The Course or Clerkship Director is responsible for clearly delineating and communicating at the outset of the learning experience the criteria utilized for assessment and evaluation of student performance.
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai transcript will reflect a complete and accurate grading history for all courses in the School.
Course Directors will complete a grade roster within two weeks of the end of course completion. Online evaluations of student performance in laboratories, clinics, small-group sessions, and/or conferences are provided by faculty supervising these activities.
Grading in Years 1 and 2 is on a Pass/Fail basis. A student who does not complete a course will receive an Incomplete. Types of situations where a student may not complete a course include illness or family emergencies. The Incomplete will change to a Pass or Fail once the student has completed the course. A student who receives a failing grade in a course will follow a remediation plan devised by the Course Director. Successful remediation of a failing grade results in a final grade of FP (Fail remediated to Pass).
Course Directors will identify the bottom five percent of passing students. Students in this score range will be designated internally as having received a “marginal pass” for tracking and monitoring purposes only. Marginal grades are considered a full Pass on the transcript. However, marginal grades are tracked by Student Affairs as part of an early warning system for students at risk of academic difficulty. As part of this system a student’s Faculty Advisor will reach out to him or her if he or she receives a marginal grade on an examination or in a course. A student who has three marginal passes in an academic year will be placed on Monitored Academic Status. See section on Academic Status for a full description.
A student who fails a course in Year 1 must remediate the course before starting Year 2. A student who fails a course in Year 2 must remediate the course before taking USMLE Step 1 and starting Year 3. The remediation process is determined by the Course Director.
For the purposes of this policy, “test” refers to both exams and quizzes. Tests in Year 1 and 2 are administered online through Blackboard. To avoid technical difficulties during the test-taking process, students should not take their test using a wireless internet connection or a mobile device (smartphone, tablet, phablet). Students will not be able to submit answers using a mobile device’s web browser.
Students are strongly advised to take tests during times when the Library Help Desk is available to assist should technical problems arise. The Library Help Desk is open Monday through Friday 8 am – 8 pm, Saturday 9 am – 5 pm, and Sunday 12 pm – 8pm.
Duration of Exam Windows
The standardized exam window for all courses opens after the final course session for the week ends, or by 4 pm on Friday, and closes at 8 am on Monday. When a holiday occurs on a Monday, the exam window will be extended to close at 8 am on Tuesday. For courses that end at a break (i.e., Winter break, Spring break, or end of Spring semester), the exam window will open immediately after the final session of the course and will close on the following Tuesday at 8am. Students who are unable to complete an exam in the standard window for a valid reason, as outlined in the “Missed Test Policy” below, will have the option of scheduling an alternative exam window.
Duration of Quiz Windows
There is no standardized quiz window. The window for quizzes is determined by the Course Director and will be communicated to students in the course syllabus and on the Google calendar.
Exam Review Policy for Year 1 and 2 Courses
In an effort to provide expedited feedback to students after tests, quizzes administered in the first two years of medical school will be available for review online immediately after the student submits his/her quiz. Students will be able to view their own quiz, see the answer they chose and the correct answer, as well as an explanation for why the correct answer is the only reasonable option. For exams, at 9 am on the next business day after the exam closes, the Year 1 or Year 2 Coordinator will release the exam for student viewing for 7 days ONLY. Students will be able to view their own exam, see the answer they chose and the correct answer, as well as an explanation for why the correct answer is the only reasonable option.
Other options for reviewing exams include:
To review the binder, students must make an appointment by contacting OCS at 212-241-7057.
Policy for Scheduling an Alternate Test Window
In Years 1 and 2, the ability to take a test (examination or quiz) online and in a window of time over several days provides students with flexibility when and where they take the test. Given this flexibility, there are only a few instances when permission to take a test outside the test window may be granted by the Office for Student Affairs. Students may request permission to take a test outside of the test window for illness or a personal emergency.
A student must request such permission from the Course Director(s) and medstudentabsence@mssm.edu prior to the test closing time. Should the need for permission arise suddenly and when the student cannot hear from the Course Director and the Office for Student Affairs in a timely manner (i.e., on the weekend when the exam window is open) the student may assume the request is granted. If the request is because of illness, the student must provide a physician’s note to that effect. If the request is granted, the Office of Student Affairs will arrange with the student a specified time to take the test.
