Failed 1st year medicine exams, need to sit supplementary exams in August

I failed my June summative exams this year, and am quite upset. I was below the pass mark by 3% and feel very demotivated right now.

I feel like a failure. Is there anyone who can advise me on how they found the supplementary exams in comparison to the first time round?And any other general advice?

Thanks

All my close friends managed to pass and i feel left behind.I have thoughts about changing courses and perhaps applying through clearing for another course starting September 2022.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 1

Muttly

Remind yourself why you applied to do medicine.

How you deal with failure is the issue here, nothing else. OK 3% is what - one mark or two marks; so what % did you get right?

Get revising, get working and stay motivated. You are so incredibly lucky to get another chance. Don't flunk it by talking yourself out of it. Speak to others who did pass, or your tutors and see what areas you were weak on?

Stop the all or nothing drama and get on, sit it again and pass it

Reply 2

username5319484

Sorry to hear that.
Does your medical school give you a breakdown of how you did in each topic? If that's the case then focus on your weakest topics when you revise.

Reply 3

micholate9

Sorry to hear this. But you probably shouldn’t make a drastic decision like applying to a new course when you’re feeling this way. Remember how much work you put in to get that offer to study medicine in the first place? How did you feel when you first got the offer? Use that to motivate you.

Everyone experiences failures in life. Don’t compare yourself to your friends. They may have passed these particular exams, but I’m sure they’ve had their fair share of failures too. It’s what you do next is what matters.

Why do you think you failed? Did you not revise enough? Or did you find it too hard? Or was the step up from A levels too much? Figure out the reason, get help if you need it, and keep working. At least attempt the resits before deciding to leave. You didn’t put all the effort to get in and get through the year just to leave at the first hurdle.

You’ve got this!

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

I failed my first year summative exams. I was convinced I would fail my supplementaries too, and I was terrified of the idea of repeating the year. Everyone else I knew had passed.

But I worked hard and revised and just about passed my supplementaries.

In second year, I had a MUCH better year. I enjoyed it a lot, passed my formative and summative exams (with flying colours) and now am very happy that I didn't give up.

For me, failing my first year exams was one of the best things that happened to me in terms of personal growth, challenge and resilience. And it was absolutely what made me capable of doing so well in second year.

Please don't give up. If you later decide you want to drop out, let it be because you truly don't want to be a doctor, not because you received bad results. Almost every medical student/doctor will fail at some point - better to fail earlier than later!
The true test in medical school is not whether or not you can pass all exams first time - it is whether or not you have the determination and perseverence to push through failure.

Also remember that revising for supplementaries is easier because you've already just revised all the content AND you know which areas you found difficult in the exams. You were already very close to the pass mark so if you work hard now, you should definitely be able to pass the supplementaries.

Good luck!

Reply 5

asif007

I wish you good luck and I hope it works out well for you. It's awful having to repeat exams and give up part of your summer holiday especially when you were so close to the pass mark.

It's difficult to say what the August exams will be like without knowing a bit more about the inner workings of your medical school. Some will make their resits very easy in order to give all the students the best chance of passing and moving on to the next year. Others will make them much more difficult than the first attempts, as an easy way to force people out. If the year above you is full or oversubscribed and there are lots of students resitting the same exam as you, beware that you may be competing among yourselves for a limited number of passes if there are limited spaces in the year above. It sounds harsh but it's true and this is just how British medical schools work.

Having said that, don't give up before you've even tried. Don't think about jumping ship before you've done the resit to the best of your ability. You have time between now and August to pull it together, work very hard and address all the areas you didn't do so well on last time. I agree with what the person above me says about failure, and there are very few medical students out there who know what failure feels like better than I do. Keep your chin up, look after your health and keep going! :smile: