New med school grading system

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DukeDoc08

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A great idea just came to me for med school grading....
people who are doing very well hate P/F bc they don't think they are rising above everyone else (some schools DO rank based on numeric grades, though)....
Others who are learning for the sake of learning hate grade grubbing and the unspoken competition that comes with back alley rank....
How about you go in and take the exam and then only hear about it if you didn't do so well and the powers that be want to make sure everything is OK and that you are grasping the information....
you don't have grade grubbing (ohhhh that is annoying!) and you virually eliminate competition in class while maintaining an unknown rank for later on.
you will be able to keep a copy of the test, so if you REALLY cared if you got every question right then you could go ahead and look every question up in your 3000 page Robbins!!!
I think it is quite beautiful....
sound off...

PS: unless you are dead or in the hospital or an immediate relative is dead...NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO TAKE AN EXAM LATE!!!!!!!!

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Either the idea really stunk or posting at the butt crack of dawn does not get you many thinkers...anyone?

I might even lobby for this system at Duke
what would you do if you came to school and they dropped this system into your lap?
 
DukeDoc08 said:
Either the idea really stunk or posting at the butt crack of dawn does not get you many thinkers...anyone?

I might even lobby for this system at Duke
what would you do if you came to school and they dropped this system into your lap?

Research has shown that knowing where you stand on individual tests compared to the mean actually motivates people to study.

Or so they tell us at Columbia... P/F first year, with no internal ranking. They give us the means, and I actually like it.

But I think your system is interesting.
 
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My doc went to Tufts back in the day and said they were never given their grades, and it pissed him right the f_ck off because he ended up working his ass off, never knowing if he was doing okay or just scraping by. Turns out, he got junior AOA and was super pissed, because he was, in his words, "working much harder than he apparently needed to!" I thought that was funny. It would drive me insane to put in all those study hours and then have no idea how I did. I need the satisfaction of knowing I did well, or the motivation of knowing I didn't. Not knowing would drive me crazy.
 
SarahGM said:
Research has shown that knowing where you stand on individual tests compared to the mean actually motivates people to study.

Or so they tell us at Columbia... P/F first year, with no internal ranking. They give us the means, and I actually like it.

But I think your system is interesting.
but then again, columbia is probably this nation's best medical school.

what is the structure of your physiology class?
 
my undergrad had a similar grading system... grades were not reported to us but if we wanted to we could go to our advisor (or the specific course proff) and ask for them. If you were "failing" definded as a C- or below you recieved a mid-semester notification.

It worked in keeping the general population from grade grubbing by creating a feeling of grades being a more personal issue. However it didn't allow for anyone to slip through the cracks thinking they were kicking butt when they were infact not.

I don't know what med school will be like (only an M0) but I hope to keep my personal value of grades being ONE, PRIVATE measure of my effort. The guy who graduated with the lowest grades in med school is still called doctor.
 
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