[update] 2013 MD2 mark breakdown released

Today the mark breakdowns for us in MD2 for our PCP2 subject (the main one this year) were released. As I had expected, it was the OSCEs which brought my mark down. However, it is good to see the individual breakdown to analyze where I did well and where I did things badly.

For the MCQ, there was not much of an issue. I scored above average; just one point less than in the final progress test actually (both were out of 80).

For the SAQ, my score as a percentage was not as high, but it was still above average and just one point from the "H1" standard.

Now the OSCEs. Overall, I did worse than average, but this was a mixed picture:

There were two stations where I had actually scored above average. Now this is actually the first time I scored any OSCE stations above the average, so I was happy about this fact. These were the respiratory exam (COPD) and iron deficiency anemia (bowel cancer) stations.

There was one station where I had scored within a point of the average. This was the surgical abdominal exam (acute cholecystitis) station. After the exam I realized that I forgot to assess for rebound tenderness. I would have remembered if it was appendicitis signs but forgot for cholecystitis! Ah well.

Then for the other two stations, I scored below the average. Perhaps that is an understatement though - I scored below the "cut scores" (aka pass marks) for both of these. These were the headache history (SAH) and weight loss (T1DM) stations. Actually this is worse than I had expected to score. However, I do think that I have a tendency of narrowing in a diagnosis and not asking enough things to rule out other diagnoses, or in the weight loss station case, not even thinking of T1DM as a possibility in that station! I also don't know if I am particularly good at getting the "rapport" or "global" types of marks in the OSCEs for history taking. It is something that I need to work on for the future.

Overall, it seems like I have improved slightly on the OSCEs this time around compared to last time, although I have not tested to see if it is statistically significant. Last time my exams were worse than my history stations on average, but this year it seems to have reversed into the other direction. It seems like I will need to work on history taking in general for next year.

Anyway, scoring worse overall this year (by about 3-4 points) was mainly because the OSCEs were worth more this year and SAQ/MCQs were worth less overall. Actually scoring some OSCE stations above average for a change this time was a promising trend, but two history stations below the "cut scores" is a bit concerning. I will have to improve this into the future. Hoping for a turn-around like the Australian cricket team this summer. So far they have been quite spectacular!