do all medical students pass uni and graduate as a doctor?

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Oh geeeee, so if you failed an exam and got told to resit, did better but still not quite passed it, you're forced to leave? What about if you've passed all the other exams, but there's one you're just finding really difficult, but if you fail it twice - you're out? now i'm worried!! even if this happens in the later years, so youve done 4 years but somehow really struggling at the last hurdle and they throw you out for failing twice?

Well, if you can't even get 50% after two attempts, you obviously don't know enough to put people's lives in your hands...

But seriously don't worry, you'll be able to do it :smile:

Reply 41

Helenia

Original post by tpxvs

Well, would you want a doctor that kept failing exams?

The exams at medical school are not impossible - they are set so that an average student will pass with a reasonable amount of preparation - and most do, some with the odd resit here and there (unlike postgraduate exams where the pass rate is usually around 30-40%). If you are really struggling with a subject then the strategy should be to speak to your tutors about it and get extra teaching, rather than hope that they'll be lenient after you flunk your exams.

When it comes to finals, they really don't want you to fail, because a)it reflects badly on them and b)it screws up FY1 coverage for the next year if too many people fail. Different med schools have come up with different strategies, like doing the exams earlier in the year so there's time for a resit before August, or pulling out students before the exams and making them repeat the year (Cambridge do this). If you have got as far as finals without slipping up too much, and work sensibly and steadily, you will pass. If for whatever reason you haven't, and you fail, don't you agree that it wouldn't be fair on the general public to let through a doctor who hadn't passed all their exams?

Reply 42

nexttime

Original post by Booyah

So just to ask what are the exams like for people who are in medical school? For example in anatomy do you have to write down each functioning muscle and what did does and things like that?

Would love to know :smile:

Original post by GdotL

It's multiple choice lolz.

Its not only multiple choice everywhere, just to be clear.

Anatomy is also very, very easy here too though. Oxford is notorious for teaching the absolute minimum GMC allows :tongue:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 43

GdotL

Original post by nexttime

Its not multiple choice everywhere, just to be clear.

Its also very, very easy here too though. Oxford is notorious for teaching the absolute minimum GMC allows :tongue:

At least at Oxford you have the tutes and essays - imagine just having the bare syllabus :tongue:

Reply 44

randdom

Original post by InkyOne

I have a friend that insists that a few years ago at BSMS loads of people in one year had to leave because they failed or something, but I don't know it there's any truth in it at all...

I suspect that would have been my graduating year. It is all about to change but in my year for your finals you did 4 clinical exams. obs&gynae and paeds osce, surgical osce, intergrated clinical exam and the medical osce. You could fail and resit all of them bar the medical osce and if you passed then you would graduate that summer. If you failed the medical osce only you would have to resit it in November and there for wouldn't be able to start the foundation program until the following summer (most people locumed). If you failed the medical osce and one of the others than you had to resit the year.

In my year a reasonably large number of people (I heard 9-10/120 but that could be wrong) failed something which meant that they didn't graduate with us. However most of them resat the component that they failed or the year and got through and started the foundation period a year later.

I wouldn't say that BSMS were particularly harder than any other medical school. They had the policy that is shared by many that if you fail the exam and then the resit then you either have to resit the year or potentially leave.

Reply 45

flopsy89

Original post by Mushi_master

He was in my tutorial group in 1st year :wink:

Wanna hook me up? :wink:

I love Dry the River but I think living medical school for a career in music is a massive step! Did he hate the course or something?

Reply 46

tpxvs

Original post by randdom

They had the policy that is shared by many that if you fail the exam and then the resit then you either have to resit the year or potentially leave.

Ah I see, so you're never forced to leave you always have the option of retaking the year is it? Or can you only do this once?

Reply 47

Vulpes

Original post by tpxvs

Ah I see, so you're never forced to leave you always have the option of retaking the year is it? Or can you only do this once?

