med school tests?

[gnin]

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Forgive me for the obvious newbie quesitons, but what does a typical test, of the kind you take in a basic science or clinical med school class, look like (ie what format is it)? How much do tests alone count for your grade, and how often are you tested in each class?

 

[gatsbyjo]

Well i've only taken about 6, but i would say it totally depends on the course, and the curriculum. Im in a traditional curriculum and about 60-80% of our test questions are multiple choice. A few short answer (i.e. write this equation, draw this pathway, blah blah) are tacked on to the end of test so the school can say we have proficient writing.

Obvious exceptions: lab practicals (anatomy, histology, path, etc... depending on your course)... these are the ultimate in instant-recall short answer; but IMO they are really multiple choice (like, you know only two nerves go to such and such region, so pick from those based on where the pin is...)

If you arent familiar with lab practicals, you basically get a certain short amount of time to identify a specimen, when times up, you move to the next station and ID something else...

in my one PBL hybrid class, we have 6-hour long essay test, solving a "case" step by step, interpreting labs, etc... with a few books to help us out


Again: my point-multiple choice seems to rule the day... with a few other types of instant recall activity thrown in as well

 

[SaltySqueegee]

Yesterday we had a test on Biochemical pathways on approximately ~600 pages (3 weeks of material) of Handout Review Notes, wherein the test was ~3hours long with 160 Multiple Choice questions which tested basic mechanisms 50% along with Clinical Case questions %50.

👍

 

[gatsbyjo]

Yesterday we had a test on Biochemical pathways on approximately ~600 pages (3 weeks of material) of Handout Review Notes, wherein the test was ~3hours long with 160 Multiple Choice questions which tested basic mechanisms 50% along with Clinical Case questions %50.

👍

yeeps salty that sounds awful... how did it go? i have one in about 10 days that sounds VERY SIMILAR 🙂

 

[gnin]

Do the clinical rotations also rely on tests like these?

 

[Sean2tall]

Majority of things for us are your friendly neighborhood multiple choice, except for, as mentioned above, the occasional fill-in or anatomy practical. Tests account for 100% of our final grade. I can't think of any exceptions to that rule.

 

[4 Ever]

For my school, the anatomy tests are 100 questions for the written section and a practical which is 50 questions (with part A and B totaling 100 questions). The written is completely multiple choice while the practical requires you to know the structure from paying attention in lab and knowing background information on the structure.

The tests can count anywhere from 10-15% each

 

[alliemac]

I'm another who can only speak for Anatomy, but our tests include ~50 lab practical questions, 15 embryology slide questions, 15 embryo multi choice, 50 anatomy multi choice, 15 short answer, 10 PBL short answer, and two essays.

 

[ddmo]

4 tests per course, 100% MC, including the practical. I'll never have to take a non-MC exam for the rest of my life, how sweet it is.

 

[Nflow]

Depends on the module, some subjects have only one test, so it is one chance and your out. I have had both multiple choice and short answer type tests, bottom line is either format requires an incredulous amount of information.

 

[AlexRusso]

1st year 3 tests per course which count for pretty much 100% (minor things like conferences and presentations count for maybe 5%) of your grade. These are MCQ for the most part except for anatomy and histo practicals which are fill-in.

2nd year 7 tests the whole year with each test having separate sections for each course. All tests are MCQ. Some classes rely 100% on these exams. Others also use the shelf or a school final in figuring your final grade. At the end of second year you have this little 350 question multiple choice exam called the Step 1.

Then there is always the clin med courses in the 1st 2 years which also have test but grading also factors in standardized patients, class participation, ethics papers, etc.


Clinical Courses in third year have shelf-exams or school made finals at the end of the course. These exams are all MCQ. They also use your evaluations by people you work with in your grade. However, most people get similar evals and if you do not honor the shelf/final it is unlikely you will honor the course no matter how stellar the evals. Conversly if you pass the shelf exam it is unlikely you will fail based on evals unless these were beyond horrible.
Generally your grade reflects your shelf performance.

