Thread: Failed 1 Block by 1 percent. Can I appeal?

We got our grades back yesterday and I failed the first block by 1%!!! The reason why I failed the first block is because I tanked the Mini 1 Part 1. I did horrible on the first exam and I think it was a combination of things that made me do so bad on the first exam. I could not find a right study schedule the right study habits the right study spot and I was home sick since it was the first time i was ever away from my family and to add to that there was some family issues of family members being sick. However, after the first exam I got into a groove and every exam after my first exam I have steadily improved. So do you think I have a chance of going in front of the promotions committee and seeing if I can present my case and if they will let me pass to second semester? has anyone been through the appeals process for anything and can give me some details. I emailed Dr. L already to see if I can appeal I am waiting to hear back but I want to know if any of you have any advice.

I'll add just a note about the MPS. Just finished 5th, and was the 1st class on what is the current curriculum. Over all 4 semesters (12 graded blocks in total), the MPS was 60% one time and either 61 or 62 for all the rest. With the new changes, I expected the new MPS to be around 65 or 66%, so I am surprised to hear it was 62%.

While the above was more of a fact check, I'll also add an opinion. Several threads have pointed out the same idea. If MPS is 62% on no more than 3 months of material at a time, many people will make it through, just hitting MPS. As there are no real breaks between semesters, there is no time to increase the knowledge not gained in each semester that was barely passed. Then they are asked to do a little better on an exam covering 2 years and then get mad at Ross because they failed the COMP (which historically has around a 60% 1st time FAIL rate....). Then, IF the COMP is passed on the 2nd or 3rd try, they pass the Step with a 190 and wonder why they did not match. I think one of the dis-services Ross does to students is allow them to continue on with mastering less than 2/3 of the material, as it is setting them up for hit a wall at some point. And please do not take this as disrespect to anyone, it is just looking at the numbers. My 1st semester class was 263 people. 149 of the original class entered 4th, we lost at least 10 after 4th (hard to track people going into 5th) and after loosing that many people, still had a 40ish% COMP fail rate, so many are waiting to write it again. Wait for that stress, owing $200K and taking the COMP for possibly the 3rd time.

Oh, and to stay on the topic of the OP, I can also understand wanting to appeal. But from Ross's side, if they allow an appeal, it opens the flood gates for many people that failed by 1%. I have known a few people to try and none to succeed.

MPS calculations are nonsense. MPS my last semester was 60s across the board (we were the last class to be on the subject based curriculum) and in my opinion its merely a number that allows a majority (but not all) of the class to progress to the semester.

Originally Posted by mytushp85

MPS calculations are nonsense. MPS my last semester was 60s across the board (we were the last class to be on the subject based curriculum) and in my opinion its merely a number that allows a majority (but not all) of the class to progress to the semester.

They aren't nonsense, just most people still don't understand how they are calculated. When I was there we even wanted MPS scores for each mini to stop being reported and just give your score, and the average score. This is because of people making comments like yours above (no insult to you but stating this is a problem that is known). Problem is people see MPS of say 60, 60, 61 and then the final MPS is 63 and they say what the crap. This is because each MPS is calculated independent of the previous. MPS is the average of people who scored between (i only know old #s change to current 55-64). Each Mini MPS is scored for each subject on that basis. When the final grades come out some people "after finals" may have moved out of the MPS zone, lower or higher. This can drastically affect MPS is say 20 ppl in the class who had 58's now have 54's. They don't factor into the MPS and you are skewed by less people to pull down (or up) that MPS. So when final exams are in, you get an MPS for the final based on just the final exams. Then they tally total averages, whoever is between the MPS zone they average to get MPS for each class/block. But that is completely independent of each mini/block's MPS. I hope this clears it up a bit.

Originally Posted by medic300107

They aren't nonsense, just most people still don't understand how they are calculated. When I was there we even wanted MPS scores for each mini to stop being reported and just give your score, and the average score. This is because of people making comments like yours above (no insult to you but stating this is a problem that is known). Problem is people see MPS of say 60, 60, 61 and then the final MPS is 63 and they say what the crap. This is because each MPS is calculated independent of the previous. MPS is the average of people who scored between (i only know old #s change to current 55-64). Each Mini MPS is scored for each subject on that basis. When the final grades come out some people "after finals" may have moved out of the MPS zone, lower or higher. This can drastically affect MPS is say 20 ppl in the class who had 58's now have 54's. They don't factor into the MPS and you are skewed by less people to pull down (or up) that MPS. So when final exams are in, you get an MPS for the final based on just the final exams. Then they tally total averages, whoever is between the MPS zone they average to get MPS for each class/block. But that is completely independent of each mini/block's MPS. I hope this clears it up a bit.

Just of out curiosity, what was the highest MPS for the last few semesters under the new system? I know that several other schools set their pass rate at 70% across the board. I agree with medic it's a not a bad system. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

Originally Posted by zerocool

Yes. I am going to repeat. I just wanted to try and give it a shot if i could talk to the committee being so close on one block is the worst part and having to repeat an entire semester over one block is what hurts the most all my other blocks i passed well above mps by 8% or more. It was just this one block that bit me in the butt.
DEQNY85, failing a test does not really say much about grasp of the knowledge. It is used to standardize your knowledge and compare that to the rest of your peers. Some people might have all the knowledge but just suck at test taking. And there could not be that big of a difference between me and some one who got 1 or 2 more questions right by a lucky guess and hit the MPS passed where as i got unlucky and did not pass. To certain extent you are right that failing might mean i dont have a grasp of the material but that is not 100% accurate.

being a bad test taker does not bode well for you in the medical world...your life will be, to some extent, dependent on tests...learn how to do well on them or your 1st term will be the least of your worries.