wrong on my practice tests.

What you fail to realize is that school tests often do not reflect board material. Much of the minutia is binge and purge and irrelevant going forward. You're not going to learn from the crappily written question submitted by the out of touch professor.

 

[ortnakas]

Lots of schools have this rule-- that way the old questions aren't circulating and they can keep using their same question bank.

(My school lets you review exams, but you don't get to keep them-- just look at them in a brief review period)

 

[da8s0859q]

I'm pretty sure that I know how I learn best. There's a reason why I do very well on standardized tests, and it's not because I can't see what I got wrong on my practice tests.

Speaking as someone who also enjoyed reviewing his own tests way back when in college and who also did "very well" on the USMLE series:

I've gone through med school and am a month and a half from being done with residency. At no point in any of that was my performance tied to me being able to review anything besides questions in question banks which are designed for just that for national and specialty boards.

You are overreacting. You will talk about the standout questions with your future classmates anyway. Itch scratched.

 

[Goro]

Many faculty, myself included, believe that exams are for assessment, not learning. We have a "no give back" policy as well at my school. Students get to look at their answers and the exam, and appeal, but that's it.

WTF? Definitely not going to apply there any more. I learn best from learning from my mistakes. If I don't know what I got wrong, how will I improve?

Are there any other medical schools that don't allow you to see what you got wrong on your exams? I want to know who to stay away from.

 

[f4reignbeauty]

Exams are not returned at my school either. But, we take weekly self-assessments which we have access to throughout the course of the block.

 

[kavorca]

I heard Harvard won't let you use those felt tip ink pens, so cross that one off your list too.

 

[lampshade4u]

my school doesn't let you see your exam I believe this is pretty standard...

 

[tessellations]

This is really interesting. For me, whether I got to keep the exam has depended on the class. Having access to my intro biology exams while taking the class was really helpful, because the class was based on critical thinking and having practice questions that weren't just content based for the final exam was super useful. For other classes, I never even touched the exams I got to keep.

That being said, I wouldn't base your school decision on this. Seems like a very minute detail to me.