Bottom line: Pretty much all of your grading in med school (with some very minor exceptions) will be based on MCQ's. Love em or hate em, learn to live with em. And never forget your best friend - choice "C"

 

[Long Dong]

4 tests per course, 100% MC, including the practical. I'll never have to take a non-MC exam for the rest of my life, how sweet it is.

I think some specialty boards are still oral exam.

 

[ddmo]

I think some specialty boards are still oral exam.

True, I was referring to written exams.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

yeeps salty that sounds awful... how did it go? i have one in about 10 days that sounds VERY SIMILAR 🙂

High Pass. 👍 Found out today. Not Honors, but not the conventional Pass. So, I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Now for some R&R.

 

[gnin]

What, specifically, do you mean by "shelf exams?" are these standardized tests of some sort?

 

[AlexRusso]

What, specifically, do you mean by "shelf exams?" are these standardized tests of some sort?

Yes. Shelf exams are subject tests made by the NBME, the same people that make the boards (seems like they have an obsession with long flat wooden things). They are available to med-school for a fee. Which courses use the shelf-exam depends on the particular department at your school. For the most part, most schools use shelf exams for third year courses. A lot also use them for second year courses like Path and Pharm and a few schools use shelves in the 1st year courses like Anatomy and Biochem. If you want more info, there was a recent issue of JAMA dedicated to medical education which had tables as to the percentages of schools using the different shelf exams.

A school-made exam is always better in my oppinion because they will test the stuff they taught. The shelves are extremely hard with time being a major issue on most of them. I hate shelf exams! 😡

 

[Howard Roark]

If you arent familiar with lab practicals, you basically get a certain short amount of time to identify a specimen, when times up, you move to the next station and ID something else...

Just one more thing to consider - Mayo Medical School does not time lab practical stations - you can just walk back and forth between stations and take as much time as you like. Its really nice.

Good luck.




.

 

[gatsbyjo]

Just one more thing to consider - Mayo Medical School does not time lab practical stations - you can just walk back and forth between stations and take as much time as you like. Its really nice.

Good luck.




.

Oh great I should've gone there.. oh wait. i didn't get in .... haha nice thoughts though. my school is the ultimate "old school" school 🙂

 

[TTSD]

Our biochem test is only 50 multiple choice questions (I'm debating whether more questions is better, more room to screw up). However, it's taught by two professors.. both with wildly different teaching methods. One likes to pretend we're all a bunch of biochemist, the other one is "you only need to know this, this and that."

Anatomy is 45 anatomy (mc), 10 embryo (mc), 55 practical (including osteology and radiographs).

Personally, I think the fewer questions, the more evil. You have to nail 'em all to do well.

 

[hedera916]

Written exams are in the multiple-choice format most of the time. Then there's the occasional essay, and identification during practical exams.

 

[captbadass]

Yesterday we had a test on Biochemical pathways on approximately ~600 pages (3 weeks of material) of Handout Review Notes, wherein the test was ~3hours long with 160 Multiple Choice questions which tested basic mechanisms 50% along with Clinical Case questions %50.

👍

this scares me. how do you prepare for something like this?

 

[SaltySqueegee]

this scares me. how do you prepare for something like this?

As you progress through biochemistry, you begin to learn that their are common themes with nomenclature of pathway intermediates and the enzymes that act upon them. The rest is knowing how all the intermediates are connected: This can be learned through a combination of rote learning with a white board or pen/paper and mneumonic devices that aid in remembering pathway orders of enzymes and intermediates. All that, and a little time with compulsivity.

 

[thackl]

Ours are all MCQ, but lots of minute details, embyo, x-rays, MRI's, other various cross-sections, lots of clinical cases, etc. I think short ans/essay requires you to learn the material better and MCQ allows them to cover more. At this point, I'm not sure which is better.