What are block tests like at your school?

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lildave2586

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Our tests are generally consist of 6 one hour sections. We generally have around 38-40 questions in each section. What sucks is that we have to take a 15 minute break in between each section, so it makes for a freaking long day. Our test tomorrow runs from 8:00 to 3:50. All of the questions from each class are jumbled together. It's good in some ways and bad in others. I like how they are trying to prepare us for Step I by simulating a long test day. However, reading 200+ questions sucks.

How are you tested at your school?
 
That sounds crazy long.

My block exams last 2-3 hours, usually hovering around 100 questions.
 
Our block tests are usually over two weeks of material and bw 50-75 questions...with roughly 30% being what they call Step 1 type?? questions.

Usually we have an 1.5-2 hours to take them.
 
no blocks here.

we have a test/quizzes each week during our systems. for example, we started 2nd year with 6 weeks of cardio. had a test each week or 1.5 weeks for a total of 5 tests. (25-30 lectures per exam (70-100 questions)). cardio final was cumulative pharm (eww) + EKG

now respiratory: 4 weeks total
1+3 = quiz on monday - each quiz is about 20 questions, week 1 is on physio and week 3 is bugs n' drugs
2+4 = test on monday (4 = final) - about 20-30 lectures per test (3-5 questions per hour of lecture)..so it'll be around 75-100 questions (90% board sytle questions)

The only time we have a week of exams is thanksgiving break and before christmas break. we'll have 1-2 tests each day on the subject that we were taking.
 
They try to make our tests as close to Step I as they can. We get the entire week off before the test to study. Our test tomorrow covers 5 weeks of material. I think it's 238 questions. I don't know how much more I can study, that's why I'm on here making posts about this stupid test.
 
A full test day around every 3.5 weeks or so. Roughly 250 Qs... not fun.
 
We generally only have a midterm and a final exam for our classes. So for ~7 weeks of material we'll have a 3 hour exam with usually 150-175 questions. We have lectures/new material up through the week preceeding exams, and then for exam week we'll have an exam every other day.

On one hand it's nice not having exams every other week, but on the other hand it means we have a huge amount of material to know in detail for each exam.
 
At my school, our exams are every 4-5 weeks. They're usually 200 questions and run over 4 hours with no breaks.
 
First year is a test about every 4 to 5 weeks. They try to keep it at around 90 questions or so per session. So, we might cover microanatomy and doctoring in one and then neuroanatomy in the second half after our break. Second year is much longer I believe. They have 6 courses at a time.
 
Roughly every 3 weeks, 100 questions with about 2 hour block allotted for the test. We're in anatomy right now so also have a 50 question practical later in the day following the written portion.

I've been told that following anatomy the amount of questions goes up slightly since there is no practical portion.
 
4 to 6 weeks of material. 4 to 6 class exams spread over a week to week and a half (day and a half or so between exams). Number of questions left to choice of the instructor, but anywhere from 60 to 200, mainly about 120 or so.
 
wow I feel somewhat lucky compared to some of you guys..

We have ~70 questions for 3 weeks of material in addition to a 50ish question practical. So our first block which consists of histo/cell bio and anatomy/embryo has 7 tests (4 anatomy and 3 histo) and 6 practicals.
 
anatomy block
-quiz every friday (except before midterm and final) 10 or 20 questions
-midterm 40 practical and 40 clinical vignettes
-final 50 practical and 50 clinical vignettes
 
whoa...I am definitely the luckiest!

1st Cell bio test was like a welcome to med school test that only covered 10 lectures...only 20 questions (very USMLE like)

2nd test: Biochem...40 questions...covered 4 weeks of material (15 lectures)...2hrs to complete the questions
 
Ya, ours don't seem that bad all of a sudden. We have "integrative weeks" every sixth week. Today we had epidemiology (20 question test) and biochem (40 question test). Tomorrow we have genetics (45 questions) and Histology/Cell Bio (45 questions). With the exception of biochem which is 2hrs, we have 1 hour and 20 minutes for each exam with a ten minute break between exams on that day.
 
ChiDO said:
no blocks here.

we have a test/quizzes each week during our systems. for example, we started 2nd year with 6 weeks of cardio. had a test each week or 1.5 weeks for a total of 5 tests. (25-30 lectures per exam (70-100 questions)). cardio final was cumulative pharm (eww) + EKG

now respiratory: 4 weeks total
1+3 = quiz on monday - each quiz is about 20 questions, week 1 is on physio and week 3 is bugs n' drugs
2+4 = test on monday (4 = final) - about 20-30 lectures per test (3-5 questions per hour of lecture)..so it'll be around 75-100 questions (90% board sytle questions)

The only time we have a week of exams is thanksgiving break and before christmas break. we'll have 1-2 tests each day on the subject that we were taking.
Click to expand...

so basically b/c all your tests and quizzes are on monday, your weekends suck.
 
atkinsje said:
Roughly every 3 weeks, 100 questions with about 2 hour block allotted for the test. We're in anatomy right now so also have a 50 question practical later in the day following the written portion.

