I’ve just finished writing and passing my first medical school exam and though the material wasn’t overly difficult, I’m glad it’s done with. A pass is a pass. Now on to more interesting topics and hopefully more relevant topics. Anyways, it’s safe to say that the honeymoon period of medical school is officially over. No more saying medical school is a “walk in the park” or a “breeze.” The sheer amount of memorization and volume of information is beginning to hit and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be stopping anytime soon, if ever.

At first, I was quite skeptical of the pass/fail system. The common saying is “What do you call a student who graduates at the bottom of their medical class?” The Answer: “A Doctor!” I initially believed that this whole pass/fail grading system would breed complacency and mediocrity, and I actually felt quite unmotivated for the first exam because of this. Why would I want a surgeon that only answered 75% of the questions correctly in medical school? But I’m finding that’s not the case with me and my classmates. The types of people that make it into medicine aren’t just motivated by extrinsic rewards like academic marks. We like to learn, tackle challenging problems and push ourselves. The more interesting the materials covered in class, they more inclined we are to study.

The pass/fail system ultimately is a good thing for medical students. It reduces cutthroat competition (backstabbing) in the class, unnecessary stress  and reduces an examsmanship approach to learning, where people study with only the purpose to maximize their number of points in the game of exams. It creates a partnership of trust between students and teachers where they share the common goal of providing quality education. There is a stronger cohesion amongst students under the pass/fail grading system and there has been no significant difference found in board scores.

I believe the AMSA sums it up quite nicely when they say, “While a pass/fail system may seem easier at first glance, it is just as rigorous as any other kind of grading method. What is missing is not the challenge but the competition.” Afterall, medical school is hard enough to get into – competition with thousands of other motivated students. “The type of student who makes it to medical school in the first place—a successful, motivated achiever—will learn in any kind of system; will learn despite the system.”