What is your average grade?

[Chanterelle]

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To all the dental students: what is your average grade?

And all those who get good grades most of the time: what do you do differently than those who get worse grades? What advice do you have for them?

I usually get C-s and D-s and I have failed 4 exams in my first 2 years. I feel pretty awful about it because I did my best in the first year and still failed exams. During the second year I've been a bit lazy but it has been easier aswell.
Still there are a some students who have other respnsibilities than studying but only get good grades. One of them is a mother, goes to parties and still she gets an A for almost every exam. How do they do that? 🙁

 

[Vicviper]

I've been getting mostly B's scattered with A's, but also a C or so in my first semester when I was still adjusting. At your school can you get D's and continue? At Pitt if you get two D's, or below a 2.65 at the end of spring you're gone 🙁

 

[Masseter]

I've gotten mostly B's and a few A's on my first year.

I don't care much about it tought because I don't want to specialize. Maybe that stress relief makes me perform relatively well.

Do you get good night sleep? Do you enjoy it what you learn?

One of of my rules is to be asleep at 11pm. Since I get up at 7h30 I get a good 8h sleep for the day.

Mind you, I still work hard for my grades. I take half an hour to dine and between courses I'm at the library or at the sim lab if it's available.

How do you study? I take notes on my computer during classes. But to study, I print them because I found that during each hour of study time I would waste 15 minutes on Facebook and instant messaging. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I personally like absolute silence (and I'm very picky about this) so I hide at the shadiest places in the school library 😛. I also can't study at my appartment because the temptation to watch TV and relax on the couch is too powerful 🙂.

Also, how do you react during exams? Are you anxious before receiving the papers? Do you do the exam fast? I can't help it but it seems like each exam I write I try to be the first to end it. I took pride in primary school but I can't help it but do it. This makes my grades go down a little bit because I fall for stupid things. That's why I try to revise 2 times each questions.

I am sure that with a little fine tuning you'll get those good grades. Hey! You got in dental school in the first place. There's no way you can't do it 🙂

 

[Chanterelle]

Thanks for the answers everyone!

I've been getting mostly B's scattered with A's, but also a C or so in my first semester when I was still adjusting. At your school can you get D's and continue? At Pitt if you get two D's, or below a 2.65 at the end of spring you're gone 🙁

Pitt is for Pittsburgh? I live in Eastern Europe so it's different here. I wonder what is the grading system like there?

This is our grading system:
A = 91-100%
B = 81-90%
C= 71-80%
D = 61-70%
E = 51-60%
F = failing the exam (less than 50% of correct answers)

I've gotten mostly B's and a few A's on my first year.

I don't care much about it tought because I don't want to specialize. Maybe that stress relief makes me perform relatively well.

Do you get good night sleep? Do you enjoy it what you learn?

One of of my rules is to be asleep at 11pm. Since I get up at 7h30 I get a good 8h sleep for the day.

Mind you, I still work hard for my grades. I take half an hour to dine and between courses I'm at the library or at the sim lab if it's available.

How do you study? I take notes on my computer during classes. But to study, I print them because I found that during each hour of study time I would waste 15 minutes on Facebook and instant messaging. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I personally like absolute silence (and I'm very picky about this) so I hide at the shadiest places in the school library 😛. I also can't study at my appartment because the temptation to watch TV and relax on the couch is too powerful 🙂.

Also, how do you react during exams? Are you anxious before receiving the papers? Do you do the exam fast? I can't help it but it seems like each exam I write I try to be the first to end it. I took pride in primary school but I can't help it but do it. This makes my grades go down a little bit because I fall for stupid things. That's why I try to revise 2 times each questions.

I am sure that with a little fine tuning you'll get those good grades. Hey! You got in dental school in the first place. There's no way you can't do it 🙂

Many of the things here apply to me aswell. I don't do the exam fast. I'm rarely the one to finish first. Most of the time I'm one of the last ones.
I used to study at the library too because studying at home was too distracting. But then I decided to quit because I wanted to save money (eating at home cost less). I guess it wasn't a good idea though.
Everything you said in the post was something I already knew and had done myself.
I usually sleep 10 hours whenever I can so I need to cut down on that.

Thanks for the thorough answer.

 

[Decan]

I just finished up second year and I'm waiting for my cumulative GPA to be calculated, but i think its in the 3.8 range. Studying doesn't come naturally to me and its something I have to work hard at. We only have 4-5 exams/semester and each exam contains material we learned over the last 3-4 weeks in every class. I usually start studying a week to 1.5 weeks before the exam and organize my notes. I spend most time on what I think I will struggle with the most and work backwards from there. After the exam I make sure to take a day or two off to decompress and relax and then I spend the rest of the time catching up on lab work or practicing for practicals and whatnot.

 

[Vicviper]

Thanks for the answers everyone!



Pitt is for Pittsburgh? I live in Eastern Europe so it's different here. I wonder what is the grading system like there?

This is our grading system:
A = 91-100%
B = 81-90%
C= 71-80%
D = 61-70%
E = 51-60%
F = failing the exam (less than 50% of correct answers)

Yeah, we use the same system. But I mean, two D's in the classes overall gets you kicked out of school, not 2 D test scores - though two D's on a test in a class would likely end you up with a C or a D.

 

[Masseter]

Yeah, we use the same system. But I mean, two D's in the classes overall gets you kicked out of school, not 2 D test scores - though two D's on a test in a class would likely end you up with a C or a D.

This is ridiculous.

 

[Vicviper]

This is ridiculous.

Yeah... it is, especially when you're 80k in debt. It's not a very popular school policy.

 

[Decan]

At my school anything below 75% in a course will result in failure of the semester. Since most courses can't be "made up" the next year it usually means you have to repeat the year. I thought this was bad...I guess I should be thankful.

