Weeding People Out

[Landsealion]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I am in the final week of my first semester in med school and I am really wondering something. It seems like everyone I know in my class is doing horribly in at least one course, often two or three courses. I can't think of anyone that doesn't currently have a few C's or even a D's going into finals. It seems like everyone is struggling to get passing grades. For example, the average grade on our first physiology test was a 60%. The average on the biochem midterm was about a 65%. The typical grade on our histology lab quizzes was about a 40%. I am certainly not exaggerating when i say most of the class is doing poorly, gradewise.

Now I can't imagine the school is going to force a majority of the students in my class to repeat at least one course or the first semester, that would look terrible and would cause a great amount of chaos. Also, some people further along in the program have told me that everyone ends up doing way better in their first semester than they thought they would. Plus one of our more laid back professors once made a quick comment after our first round of midterms, where he told a bunch of stressed out students not to give up and to "ride the curve".

This makes me wonder, is the university intentionally trying to make us sweat our grades and making tests much harder than they need to be in order to weed some people? Like the people that get a 68% on their first biochem test and say "screw it, this is way too hard, i am dropping out", instead of getting serious and studying like crazy? Many of the professors seem to be feeding into that fear too where they seem like they want us to get all worked up about our grades.

Maybe I am being a bit paranoid but do you think it is possible that my school is trying to force out people that don't care as much as they should by making us think we are all teetering on the edge?

Or are we just a bunch of *****s that don't know what we are doing?

 

[sylvanthus]

I dont think they are trying to weed people out, but I have no idea what school you go to. More than likely they are making bad exams. If the class average is in the 60s it is NOT the students that are at fault, it is more likely that the professors are making bad exams. Too hard, too detailed, or they didn;t give you the info needed to succeed.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, they are not going to fail and kick out a bunch of people. The school would look bad and they would likely lose money.

This is assuming you aren't going to a caribbean school.

 

[vicinihil]

I haven't heard of a school with averages THAT low. My friends who attend a diverse array of schools scattered across the country typically are reporting averages in the low to mid 80s with very few scoring in the 70s.

 

[osumc2014]

I am in the final week of my first semester in med school and I am really wondering something. It seems like everyone I know in my class is doing horribly in at least one course, often two or three courses. I can't think of anyone that doesn't currently have a few C's or even a D's going into finals. It seems like everyone is struggling to get passing grades. For example, the average grade on our first physiology test was a 60%. The average on the biochem midterm was about a 65%. The typical grade on our histology lab quizzes was about a 40%. I am certainly not exaggerating when i say most of the class is doing poorly, gradewise.

Now I can't imagine the school is going to force a majority of the students in my class to repeat at least one course or the first semester, that would look terrible and would cause a great amount of chaos. Also, some people further along in the program have told me that everyone ends up doing way better in their first semester than they thought they would. Plus one of our more laid back professors once made a quick comment after our first round of midterms, where he told a bunch of stressed out students not to give up and to "ride the curve".

This makes me wonder, is the university intentionally trying to make us sweat our grades and making tests much harder than they need to be in order to weed some people? Like the people that get a 68% on their first biochem test and say "screw it, this is way too hard, i am dropping out", instead of getting serious and studying like crazy? Many of the professors seem to be feeding into that fear too where they seem like they want us to get all worked up about our grades.

Maybe I am being a bit paranoid but do you think it is possible that my school is trying to force out people that don't care as much as they should by making us think we are all teetering on the edge?

Or are we just a bunch of *****s that don't know what we are doing?

not sure, our class avg is usually around 88, a few may fail but that's about it, i dont think med schools try to do this, they WANT us to stay in school and survive IMO

 

[greatnt249]

Like the people that get a 68% on their first biochem test and say "screw it, this is way too hard, i am dropping out", instead of getting serious and studying like crazy?

If a lot of people are performing as you say they are, and your school makes the overall scoring histograms available to you, I don't see how anyone could take their grade at face-value and judge their performance as such. If anything, the scenario you describe is more indicative of problems on the end of the faculty, not you.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

OP do you attend a Caribbean medical school?

 

[MossPoh]

Most schools try to keep the averages around the 82-85 range. At our school, if it is in the 78-80 range they usually see if there were bad questions or just an overall tough exam. If it was a tough exam, they tend to lighten up the next one or give a few easy questions. Oddly enough, the exams that are all in the low 80's are the ones that I do exceedingly well in.

 

[Gabby]

Most schools try to keep the averages around the 82-85 range. At our school, if it is in the 78-80 range they usually see if there were bad questions or just an overall tough exam. If it was a tough exam, they tend to lighten up the next one or give a few easy questions. Oddly enough, the exams that are all in the low 80's are the ones that I do exceedingly well in.