The Art & Science of Medicine (ASM) course in Years 1 and 2 as well as the clerkships in Years 3 and 4 have a special focus on the teaching and assessment of clinical skills and may use any of the following in assessing a student's performance:
The weight given to specific parameters may vary with an individual clerkship or course.
Each Clerkship or Course Director submits a final grade plus a comprehensive narrative paragraph. The final grades and narrative paragraphs for ASM and the third-year clerkships are included verbatim in a student's MSPE.
All reports of student performance are due in the Office of the Registrar within six weeks of the clerkship's completion.
The grading system for all required clerkships is H (Honors), HP (High Pass), P (Pass), and F (Fail). ASM in Years 1 and 2 and Introduction to Internship in Year 4 are graded Pass/Fail. Electives are graded on a system of Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail.
A student will receive a temporary grade of Conditional (C) in the event they fail the NBME subject exam or other final exam if other assessments and clinical evaluations are satisfactory. Upon successful completion of the failed exam, the grade is revised to a Pass (P) or High Pass (HP). A student cannot get an Honors if they do not pass the shelf on the first attempt. If the student fails the exam on the retake, he or she will receive an overall failing grade and will need to retake the entire clerkship and then take the NBME exam or final exam again. Students are not permitted to retake a passed NBME subject examination.
A student can fail a clerkship based on overall clerkship score, unsatisfactory clinical evaluations or a repeated failure on an NBME subject exam or final exam. Students who behave unprofessionally during the clerkship are also at risk of failing. If a student is felt to be unprofessional to the point that evaluators do not feel that the student is a reliable, accurate reporter of clinical data and a trustworthy team member, the student will receive a failing grade. As mentioned above a student who fails a shelf exam on the second attempt also fails the clerkship overall. A student who receives a failing grade for a clerkship must retake all or part of the clerkship at the discretion of the Clerkship Director and the Promotions Committee. Upon successful completion of remediation, a student will receive a grade of Fail-Pass FP, and the narrative paragraph will describe the remediation.
Grade cutoffs are set by each clerkship director to create a goal distribution of grades that is 40 percent Honors, 40 percent High Pass and 20 percent Pass at the completion of the academic year.
All students must pass all clerkships in Year 3 to advance to Year 4.
In Years 3 and 4, a student must request permission from the Clerkship Director(s) and medstudentabsence@mssm.edu to miss an NBME subject examination or other clerkship examination. The policy for making up a missed NBME subject examination is below. The Clerkship Director will schedule any other clerkship exams with the student.
Shelf Exam Retake Policy and Guidelines
This policy applies to students taking the Shelf Exam due to:
Options for shelf retakes are as follows:
Guidelines for shelf retakes
Shelf failures:
Excused absences:
Unexcused absences:
Official transcripts of courses taken at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai toward fulfillment of the MD degree requirements will identify a grade for each course or clerkship as described above.
Written narrative evaluations are not part of the transcript and will not be duplicated or mailed with transcripts; however, all clinical narratives for clinical courses and clerkships completed by the end of Year 3 are included in the MSPE.
All grade change requests must be brought by the student to the course/clerkship director. If there is a discrepancy after the meeting between the student and course/clerkship director, the student should present the issue to the Senior Associate Deans of Curricular and Student Affairs.
The Senior Associate Deans of Curricular and Student Affairs will ensure that due diligence was done by the course/clerkship director and that, in fact, no error was made. The Associate Deans will also explain the grade appeals process to the student. If the student wishes to pursue a grade appeal, the Associate Deans will contact the relevant Department Chair.
The Department Chair will establish a faculty committee to address the appeal. The Department Chair or his/her designee will serve as chair of the appeals committee. The course or clerkship director cannot serve on the appeals committee. Information for the appeal will be solicited from the student, course/clerkship director, course/clerkship faculty and others as needed. Deliberation of the committee should address the student’s appeal question. The decision made by the grade appeal committee is final. A student who presents before an appeals committee has the right to bring a member of medical education (for example their Faculty Advisor) for support.
The student should recognize that, following the appeals process, his/her grade may be amended in a direction that is not desired.
In all cases of grade changes following the appeals process, the student’s record and official school transcript will be amended to reflect the changed grade.
A student has four (4) weeks from the date the grade is released by the course/clerkship director to make the appeal.