 

[AirborneDentist]

Yeah... it is, especially when you're 80k in debt. It's not a very popular school policy.

Why do you say it is ridiculous? That people are actually getting low scores, or they actually kick you out?

If it is for the latter, are you implying that because you pay 80k you should be "entitled" to pass without knowing the material?

 

[browncrack]

Why do you say it is ridiculous? That people are actually getting low scores, or they actually kick you out?

If it is for the latter, are you implying that because you pay 80k you should be "entitled" to pass without knowing the material?

People get low scores sometimes. This is part of the game. I think that the OP is suggesting that with 80k in debt it might be difficult to do anything but join the army to pay it off since the school kicks a person out without a degree. Some people say a school should consider the dental student as a whole when making life changing decisions like kicking someone out. Some people say F = failure = not worthy of the degree. I'm somewhere in the center.

 

[Vicviper]

Why do you say it is ridiculous? That people are actually getting low scores, or they actually kick you out?

If it is for the latter, are you implying that because you pay 80k you should be "entitled" to pass without knowing the material?

Oh, of course there should be accountability, there's no question about that. But it would be nice to be able to at least be given the option to remediate the class or retake the year - an option that was present last year. And you're not entiltled to anything when you take out the 80k in loans the first year, but it's just be nice to know that the schools realize that having that type of debt with no way of paying it off is life devastating, and that they may give you some sort of second chance to prove yourself when the stakes are so high.

 

[xhamburgersamx]

At my school anything below 75% in a course will result in failure of the semester. Since most courses can't be "made up" the next year it usually means you have to repeat the year. I thought this was bad...I guess I should be thankful.

Unless you specify the school, this is very, almost impossible to believe. Strictly speaking, most likely 10% of the class will receive lower than 75% so are you saying these students have to wait an entire year to re-take the semester? Realistically, you can't move on to the next semester without passing the previous one so are these students remediated a year? hard to believe.

MOST, i'd say 99% of schools have a remediation course immediately following the previous semester's class for those that technically fail (less than 75%). If they don't pass that remediation class, then they will just have to wait a year to retake the original class with another class but they can go onto other courses and not be held back for obvious reasons.

 

[Vicviper]

Just a clarification, my understanding is that you can remediate one class, but if you get a second D in the same semester, you can remediate neither.

 

[DrReo]

Just finished up with a class exam method that is easily described as the "where is Waldo" in the textbook. The professor took the most minute details that were not presented in the lectures and made exam questions based from one liners in the text. Essentially, every sentence you read was as important as the last. Not information clinically relevant. Lecture was based off a different array of topics and very little, if any, was tested on. I did really well in the class, but there are some that didn't. Would this be fair to put students on academic probation and/or boot them from school when a course was conducted in such manner?

 

[UKdent]

We had no D's, it was A,B,C,F. If you got 2 c's in the same year you had to repeat the class next year. If you got a F then you had to repeat the class next year. With that being said if you went to your instructor and talked with them they would usually help you out with some extra work that would allow you to not have to remediate. If you continually did bad then you would have to repeat the year again. When I graduated we 6 people of our class of 55 that failed out. 1 student was kicked out. 4 students had to repeat the year again and 1 student had to go back to undergrad to take some basic science class before they were allowed to come back to dental school. With that being said you actually had to try to fail at our school. The students that i just mentioned were the ones that never came to class, or slept during every class. As far as grades wise I would say to pay attention in class. I was the student that only studied the night before the test and still graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Paying attention in class and taking good notes are the key. If you are already doing that then you need to look at somebody else notes to see what they are doing. Some students that I helped tutor in dental school were studying and taking notes completely wrong. The key is to understand what is important and what is filler material that the professor is telling you. One page of good notes is better than studying 10 pages of notes that are an exact dictation of what was said. hope it helps

 

[marcusnasland]

- I got all P's my first year of dental school!

- The pass/fail system has made dental school alot less stressful I assume.

 

[Vicviper]

- I got all P's my first year of dental school!

- The pass/fail system has made dental school alot less stressful I assume.

Yeah, it sounds like it - my school used to be P/F but they changed to grades a while back.

 

[Blue Panther]

Yeah, it sounds like it - my school used to be P/F but they changed to grades a while back.

WHAT!!! 😡

 

[Vicviper]

WHAT!!! 😡

Haha, yeah, I was talking to some alumni from 10-15 years ago when they came to visit the school, and they said it used to be pass/fail. Oh, and way cheaper than it is now, haha, but that's how it is at every school.

 

[jay47]

We had no D's, it was A,B,C,F. If you got 2 c's in the same year you had to repeat the class next year. If you got a F then you had to repeat the class next year. With that being said if you went to your instructor and talked with them they would usually help you out with some extra work that would allow you to not have to remediate. If you continually did bad then you would have to repeat the year again. When I graduated we 6 people of our class of 55 that failed out. 1 student was kicked out. 4 students had to repeat the year again and 1 student had to go back to undergrad to take some basic science class before they were allowed to come back to dental school. With that being said you actually had to try to fail at our school. The students that i just mentioned were the ones that never came to class, or slept during every class. As far as grades wise I would say to pay attention in class. I was the student that only studied the night before the test and still graduated with a 3.9 GPA. Paying attention in class and taking good notes are the key. If you are already doing that then you need to look at somebody else notes to see what they are doing. Some students that I helped tutor in dental school were studying and taking notes completely wrong. The key is to understand what is important and what is filler material that the professor is telling you. One page of good notes is better than studying 10 pages of notes that are an exact dictation of what was said. hope it helps

Sounds similar to our current situation at my school. Several students were given an "ultimatum" and they had to pass all their courses with a 70 or they would have to leave. Or they could just start again fresh next year. We had students make both choices.