Grading Policy

Overview

1. Grades breakdown into three components: 1) clinical summative evaluation, 2) NBME exam, and 3) cases / topic presentations / mini-CEX. The first two components are 50% of the final grade. The third component is Pass/Fail.
2. The clinical summative evaluation will still be reported as:  Honors (95-100%), HP (80-90%), Pass (40-75%) and Fail (0-35%).
3. If you Fail the clinical evaluation, you Fail the entire clerkship. We will recommend repeating the clerkship to the Student Progress Committee. Repeating the clerkship means that you will repeat every component (CEX, exam, etc.) even if you passed that component the first time.
4. The exam score will be reported as Pass/Fail.  A Fail, <64 (3^rd percentile of national test-takers), will require you to take the exam again after a period of study but does not mean you Fail the clerkship unless your clinical summative evaluation is also low.
5. If you Fail the clerkship because of the cases / topic / mini-CEX then......well, don't.  This is low-hanging fruit.  The clerkship director will call you to discuss remediation before a Fail grade is entered.
6. It should mean something to get Honors for a final grade. Hopefully, no student will Fail. Be assured that there is no preset curve and that 100% of students can receive Honors if deserving. Overall, it is difficult to get Honors in the clerkship unless you do well on both the clinical summative evaluation and final exam.  The averge percentage for final eval + exam / 2 = Honors (86-100%), HP (78-85.9%), Pass (52-77.9%), and Fail (<52%).
7. Of course, grading is not a perfect process. Students challenging their final grade will be handled promptly on an individual basis by the clerkship director.  Please see the school policy at https://education.uwmedicine.org/md-program-policies-handbook/academic-grievance-appeal-policy/.
8. Unexcused or unannounced absences may result in a Fail final grade.

The following spreadsheet describes how grades will be determined. On the X-axis are clinical evaluation scores based on RIME (see Student Evaluation tab). On the Y-axis are exam scores.

Dark Blue is HONORS
Medium blue is HP
Light blue is PASS
Purple is clinical summative evaluation FAIL
Orange is exam FAIL
Green are final grade HP thresholds within the exam FAIL range.

Examples:

1. Clinical summative evaluation score 4.75 (95%).
   1. Exam score 77 or better is HONORS
   2. Exam score 61-76 is HP
   3. Exam score 60 or less is PASS
2. Clinical summative evaluation score 4.25 (85%).
   1. Exam score 87 or better is HONORS
   2. Exam score 71-86 is HP
   3. Exam score 70 or less is PASS
3. Clinical summative evaluation score 3.25 (65%).
   1. Exam score of 91 or better is HP
   2. Exam score 90 or less is PASS