MD & DO Pre-clinical years: Are you allowed to see your exams after you get your grades back? What are the stipulations?

[msmathteacher]

I'm currently an M2 at an MD school that does not allow us to see our exams after we take them. I know medical students at other schools are allowed to see their exam questions/answers in proctored settings, and I think it would be a beneficial learning opportunity to use our block exams as formative assessments rather than purely summative. A group of students are meeting with administration to discuss this issue and wanted to gather data from other schools.
1. Does your school allow you to see your exams after you take them?
2. If so, what are the stipulations for this? e.g. optional/required, proctored/unproctored, silent/loudm, can you bring anything in, how long, etc.
3. Anything else to add on this issue?

Thanks so much!

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[pinkowl250]

We had 2 exam review sessions for each preclinical exam, usually 12-1 pm during lunch hour. By having them hold your student ID, you are allowed to borrow a numbered exam answer key and expected to return it at the end of the hour. No phones allowed and no materials allowed at your seat other than a scrap paper with your incorrect answers that you can write down ahead of time (i.e. question numbers that you missed). We would usually just put our stuff at the front of the room while we reviewed the exam. It is optional but most of us found it very helpful, especially since we have cumulative NBMEs for each block. Proctored by the school test administration staff. You're allowed to talk and review the exam with other students, and you obviously don't have to use the entire hour if you don't need it.

Just gotta say it's ridiculous that your school does not allow you to review exams and hope you can convince them otherwise!

 

[Rapsidy]

We used to be able to. We had 30 minutes to e review after the exam to see the right and wrong answers, and then the rationale for the answers. Then you were allowed to give feedback on the questions in that 30 minutes.

They changed it this year where you still get a 30 minute review but you have no clue what the right answer is, which questions you got wrong, and no rationale given. Not surprisingly the amount of feedback we gave dropped massively because we have no context to go on.

 

[DrStephenStrange]

My school did not give us access to our exams either.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

I've never seen the results of an exam or quiz that I have taken in medical school.

 

[Med Ed]

I'm currently an M2 at an MD school that does not allow us to see our exams after we take them. I know medical students at other schools are allowed to see their exam questions/answers in proctored settings, and I think it would be a beneficial learning opportunity to use our block exams as formative assessments rather than purely summative. A group of students are meeting with administration to discuss this issue and wanted to gather data from other schools.
1. Does your school allow you to see your exams after you take them?
2. If so, what are the stipulations for this? e.g. optional/required, proctored/unproctored, silent/loudm, can you bring anything in, how long, etc.
3. Anything else to add on this issue?

Thanks so much!

Having been down this road, here are two areas where you may get pushback:
1. You say that it would beneficial to use block exams for formative purposes. Why bother? Especially since medical students now have on-demand access to thousands of questions, covering every conceivable topic, with explanations, that can be taken in both timed and tutor modes?
2. You will bring up what some other schools do. Who cares? Why should the habits of selected other schools influence what happens in this one?

Back in the day it was much more useful to have students review exam questions, both for student feedback and as quality control for poorly written and/or invalid test items. But those days are gone. Students can now get tons of feedback on their own, and it's easy to evaluate item quality using statistical tools that are built into testing software.

 

[Billiam95]

1. Does your school allow you to see your exams after you take them?
2. If so, what are the stipulations for this? e.g. optional/required, proctored/unproctored, silent/loudm, can you bring anything in, how long, etc.
3. Anything else to add on this issue?

1. End of block exams are NBME, which does not permit post-exam review. In-house quizzes typically can be reviewed once.
2. Quiz review was proctored in the exam hall and password protected - no note taking allowed.

 

[Goro]

I'm currently an M2 at an MD school that does not allow us to see our exams after we take them. I know medical students at other schools are allowed to see their exam questions/answers in proctored settings, and I think it would be a beneficial learning opportunity to use our block exams as formative assessments rather than purely summative. A group of students are meeting with administration to discuss this issue and wanted to gather data from other schools.
1. Does your school allow you to see your exams after you take them?
2. If so, what are the stipulations for this? e.g. optional/required, proctored/unproctored, silent/loudm, can you bring anything in, how long, etc.
3. Anything else to add on this issue?

Thanks so much!

1. Not at my school
3. You should have some sort of exam review; like asking about items you had a question about, or those that performed poorly. You should at least be told something like "this item required knowledge of reflex arc X"

 

[GoSpursGo]

Nope, even 10+ years ago I never got to see our exams after the fact.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

If done it's usually done under lock-and-key, mainly because they reuse questions year to year.

 

[Ho0v-man]

No. We just got a report of what kinds of things we missed. Like if there’s 20 questions over anemia and you miss 4 it tells you that you got 16/20 on anemia…which is worthless.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

We can’t look at all which is pretty annoying but understandable

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Having been down this road, here are two areas where you may get pushback:
1. You say that it would beneficial to use block exams for formative purposes. Why bother? Especially since medical students now have on-demand access to thousands of questions, covering every conceivable topic, with explanations, that can be taken in both timed and tutor modes?
2. You will bring up what some other schools do. Who cares? Why should the habits of selected other schools influence what happens in this one?

Back in the day it was much more useful to have students review exam questions, both for student feedback and as quality control for poorly written and/or invalid test items. But those days are gone. Students can now get tons of feedback on their own, and it's easy to evaluate item quality using statistical tools that are built into testing software.

Furthermore more schools are administering exams on computer using special software and anti-cheating programs. Some schools may even be using questions purchased by textbook or testing vendors. There are no filing cabinets of exams anymore.

 

[deleted1079620]

No. We just got a report of what kinds of things we missed. Like if there’s 20 questions over anemia and you miss 4 it tells you that you got 16/20 on anemia…which is worthless.

Same at my school, except it was at least organized by lecture.

 

[mudfud26]

Our in-house exams allow review of only questions we got wrong which may or may not have feedback on the answer. I find it helpful, especially when I picked an answer that wasn't the *best* or I had absolutely no idea about the question. The student council is currently optimizing this, but we've had review in 2 ways 1- silent, 30 minutes, immediately after the exam in the proctored environment (NBME rules); 2- 1 hour, collaboration allowed, 1 week after the exam, NBME rules on electronics, paper and pencil.

 

[Dantes]

Yes, we were allowed to review up to a week after results were back. I found it helpful.

 

[Kierkegaard's Bud]

1. Does your school allow you to see your exams after you take them? Yes, but only ones you got wrong, right after you take it.