54030 - Medical Student Handbook | College of Medicine

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Grading: Foundations Level

Policy 540.30

Policy Statement

All courses in Foundations use the grades of Pass and Fail.
Students must pass each institutional competency that is assessed in a course as defined in the course syllabus in order to pass the course. Any one competency in which they receive a grade of fail, incomplete or unsatisfactory progress must be remediated according to the Medical Student Handbook Policy 656.20 Review of Academic Performance: Foundations Level.
For courses that include a clinical skills component, the following policies apply:

The Clinical Skills Examination (CSE) portion of a course will be graded as Pass or Fail.
A student must pass all domains of the CSE to receive a passing grade.
Failure to pass the CSE on the first attempt results in an incomplete. Failure to pass the CSE on the second attempt results in failing the course. A student who receives an incomplete must remediate and retake the CSE within two weeks of notification of their CSE grade. A student will be notified, via email, of their CSE grade. It is the responsibility of the student to contact the Clinical Simulation Lab to schedule remediation.
A student must receive a passing CSE grade to pass the course.

Some course components include mandatory attendance. Course Directors will communicate attendance policies in the syllabus.
The course syllabus will indicate policies regarding completion of course assignments, including the matter of whether or not collaborating and communicating with classmates in the completion of an assignment is expected, recommended, optional, or forbidden.
Grades in all Foundations courses will be assigned based on the following numerical scale:

Pass: 70.00 or above
Fail: Below 70.00

Students that receive a final course grade between 70.00 – 74.99 will receive notice that their grade is considered a Marginal Pass by the Larner College of Medicine. The Marginal Pass grade is a formative grade that does not appear on the official UVM transcript but is recorded in the student’s Larner College of Medicine file and is reviewed by the Advancement Committee in its evaluation of student progress.
The process for appealing a grade is specified in Policy 540.60 Grade Appeals.
All students’ Foundations grades are routinely reviewed by the Advancement Committee as specified in the Medical Student Handbook Policy 656.20 Review of Academic Performance: Foundations Level .

Foundations Post-Exam Review and Re-Grading of Exams

Each secure examination in Foundations will be subjected to a post-exam item performance analysis.
Statistical analysis of the performance of the class on each question to determine quality and validity of exam items will be used. This analysis may result in removal of invalid items from the exam with subsequent re-scoring.

End of Foundations Clinical Skills Examination

To be eligible to take the End of Foundations exam, all required Foundations course work must be successfully completed. Students must pass the End of Foundations CSE before they can advance to the Clerkship Level. Failure on the first attempt requires remediation and a retake of the exam. Failure on the second attempt requires review by the Advancement Committee.