Eleven days ago I took my biochemistry exam. This exam covered material that was presented during a 3-week block of classes. It included everything that was covered in my semester-of-pain known as Chem 3250 (a.k.a., "biochem 1") and oh-so-much more. We had two quizzes during that 3-week period that led me to believe that I was doing ok. On test-day, however, I left the computer lab wondering if I would make it through this semester alive.
I fell far short of passing this test. It was horrible. I cried. Not so much the sobbing, out-of-control crying we women folk know from time to time, but the type of crying where you just want your tears to stay put inside your head, and they simply won't.
Let me tell you, my friends, my experience in anatomy disabused me of the existence of curved grades in med school. Invariably, there would be a couple of exam questions that were "problematic" and the block director would have the tests regraded to reflect a different answer choice. There were no across the board increases in test scores. If the correct answer was "B" and the professor later said, "Hmm. Both 'B' and 'C' could be correct answers," then only students who had answered "C" got those extra points. When my high-scoring friends told me that we'd probably get a few points back, I knew it wouldn't be enough to save me.
Then something happened one week after the exam.
Statistics.
More precisely: bimodal distribution. Ever heard of that? Think of a bell curve with a gigantic dent right where the peak should be. As a class, we either got it, or we didn't. Rumor has it that the lower end of the distribution was so low that a record number of students had no hope of passing this block even if they scored 100% on the up-coming histology exam. Least you think us to be a bunch of dummies, our class' entering stats (MCAT & GPA) were the highest on record for the school. We also scored higher on the anatomy exams relative to the class ahead of us. Changes from the curriculum department left us with less time to cover more material, and that left a lot of us hurting.
The block director allowed a regrade; that gave me an additional 3.3% (or three questions). Eh. But then he did something even more magical. He curved the grades. I am now in the land of "barely passing." I had no idea how good it would feel to be here.
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I am infinitely thankful to be a medical student, at my medical school, with my classmates, in my new home town. My children, my sister, and three other students gathered together for dinner last night. I felt surrounded by love and support. I am awe-struck whenever I reflect on how much my life has changed in such a brief period of time. Sure, I have moments of panic, but it is short-lived compared to the happiness.
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