This varies depending on the medical school. At sheffield, if you fail the exam, you can resit it 4 weeks later. Failing that, you will be asked to resit the year with full attendance. If you fail the exam a 3rd time, you will be advised to leave the course and the uni will discuss with you other options.

via TSR Mobile App. Excuse any typos. =]

Reply 48

randdom

Original post by tpxvs

Ah I see, so you're never forced to leave you always have the option of retaking the year is it? Or can you only do this once?

It really depends what has happened prior to it how many thing you have failed etc. But it is the first time you have had this problem you will often get to resit the year if you fail the retake. Though not always.

Reply 49

Mushi_master

Original post by flopsy89

Wanna hook me up? :wink:

I love Dry the River but I think living medical school for a career in music is a massive step! Did he hate the course or something?

That's really not for me to say, but he's definitely doing what he loves now.

Reply 50

Helenia

Original post by tpxvs

Ah I see, so you're never forced to leave you always have the option of retaking the year is it? Or can you only do this once?

The default position is often that if you fail a resit, you're out (or at least off the medicine course), but really it very much depends on the circumstances. The number of students failing resits is so small that in general they look at each case individually. If the student had extenuating circumstances, or if they're an otherwise decent student who had one bad exam (well, two, if they failed the exam and its resit) then they may be allowed another resit, or to repeat a year. If there are no extenuating circumstances, if they fail more than one thing, or if there's a feeling that this failure is part of a bigger picture, then they're more likely to have to leave. There are no hard and fast rules, and it will vary between universities and depending on which set of exams it is.

From my year, I can remember a few who were forced to change to natural sciences after first year, and a few more who were allowed to complete their pre-clinical degree but not allowed to apply to clinical school. Cambridge likes to keep its dropout rate low so other unis may be more likely just to kick someone out rather than let them change to another course. In clinical years swapping to another subject is not possible, so more people had to repeat a year, but I can't think of anyone who was actually kicked out.

You shouldn't let this panic you too much before you start though!

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 51

BeanofJelly

Original post by gozatron

Cadaver tests in second year.

Think you just triggered some flashbacks.

Reply 52

Connor S

One of my mates brothers dropped out of med school; when I asked him why he said he was drinking too much. Dunno if that meant he did low in exams or that he was not following good med student protocol

Reply 53

halfadoc

Original post by InkyOne

I have a friend that insists that a few years ago at BSMS loads of people in one year had to leave because they failed or something, but I don't know it there's any truth in it at all...

Absolutely no truth in that. People fail every year at every medical school, but theres never been an abnormally huge chunk of people in one go at bsms.

Reply 54

AishaTara

some will drop out, some may go into research, others into future study like PhD or study dentistry so they can do Maxillofacial surgery, and later on some go into lecturing.

Reply 55

digitalis

Original post by AishaTara

some will drop out, some may go into research, others into future study like PhD or study dentistry so they can do Maxillofacial surgery, and later on some go into lecturing.

The fact that they have dropped out of a medical degree may prove to be a burden.

Reply 56

theatrical

Original post by AishaTara

some will drop out, some may go into research, others into future study like PhD or study dentistry so they can do Maxillofacial surgery, and later on some go into lecturing.

You won't be able to do any of these things unless you pass and graduate...

Reply 57

MJHERBZ

Do people tend to fail through lack of effort more so than exams being simply to difficult? Obviously you need to be clever to even get onto the course, is it then generally a case of just putting in the work?

Reply 58

magichearts

Original post by MJHERBZ

Most people tend to fail due to lack of effort. The exams are set so majority will pass if they put in the work needed. The school is not out there to fail students. These exams are designed to catch those who don't put enough effort into studying/revising. When the people who failed have an academic meeting, it is found that most if not all did not do enough reading/did not start early enough with revision/have no worked throughout the course and decided to cram. It is very rarely the exam's fault that people fail (the only time you know that there is a problem with the exam is when the pass mark for the year is 10% lower than the year before and that 20% of the year had failed).

Reply 59

MJHERBZ

Original post by magichearts

This is very reassuring to hear, thanks! I'll be starting in a few months and although I consider myself clever it's still a pretty daunting thought! All worth it though :smile: