Clerkship Failure and Reassessment Policy

One Excused Absence from a Shelf Exam: A student who misses the exam due to extenuating circumstances will receive a grade of INC. The student will be required to reassess the exam on the next scheduled shelf reassessment day. If the student is unable to take the exam during the semester in which they are enrolled, they will be required to request a personal leave from the Dean of Student Affairs and will not be permitted to enroll in the following semester. The Office of Student Affairs and the SAPC will determine the appropriate conditions to be placed on the student’s return to clerkships. Students are only permitted to sit for one shelf exams during winter and spring breaks. Students may sit for two exams during summer break.

One Shelf Exam Failure: A student who fails the shelf exam on the first attempt will receives a grade of C/ and be placed on Monitored Academic Status by the SAPC. The definition of Monitored Academic Status is provided below). The student will be required to reassess the exam on the next scheduled shelf reassessment day. If the student passes the re-examination, they will receive a grade of Pass for the clerkship, with a notation on the MSPE letter that the shelf exam was passed on the second attempt. If the student is unable to take the re-examination shelf exam during the semester in which they are enrolled, the student will be required to request a personal leave from the Dean of Student Affairs and will not be permitted to enroll in the following semester. The Office of Student Affairs and the SAPC will determine the appropriate conditions to be placed on the student’s return to clerkships. Students are only permitted to sit for one shelf re-examination during winter and spring breaks. Students may sit for two re-examinations during summer break.

One Failure on a clerkship OSCE: The student will receive a grade of U. The student will be allowed to reassess the OSCE once. After the student passes the reassessment, they will receive a grade of P. The OSCE reassessment will be noted on MSPE letter.

One Failure of the Clinical Portion of a Clerkship: The student will receive a final clerkship grade of Fail, will be required to appear before the SAPC and placed on Academic Probation. The student may be given an opportunity to repeat the clerkship during the M4 year.

Failure of a Shelf Exam Reassessment: If the student has not failed any elements of any other clerkships, and the clerkship director confirms that they have passed the clinical and professionalism portions of the clerkship the student may use their Step 2 dedicated time to study and take the shelf exam for the third time at the end of that block. This will count as an M4 elective done within the M3 year. If the student passes the shelf exam on the third try, they will receive a grade of Pass, and the MSPE letter will reflect that the student passed the clerkship after taking a shelf remediation elective and passing the exam on the third try. If the student fails the shelf exam on the third attempt they will be subject to dismissal.

Failure of a clerkship that was repeated for any reason (clinical or shelf failure) will result in the student referred to the SAPC for dismissal.

Two Shelf Exam Failures: A student who fails two different shelf exams on the first attempt will be required to appear before the SAPC and will be placed on Academic Probation.

Clerkship Failures: A student who receives more than one failing grade in a clerkship (either two Fail grades, two C/F grades, or one of each) in a clerkship will be presented to the SAPC and considered for dismissal.

Three Shelf Exam Failures: A student who fails three different shelf exams on the first attempt will be presented to the SAPC and considered for dismissal.