Today was a dreadful, dreadful day for me........

I just took the hardest exam I've ever had in medical school. It was our first Systemic Path. exam, and let me tell you how unfair and how disconcerting it was.

I, like my peers, spend every day and every evening toiling away doing pathology. We ALL, learn the material as best as we can, and most of us have never worked so hard with so much stress before. The material that we studied was not too bad, there was just a lot, but hey, its med. school, its too be expected.

What isn't to be expected, and what really got me pissed off royally about the pathology course here is the fact that what we are tested on, isn't necessarily what we are taught, or for that matter, isn't necessarily what is stressed. I felt, that I had a great grasp of the important material, things that we will actually see on a day-to-day basis in practice and on the wards. But the majority of the test focused on minutiae, things that were only briefly glossed over for less than 30 seconds during one lecture or not even mentioned in lab.

I understand that, in order to separate the A students from the B students, and the B students from the C students, certain obscure questions will be asked, however, I did not feel that it is fair to make the majority of the exam as obscure as possible. I mean, we already have a lot on our plates attempting to learn all of pathology in 4 months, combined with microbiology and PD; how much are we supposed to retain outside of the important topics? Also, would you call an exam fair if what is tested is not representative of what is taught. I read the damn Robbins' text (which I might add is a great book), i've participated and contributed a lot to lab, I've done all of the extra credit so far AND followed all of the suggestions of the clinical tutors and professors about doing as many cases as possible and using the Robbin's study guide, doing questions from them. After all this, I was SO ready for the exam, thinking that the questions would be just like those in Robbins'.......unfortunately I was dead wrong. The questions were worded horrendously, the gist of what was being asked was muddled in the descriptions, and the answers gererally were correct to some degree. Robbin's definitely didn't ask questions like what was on our exam.

So, from this horrific experience, where even though I did as much work as I possibly could have and knew the material as best as I could yet had nothing to show for it (I failed by 2 points); i think its safe to say, screw the clinical tutors and professors and don't follow their advice because they really have not been ANY help whatsoever!!!!!! I love this class, but I don't trust the department that teaches is anymore, I'm pissed, my peers are pissed and I'm ready to learn more and get humiliated again come the next exam.

To all of you thinking about SGU, I wouldn't worry about the school not making you learn, you learn the material....thats for sure, but you also learn to be cynical, learn that just when you think you are as stressed as you possibly could be, you'll get even more stress to deal with, and you'll learn that professors are not always straight up. The path department is out to rape you, because its supposedly considered a travesty to let too many people do well. Screw them, screw them ALL!

-seriously pissed off

Welcome to the forum. I can't say anything about what you just went through because i'm not in 4th term yet. But what i can say is what last year's class told us, which was the 3rd test was a eaiser than the 2nd and harder than the 1st. Just for completion sake, tell us what the 1st path exam was like. Thats usually the ones people get 100% on right?

I agree that the pathology department is pretty awful when it comes to clarity of instruction and organization- but it can't come as that much of a surprise to you, having already been down in Grenada for over a year. I myself have had a lot of frustrating experiences, and I've definitely been pissed off, but I think it's a terrible mistake to place all the blame at the feet of the path department. While I don't disagree that there might be an element of injustice, a big chunk of the medical school experience, especially in a place like Grenada involves learning how to be accountable for your actions. Failing an exam, even one that might seem pretty unfair, is an indication that there's also something wrong on your end of things. I'm happy to cheer on anyone who talks shiznit about Bhusnarmath, but anyone who wants to become a doctor needs to possess a sense of personal responsibility.

-A

Hi,
It's unfortunate that you failed your path exam. I would say that I'm sorry for you but that would just a be a token apology since I really don't mean it and it seems as though you're pretty much sorry for yourself already.
What I do want you to do is realise that the class is not over. This is not like the USMLE - a one time thing and if you failed that's it. I think alot of what you wrote is just frustration and anger. You still have 2 more exams to come and what you should now do is use your frustration and channel your angry energy into doing well on those other exams.
I know it's kinda hard to do with Micro and P.D. at your neck as well but if you want to pass path and possibly pull off a "B" then you gotta buckle down and focus on this.
I AGREE that some of the department faculty in pathology are difficult to understand and don't help in making points lucid. In fact, I think the only good one there is Dr. B (the man). I went to one lecture given by each of the others and never attended their lectures again (Fernando, female Dr. B). The visiting profs are usually not bad.
Now, perhaps you focused on the wrong things? Perhaps you were a bad test-taker for this exam? I don't know what went wrong, that's what you have to figure out and fix before the next exam. I think what you were doing was right on in terms of studying. Doing the cases that are given in path lab. Reading the handouts and reinforcing that with material from baby Robbins is excellent.
I think it would help if you go to extra sessions with the tutors (when I was there I remember some of the tutors were holding extra afternoon sessions especially prior to exam time). Going over the slides in the histopath. atlas is also a plus. Remember every point you gain on the lab also helps your overall grade.
Also, don't forget that DES is there to help. Get their weekly questions and do them. See if they have any peer tutored path sessions? Its a resource you shouldnt overlook.
I hope this helps and if you failed by only 2 points then you are still in the running to make a decent grade and possibly pull off a low "B". It's really up to how you handle it. Failing is not the worse thing in the world, it's really how that failure makes you react. You failed to get into medical school elsewhere and you handled that pretty well by coming to SGU and getting to 4th term!! So handle this.

HG

p.s. I never went to Micro either. The Micro department in my estimation is the worse dept. at SGU as long as Quoreshi is still there. He knows nothing about Micro. Zara Ross is slightly better than he is. Get the "Clinical Micro made ridiculously simple" to supplement your handouts. Forget about the recommended book.

The first test was pretty easy, I got an A.

hmm... Sounds like most of the USMLE questions...

__________________
Ped Resident
Miami Children's Hospital

I came out of path feelings crappy and then I took step 1 and was thankful path was so tough. I thought the path in step 1 was easy compared to the course and I think the course has alot to do with that. The details you were asked in path are similar to the pinpoint details I got in step 1. It only got me prepared. Also, if you were expecting to just read and regurgitate answers think again. Path and especially Dr. B is going to force you to think 2-3 levels above just facts. Learn to apply the facts. I agree with you sometimes questions arent clear and the question gets lost in alot of detail but you will come across questions that are like half a screen long in step 1 and only 2 sentences that are important the rest of the paragraph is there to waste your time. Good luck.

Nimitt
3rd year
SGU SOM

so this is what I'm hoping to get accepted to

Sorry about your experience. I still hope I get accepted to SGU but I am scared after reading your post.

chill, this is to prepare u for the monster up ahead: Step 1

Ok, you got me a little worried about path. So i asked all the 4th termers i knew about the exam. I got all sorts of answers. Yes, they all said it was tough. But they thought it was not impossible. One guy said some of the pinpoint questions were answered in 1 review session in particular. None of the people i asked thought it was unfair. In fact i didn't run across anyone who were quite as upset as you. All of that being said:

1. I didn't take a survey of the entire class, so my results could be squewed, however
2. I have gathered enough information to satisfy me that there is nothing to worry about in regards to path verses any other class.

Someone even told me today that it is very hard to fail path (maybe only a handfull failed last year). You actually have to try to fail it. Let that be what it is. You can make your own sense of this, but i'm not any more concerned about path that i was before, and i'll be starting path in 3 months. I say bring it on Dr. Bush!