simlab grading at dental school is a joke?

[frozenicecreamDMD]

Hi all,

I have gone through two tough semesters at my dental school. I passed all classes and understand the concepts very well. I passed all my practicals on first time also (generally all Bs on the practicals).

However, I find sim lab grading at my dental school to be a joke or complete garbage sometimes

a class I or class II prep may get a F from one instructor may get a low B by another instructor
some instructors never give out As or high Bs and just slap those low Bs no matter what
worst of all, the course director never points out the major mistake students make and don't give good advice when asked because if they tell you every pitfall, everyone will have an easy time and that should not be the way it is done.

sometimes I feel the grade u get depends so much on who grade you and I can't get over the fact that some people in the class get the easy bird kill while I spend so much time to practice and didn't get recognized by the grading system.

I just feel they find every possible way to nitpick your prep or restoration until it has been beaten dead multiple times over. and I have just held a drill for less than 13 weeks. I am very frustrated and disappointed.

I will have more sim lab classes and I need to find a way to train myself to overcome this soon or I will go crazy with the way the grading works.

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[Advance]

Hi all,

I have gone through two tough semesters at my dental school. I passed all classes and understand the concepts very well. I passed all my practicals on first time also (generally all Bs on the practicals).

However, I find sim lab grading at my dental school to be a joke or complete garbage sometimes

a class I or class II prep may get a F from one instructor may get a low B by another instructor
some instructors never give out As or high Bs and just slap those low Bs no matter what
worst of all, the course director never points out the major mistake students make and don't give good advice when asked because if they tell you every pitfall, everyone will have an easy time and that should not be the way it is done.

sometimes I feel the grade u get depends so much on who grade you and I can't get over the fact that some people in the class get the easy bird kill while I spend so much time to practice and didn't get recognized by the grading system.

I just feel they find every possible way to nitpick your prep or restoration until it has been beaten dead multiple times over. and I have just held a drill for less than 13 weeks. I am very frustrated and disappointed.

I will have more sim lab classes and I need to find a way to train myself to overcome this soon or I will go crazy with the way the grading works.

At my school it's incredibly tough to make an A on a waxup or a prep/restoration no matter what professor you get. The people that make the A's definitely deserve it. It's the B+ to D range of grades that gets a little sketchy IMO. Typically multiple professors grade our restorations though. Usually it's one or two professors and the course director to reduce bias.

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

At my school it's incredibly tough to make an A on a waxup or a prep/restoration no matter what professor you get. The people that make the A's definitely deserve it. It's the B+ to D range of grades that gets a little sketchy IMO. Typically multiple professors grade our restorations though. Usually it's one or two professors and the course director to reduce bias.

lol what i am talking about is the grading that is totally out of wack. believe me, they give out a objective hand out and every faculty has his/her own version of ideal restoration and prep and will mark u up or down accordingly if ur prep's restoration hits what they like

it is just sad how luck plays so much importance in this professional setting.

 

[Advance]

lol what i am talking about is the grading that is totally out of wack. believe me, they give out a objective hand out and every faculty has his/her own version of ideal restoration and prep and will mark u up or down accordingly if ur prep's restoration hits what they like

it is just sad how luck plays so much importance in this professional setting.

Ah. I dunno. When I walk out of a practical I can usually tell what grade I made. I'm rarely surprised.

 

[oralcare123]

Consider it a blessing. The more practice the better. If you are really sick of practicing - get graded by an "easy" one

 

[Hannah Banana]

I feel blessed because we do Passed/failed.

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

Consider it a blessing. The more practice the better. If you are really sick of practicing - get graded by an "easy" one

I think at some schools you get to choose the person who grades you but at my school, they randomize graders and like 5-6 different faculties grade different parts of your prep. hence, the subjective nature of it blows through the roof even more.

Operative is subjective at my school as well. The kids who get A's usually spend a lot of time in sim lab and get a lot of feedback from a wide variety of professors and upperclassmen. Everyone has a different opinion; I try to take the feedbacks that make sense to me, use that as my standard and drill around 10-15 preps to that standard before each practical. So far it has worked out with my clinical grades. It can be frustrating sometimes not having a uniform goal, but unfortunately that's how subjective dentistry is in real life. As long as you grasp the operative concepts and understand why a prep needs to be a certain width, depth, shape, etc, then practice as much as you can applying those concepts because they will translate going into clinic. I can empathize with your frustration, but I try not to lose sleep over things that are not in my control, which I know is easier said than done.

very well said, I have learned to do the same too but it feels so ridiculous that an 1 major difference in grade just simply depends on who grades you. and the real clinic time at my school is probably even worse, where the suck up and the good feelings become big determination of grades.

I feel blessed because we do Passed/failed.

only at this moment I seriously drool over P/F grading system. I wish I could have gone to a P/F system.
you are a D2 right? I still remembered your application cycle 2 years ago when I was just preparing to apply. Time flied.

 

[Hannah Banana]

only at this moment I seriously drool over P/F grading system. I wish I could have gone to a P/F system.
you are a D2 right? I still remembered your application cycle 2 years ago when I was just preparing to apply. Time flied.

Yes! I don't think it's very fair to have grading because it's a little subjective. Even with pass/fail, it can have flaws. At my school, if a student fails, a second faculty will verify. If that faculty doesn't think that it's a fail, then the student passes.

 

[oralcare123]

I think at some schools you get to choose the person who grades you but at my school, they randomize graders and like 5-6 different faculties grade different parts of your prep. hence, the subjective nature of it blows through the roof even more.



very well said, I have learned to do the same too but it feels so ridiculous that an 1 major difference in grade just simply depends on who grades you. and the real clinic time at my school is probably even worse, where the suck up and the good feelings become big determination of grades.


only at this moment I seriously drool over P/F grading system. I wish I could have gone to a P/F system.
you are a D2 right? I still remembered your application cycle 2 years ago when I was just preparing to apply. Time flied.

My condolences then. Try to look at your prep with typodont out of manikin under magnification before going to the grader

 

[Greyangel6]

In my experience, at my school, they hold very high standards for operative (and that's understandable considering how far operative dentistry has come) in the sim lab. When they grade things, they would have each faculty do 1 category of the grading criteria so there's at least some more objectivity. Getting an A in the practical portion means you are very good at following directions. But all the strict grading goes out the windows once I start doing crown preps lol, faculty would tell me that I should just be able to eye-ball the amount of reduction. So i guess what i'm trying to say is, just don't lose sleep over this lol

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

In my experience, at my school, they hold very high standards for operative (and that's understandable considering how far operative dentistry has come) in the sim lab. When they grade things, they would have each faculty do 1 category of the grading criteria so there's at least some more objectivity. Getting an A in the practical portion means you are very good at following directions. But all the strict grading goes out the windows once I start doing crown preps lol, faculty would tell me that I should just be able to eye-ball the amount of reduction. So i guess what i'm trying to say is, just don't lose sleep over this lol

lol yeah i will try.

 

[schmoob]

Are your instruments sharp? Typodont teeth really do a number on your hatchets, etc. After a while it seems like it's less cutting and more torquing through the teeth. Sharpen them if necessary before practicals, it will help with smooth walls/floors and making sure contact is broken.