Averages at my school tend to be in the low to mid 70s. We've never had an average over 80%. OP, I don't know what to tell you. That's horrible that averages are in the 60s. Do they curve individual exams?

 

[Perrotfish]

This makes me wonder, is the university intentionally trying to make us sweat our grades and making tests much harder than they need to be in order to weed some people? Like the people that get a 68% on their first biochem test and say "screw it, this is way too hard, i am dropping out", instead of getting serious and studying like crazy? Many of the professors seem to be feeding into that fear too where they seem like they want us to get all worked up about our grades.

Maybe I am being a bit paranoid but do you think it is possible that my school is trying to force out people that don't care as much as they should by making us think we are all teetering on the edge?

Or are we just a bunch of *****s that don't know what we are doing?

If this is a US medical school I would say that there is no chance that they're going to fail more than 10% of you, so if you're doing relatively well compared to your classmates I think you're going to be fine.

If this is not a mainland US medical school, then I have no idea what your school is thinking but there is a very real possibility that they might actualy fail a big chunk of the class. My undergrad was like that: one of my first classes the average was below a 60 and, since a D wasn't passing for anyone taking the course, it meant that more than half of the very bright students in the course were failing. I was reassured over and over again by friends and family that schools didn't do that and that if I eeked ou a 70 it would be curved to a B if not an A. Well, no surprise, come grading time I barely managed a 70 and therefore barely managed a C as the majority of the class needed to retake the course. That being said schools also do bluff to scare students straight and then curve at the last minute.

In the end, all you can do is the best you can do, so do that and hope for the best.

 

[MossPoh]

Averages at my school tend to be in the low to mid 70s. We've never had an average over 80%. OP, I don't know what to tell you. That's horrible that averages are in the 60s. Do they curve individual exams?

See, to me that indicates either tremendously difficult questions, questions focused on minutiae, poorly written tests, or some combination of those things.

Either way, not much one can do about it besides work hard and get through it.

 

[Dr Oops]

Med schools generally dont try to weed people out, that shouldve been done by now.

They will probably curve significantly if the averages were that low.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Med schools generally dont try to weed people out, that shouldve been done by now.

They will probably curve significantly if the averages were that low.

US Allopathic ACGME accredited Med Schools dont try to weed people out. That was intentionally long with a a number of qualifiers. These schools either curve their grades, remediate individuals, or, hopefully, crush the crap profs giving garbage exams.

Caribbean medical schools admit up to 1000 people a year (Ross for example, accepted 3 rounds of 300 applicants when I applied to them in 05, but did not accept) with the intention of taking their money and failing most of them. It gives the few students who, for some reason, couldnt make it into a US Allopathic School, but it fully capable as a student and a physician to make it. The caribe schools are NOT for education, but for money, as they dont get any subsidies from the government. They must take many, fail many, and pass along only the elite in order to may their faculty.

 

[MedStudTraining]

Med schools generally dont try to weed people out, that shouldve been done by now.

They will probably curve significantly if the averages were that low.

👍 I think the Carribean ones try to though 😎

 

[thefritz]

Caribbean medical schools admit up to 1000 people a year (Ross for example, accepted 3 rounds of 300 applicants when I applied to them in 05, but did not accept) with the intention of taking their money and failing most of them. It gives the few students who, for some reason, couldnt make it into a US Allopathic School, but it fully capable as a student and a physician to make it. The caribe schools are NOT for education, but for money, as they dont get any subsidies from the government. They must take many, fail many, and pass along only the elite in order to may their faculty.

That logic makes absolutely no sense. If all the school cared about was money, they would not fail students out after the first year. That is 3 years of lost tuition revenue they would incur. I think that it is more likely that the schools are less selective upfront and fail students out who don't have any chance of passing StepI, so that the school maintains some degree of respect (i.e., it's not graduating complete *****s).

It's pretty easy to fail out of US med schools too. But the schools are more selective upfront, and they only admit the kind of people who aren't going to fail.

 

[altogether]

That logic makes absolutely no sense. If all the school cared about was money, they would not fail students out after the first year. That is 3 years of lost tuition revenue they would incur. I think that it is more likely that the schools are less selective upfront and fail students out who don't have any chance of passing StepI, so that the school maintains some degree of respect (i.e., it's not graduating complete *****s).

It's pretty easy to fail out of US med schools too. But the schools are more selective upfront, and they only admit the kind of people who aren't going to fail.

I have a friend at Ross and when he failed one class had to repeat the whole semester. So they can in fact make money that way I would think. But I think if you fail twice, then you get kicked out...