I've been told that following anatomy the amount of questions goes up slightly since there is no practical portion.
Click to expand...

If you're not at Ohio State, it sure sounds like it.

Our first year, tests were arranged in divisions (anatomy, cell, host defense, neuro) with blocks in each that last 3-4 weeks with a 90-120 question exam (plus 50 question practical for anatomy). Lots of basic knowledge questions.

Second year there's more of a focus on systems, so we have a 3 week pulmonary block, two 3 week blocks of cardio, 4 weeks renal, 3 gi, etc. Same format though. Each test is 90-120 questions. For second year, though, almost all of our questions are board-style and you get a progressively reduced amount of time per question (currently at 1.4 minutes per question).
 
At MCG, we have 1 minute and 45 seconds per question, and a test every two weeks (14-17 days). Typically we have 100-130 questions.
 
I like our set up.

20-25 Question individual "iclicker" based quiz every Friday with 1.5-2 minutes a question. This is followed by a Team based quiz with 6 students a team covering the same multiple choice questions, and a longer and much more difficult essay based quiz that incorporates the whole topic of the week in much more depth.

Every three weeks we are then given 130-150 question board like three hour test. Depending on the block, you can have a cumulative final or just a normal three week material quiz.

The quizzes always feel harder than the test, but I think that is due to the quiz being the first time you saw the questions and the test being the second time.
 
I think you're lucky. Long exams means they can make it nearly comprehensive and put in alot of hard questions, rewarding students who put in effort learning as much of the material as possible.

With my school, there's one to two exams of 40-50 questions and almost every question easy so average tends to be in the high 80s. So the difference between Honors and just missing honors comes down to reading comprehension, test concentration, brain farts, and luck.

I suppose if you're just looking to pass, my school would be preferred since test day is about a hour and half and most people finish in half the time.
 
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anon3 said:
I think you're lucky. Long exams means they can make it nearly comprehensive and put in alot of hard questions, rewarding students who put in effort learning as much of the material as possible.

With my school, there's one to two exams of 40-50 questions and almost every question easy so average tends to be in the high 80s. So the difference between Honors and just missing honors comes down to reading comprehension, test concentration, brain farts, and luck.

I suppose if you're just looking to pass, my school would be preferred since test day is about a hour and half and most people finish in half the time.
Click to expand...

Wow, even in second year?
 
Our block exams go for a week- 4 days of exams, one built-in study day (different schedules for M1s than M2s). All of them cover 8 weeks worth of material.

Two days are problem-solving exams- essentially, 1 PBL case per day that you have to work up solo. These are open-resource.

One day (or a half-day, depending on which block) is for the patient-care oriented part of the curriculum- so a written and/or multiple choice exam on interviewing, physical exam, diagnostic testing, epi/stats, etc. For the interviewing blocks, there's usually a practical where you have to interview a standardized patient under the supervision of a faculty member. These are closed-resource.

And then there's one day of a more traditional multiple choice exam comprehensive of everything that was done in PBL (60% of Qs) and lectures (40% of Qs) throughout the block. Often there's a section of about 30-50 questions (path, anatomy, or histo, depending on the block) that are split out and have a time limit on them. However, the "big" test is 150 multiple choice questions that we have all day to work on. So tests on that day are generally 180-200 questions. These exams are also closed-resource.
 
Good Lord guys, we only have one test at the end of 3-4 weeks of classes.. it normally takes about 2-3 hours. But we only take one class at a time. OP, yours sound uberintense.
 
bcat85 said:
Good Lord guys, we only have one test at the end of 3-4 weeks of classes.. it normally takes about 2-3 hours. But we only take one class at a time. OP, yours sound uberintense.
Click to expand...

They are pretty intense, the whole purpose is to mimic step I. By the time we are finished we will have taken 8 tests with pretty much the same format as Step I. Our class average was 76 on our first test this year, which consisted of ~130 micro/immuno questions and 100 path plus 8 interdisciplinary questions. It was tough. They also make it even harder on us by setting the pass rates at 72 for Path and 70 for Micro. Apparently they have done research showing that people who score at or above these have a greater chance of passing step I (or something like that). Basically it just makes it harder to pass.
 
Every 4th monday we get a ~135 question test covering all subjects and roughly 100 hours of lecture. It lasts 3 hours and I'm exhausted by the end of it. The only part that I can't stand is that they stop teaching the material on friday and we have the exam on monday.

I complain more about our ridiculous finals schedule:

Tuesday: Neuro lab final covering 10 hours of lab cumulative for the entire semester.
Wednesday: Histology lab final covering 950 slides.
Thursday: Clinical skills final(write a patient interview down on paper).
Friday: Anatomy lab practical covering abdomen+pelvis
For some reason they are still presenting new material in lecture this week.

Tuesday: Test covering last 5 weeks of material(120 lecture hours).

Monday: 3 hour cumulative final exam covering 2 courses in 1st year.
Tuesday: 3 hour cumulative final exam covering 2 courses in 1st year.
Wednesday: 3 hour cumulative final exam covering 2 courses in 1st year.
 
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