COM – Grade Categories For Clerkships

Policy Number: 3349-AC-427
Effective Date: 06/01/2020
Updated: -02/20/2023
Reviewed: —
Responsible Department: Medical Education, College of Medicine
Approval Authority: Dean, College of Medicine
Responsible Office: Office of the Dean and Medical Education, College of Medicine

A. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish grade categories for College of Medicine (COM) clerkships.  Establishing grade categories allows the College to better reflect a student’s performance within a clerkship and will better align NEOMED’s grading scale for clerkships with the grading scale employed by the majority of U.S. allopathic institutions, which in turn helps program directors and fourth-year elective directors to better compare NEOMED  students to applicants from different institutions.

B. Scope

This policy applies to all required clerkships in the College of Medicine.

C. Body of the Policy

1. All clerkships that have an NBME examination required as part of the clerkship will be graded on a four-category scale (Honors > High pass > Pass > Fail).  NBME performance will be judged according to the NBME grading rubric published annually in the M3 Clinical Clerkship Course Guide syllabus.  Clerkships without a required NBME examination will be graded using a two-category scale (Pass > Fail).
2. Students who successfully complete all other requirements of a clerkship but fail the first attempt of the NBME examination will be assigned a temporary clerkship grade of “Extended Time” (EX). If the student successfully passes the NBME examination on the first retake, the temporary grade of “Extended Time” will be replaced with a grade of “pass” on the student’s transcript. Regardless of the student’s score on the second attempt, the highest clerkship grade that the student can receive is “Pass.” If the student fails to successfully pass the retake exam on the first attempt, the “Extended Time” transcription will be replaced with a permanent grade of “Fail.” Students must retake and successfully complete any clerkship NBME examination no later than Sept 15 annually following the M3 academic year, or they will be assigned a permanent grade of “Fail.”
3. All Honors, High Pass, Pass, and Fail grades (see Attachment 1) are final when filed by the clinical experiential director though they may be revised at any time should a procedural or clerical error be discovered.  Refer to Grade Dispute Policy for details.
4. A medical student may appeal a course grade by following procedures described in the Grade Dispute Policy.

Attachment 1 – Definitions of Final Clerkship Grade Categories

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