Editors



Current Editors: Fareen Momin and Jane Onyemachi

(Please email editors if there is blog-worthy news that you would like to see shared)

Past Editors: Andrea Francis, Renat Ahatov, Michael Phan, Elise Weisert, Michael Ryan, Keith Wagner, Tim Allen, Kristyna Gleghorn, Dung Mac, Alex Acosta, William Tausend, Sheila Jalalat, Rebecca Philips, Chelsea Altinger, Lindsey Hunter, Alison Wiesenthal, Leslie Scroggins, Mara Dacso, Ashley Group, Fadi Constantine, Emily Fridlington, Joslyn Witherspoon, Tasneem Poonawalla.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Exam Coaching

Keck (USC) medical student, Joshua Tompkins takes issue with test preparation companies in the July 14, 2011 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (Tompkins J. Money for nothing? The problem of the board-exam coaching industry. NEJM 2011;365:104-105). He highlights the use of the MCAT as an important factor in admission to medical school. Students accepted by US medical schools have higher grade point averages (3.67 vs 3.53) and MCAT scores (31.1 vs 28.3) than students who are not accepted. According to the author’s research, commercial preparation courses are costly and do little to improve student scores. However, this viewpoint is contrary to the anecdotal experience of many students who think this type of test preparation has benefited them. Certainly it is easier to see if test preparation improves a student’s subsequent MCAT score, because this test may be taken more than once.

For medical students, Step 1 cutoff scores are being used in competitive specialties. However, unless a medical student fails Step 1, retesting is not permitted. Perhaps the most unfair aspect about Step 1 is that most students only have one chance to take it.