bigfrank said:
Basically, 3rd-year evals are the DEVIL!!!!!!
ain't it the truth though.. if you want to hear about weird grading systems and inconsistencies, let me describe Tufts' grading for different rotations:
Psych: supposedly shelf exam is 20%, clinical evals are usually HP from what I've heard and that's what I got, absolutely NO idea what the grading distribution is or anything else. At some of the sites, the residents contribute to your grade, and at others, there are NO residents.
Peds: the 3 "ambulatory" weeks do not count at ALL in your grade, as it apparently isn't important to learn to evaluate newborns in the nursery and delivery roon, rotate through primary care clinics and work with residents in the ED. the 3 ward weeks make up 80-85% of the total grade, and at my site, the residents were our only evaluators. We then had a written short essay exam at the end of the course which the course directors graded and this made up the remainder of the grade. We had to take the shelf exam and pass it, and apparently beyond that the shelf exam grade was not factored in at all. Probably the most seriously ****ed up rotation of third year.
Surgery: 50% clinical grade (I think your main attending mentors and residents but still not sure though I'm about to graduate), 25% oral exams (1 presentation, 1 actual tough 1-on-1), and 25% shelf. Basically, if you don't Honor the shelf, you will not Honor the course, and if you are solidly in the H or HP category and botch the shelf, you can count on dropping a grade or two. Hey, at least it makes more sense that the other rotations.
OB/GYN: Differs at every site, but conducted in an extremely professional way (hint: sarcasm) at one site, where on the last day the course director kicks us out of the room after AM report is done so that any residents and attendings who happen to be there can "evaluate the students." So if people that you got along well with happen to be present on that particular day to talk about you and fill out an eval, you're good to go, if not, you're screwed. The exam basically needs to be passed at a certain level for a person to be eligible for a certain grade; if your clinical grade is HP, you have to score 25th percentile nationally or above to keep the HP grade, and score above the national average to be eligible for Honors, which you'll get only if your clinical grade was Honors or on the H/HP border as well.
FAMILY PRACTICE: 60% clinical grade as determined by preceptor, 25% oral presentation and patient handout, rest participation in didactics, std. patient exercises, etc. But overall, your clinical grade is usually your final grade. With so many different preceptors, it ends up being really subjective; my preceptor was fantastic, but told me that he didn't give anyone straight Honors b/c he felt the criteria for Honors (like "works independently at experienced resident level) were inappropriate for medical students.
MEDICINE: Pretty much residents did all the evals and controlled the show, except for the ambulatory block, which was run by my course directors. Although it's subjective again, I have to give Tufts credit for at least giving them an evaluation sheet with different areas to evaluate (fund of knowledge, interpersonal interactions, response to constructive criticism, sensitivity to patient needs, work ethic/motivation, etc.) Shelf exam is mostly used to sort out people on the border of 2 grades, i.e., if you are between H/HP or HP/P, you need to score 80 on the shelf (with nat. ave of 70) to get the higher grade.
NEURO: no idea, we each got assigned 2 exam questions at the end of the roation after working at a lot of different sites, I need this course grade to graduate in <2 weeks, and STILL don't have a grade. I'm pretty sure I did work meriting at least a Pass and liked the rotation, but this is NOT a good sign.
Good times...
