TouroCOM - NY COMLEX I Pass Rate

[Doc2BNYC]

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interview the other day, talked to dean. most recent class had 137 students, 22 failed, which puts pass rate at 84%... not very good when other schools are hitting 100%

Again, this information seems inaccurate and rather unfortunate coming from a Dean. The Class of 2011 may have been 137 when it first started, but it certainly has experienced attrition. There are definitely not 137 students in the Class of 2011 anymore.

The board rate passage rate was finalized at 78% according to our Pre-Clinical Dean and that's including students who passed on the second try. As a student of TouroCOM, I'm rather appalled by the fact that TouroCOM can't give an accurate and consistent number, especially when recruiting potential students. I was not told the truth about the school when I interviewed and I really don't want other potential students to experience that.

 

[Doc2BNYC]

Not every school teaches to the boards. As a doctor you will be required to know more than what is on your step 1s. Schools should not just prepare you for the boards but also to be a doctor in general.

I don't think any one is arguing that a school should do more than provide knowledge for standardized tests. The problem is that certain Administrators have tossed the sequential nature of medical school out the window to our disadvantage: basic sciences first and then clinical implementation and not vice versa. Clinical Systems represents information even way beyond Step 2, especially in some modules like cardiology and pulmonology. Second year medical students have no use for this knowledge and will likely never apply it unless an individual goes for derm or cardio.

You haven't taken Clinical Systems yet, and hopefully by the time you're subjected to it, the class will be severely tamed down for you sake. There's way more to medical school at TouroCOM than anatomy as you'll see.

If this class is for the sake of looking good on the floor during clinicals, it's very misguided, bordering on ignorant, viewpoint of what attendings expect of third year medical students.

 

[Doc2BNYC]

Have you considered that only half the material on the exam is necessary to know for boards and the other half is "extra" stuff to know? In that case perhaps a 48 isn't bad at all. It absolutely depends on the exam's content.

That test was without a doubt the worst test I've ever taken in higher education.

I was embarrassed taking it and I was embarrassed for the doctor who wrote it. It was so poorly worded and poorly organized. There were many questions that had multiple answers, no answers, one word answers with multiple meanings, random facts that weren't in lecture/powerpoints/readings. Some questions were so random or sparse that I felt like I was reading a word association or stream of consciousness exercise. The 48% average was because of the test and not because of the students.

This however is NOT par for the basic sciences at TouroCOM. Behavioral medicine is worthless class, but the basic sciences are top notch.

And like someone pointed out, the doctor teaching it is connected to the Administration and is likely just enjoying a cushy job and a fluff position.

 

[MedStudentWanna]

I am not sure what the big deal is here. My undergrad was chock full of professors like this. As long as the curve is fair, what is there to complain about?

This is not undergrad. In undergrad, they're trying to weed students out. This is med school, where it's important that at least the majority of the class understands the material. With an average of a 48%, that means that, on average, the class did NOT understand or learn this material. You don't find anything wrong with that?

 

[MedStudentWanna]

Have you considered that only half the material on the exam is necessary to know for boards and the other half is "extra" stuff to know? In that case perhaps a 48 isn't bad at all. It absolutely depends on the exam's content.

That sounds like BS to me. No offense. I know you're a fourth year and very knowledgeable about this stuff, but speaking from someone who hasn't been through it yet, there is no excuse for an average of 48% in any med school class. That reflects on the teaching of the class. If the other 52% wasn't important, then why teach it? If it was important, then I think it signals a serious problem when the class didn't learn it.

 

[Gold 5]

This is not undergrad. In undergrad, they're trying to weed students out. This is med school, where it's important that at least the majority of the class understands the material. With an average of a 48%, that means that, on average, the class did NOT understand or learn this material. You don't find anything wrong with that?

I do not agree. This was more a situation where the professor gave a set of notes based on 800 or 900 pages of reading and told us the exam would be on his notes. Most folks including myself understood / memorized his notes plus I read through the Kaplan notes (for the comlex) on behavioral science. He decided to pull half the exam out of the readings not included in his notes. Add to that a final in OMM (a three credit class versus a one credit class) that occurred two hours latter and you have the recipe of a forty point curve.

FYI this is the only class this semester that this has happened

 

[missDO]

I do not agree. This was more a situation where the professor gave a set of notes based on 800 or 900 pages of reading and told us the exam would be on his notes. Most folks including myself understood / memorized his notes plus I read through the Kaplan notes (for the comlex) on behavioral science. He decided to pull half the exam out of the readings not included in his notes. Add to that a final in OMM (a three credit class versus a one credit class) that occurred two hours latter and you have the recipe of a forty point curve.

FYI this is the only class this semester that this has happened

Wow, how insane...see, it is all situational.

The good thing for you is that while the exam was bogus and unrepresentative, they fairly and rightly-so incorporated a curve. It is ok to curve a med class, in this case (IMO), because ~50% the info on the exam was clearly not taken from pertaining comlex/class note material, but instead it unfairly corresponded to info you were not instructed or recommended to study. On the other hand, had it been a fair exam and the information did all correspond to important board material, passing a 48 would be unfair to the student and encourage a false sense of comfort in their board preparedness...which, as I said, would be very wrong. However, as shyrem mentioned...I am learning there are a lot of "very wrong" components to the medical education system. I hope I don't stumble upon too many myself.

Thankfully, you did, however, study the material that pretains to the boards. In this (I hope rare) case, the curve was fair. My and MSW's and others' points, I believe, were said with the assumption that the exams were representative of necessary, required material to learn...for the most part, at least. It sounds like (some of) your professor(s) are whackadoos. I hope you're done with his/her class and don't have to deal with the randomness and unpredictability of their exams anymore!

 

[123165]

This is not undergrad. In undergrad, they're trying to weed students out. This is med school, where it's important that at least the majority of the class understands the material. With an average of a 48%, that means that, on average, the class did NOT understand or learn this material. You don't find anything wrong with that?

Like other posters have said, it depends. I could write a test that the average would be 48%, and students still learned the relevant material. The rest of the test was just worthless BS that I hardly lectured on. I could also write one where the average was 90%+ , and did not prepare the students at all.