History of AUC academic schedule development...

[Slaol_121]

As AUC is now a few decades old, I am wondering how we arrived at the current block schedule for classes. Has AUC always given every single exam on the same day for every single block? If you are an upper semester, would you say that this new block schedule is a good change for the school?

[kemper6036]

they first started the block in its current incarnation when i started here. apparently they have done it before. keep in mind that they model the curriculum after US med schools, i think quite a few schools do blocks.

[ChampSJL]

US med schools do have block examinations so that's nothing new. What bothers me the most is how they're consistently 5-6 weeks apart. And this is subject to change a week before the semester begins apparently...

Would be nice if they just had them every 3 weeks like clockwork... 5 block exams in a 16 week semester + 1 week to study for finals.

[kemper6036]

US med schools do have block examinations so that's nothing new. What bothers me the most is how they're consistently 5-6 weeks apart. And this is subject to change a week before the semester begins apparently...

Would be nice if they just had them every 3 weeks like clockwork... 5 block exams in a 16 week semester + 1 week to study for finals.

thats how it was for my first two semesters......then in third they changed everyone. i dont envy you guys......first exam isnt until week 7 or so. thats a lot of material when you are just starting out. its a big adjustment, trust me.

its even less ideal when you have classes like path, micro and pharm when the slides keep coming

[ChampSJL]

thats how it was for my first two semesters......then in third they changed everyone. i dont envy you guys......first exam isnt until week 7 or so. thats a lot of material when you are just starting out. its a big adjustment, trust me.

its even less ideal when you have classes like path, micro and pharm when the slides keep coming

yea I mean my first ever exam in medical school had 7 weeks worth of content last semester. Kinda rough to say the least...

[FOID]

they first started the block in its current incarnation when i started here. apparently they have done it before. keep in mind that they model the curriculum after US med schools, i think quite a few schools do blocks.

yup. they had a trial run during april of 04. then they stopped it. i guess the administration finally put it into play when kemper started.

[DRDRWMD]

I left the island a year ago, before they started the block schedule. I do not envy the students who are experiencing the new curriculum design. It is supposed to help with the step exam, so hopefully it is beneficial.

[AUCMD2006]

yea guys keep getting used to things changing. the US med stduents i teach complain about their block schedules and their shelf exams as much as we did. (i am at US med school now so all my students are US med students) on another note auc will prep you well, 90% of the residents in my program are from US med schools and i really don't see much of a difference skills wise so don't let anyone tell you that going to a carib school you will not be as prepared as others (goung to a reputable one that is)

also rumor is that the usmle step 1 and 2 will soon be combined into one test so you have that "block" to possibly get ready for