Root cause of failure in final exams

I WRITE in response to the letters “It’s devastating to fail students at the final hurdle” by Disappointed Parent (The Star, Oct 7) and “Look into the real reasons for failure” by Pilocarpine (The Star, Oct 8).

In writing this letter, I seek the attention of the Malaysian medical fraternity, medical schools, Malaysia Medical Council (MMC), PTPTN, and parents of medical students. It’s my sincere hope that what happened to me will not happen to others.

I believe that I’m in a position to comment on this matter as a former medical student and now a medical dropout from a private medical university. I can certainly feel the agony felt by Disappointed Parent, and I too have received similar advice like the one given by Pilocarpine.

After failing my medical course, I now face an uncertain future with a huge – almost six-figure –PTPTN loan which I will struggle to pay back.

I believe the root cause of this issue is the structure of the final year medical exams. The medical cases given in the exams are variable and will be judged by two senior medical doctors.

Exactly what is the requirement to pass is unclear with each of those senior medical doctors having their own judgement.

Some of them are known to be strict while others are lenient. Here is where the element of luck can play a crucial role in determining a pass or failure.

Can the competence of a medical student in just one or two cases in the final year exam be used to judge his overall fitness to become a doctor? Wouldn’t all the training for the past four/ five years in medical school be worth anything at all? Why can’t the overall competence of a doctor be judged during the two-year housemanship period?

The reason given for my final year medical exam failure was my attendance record. However, I know of many medical students who manipulated their attendance record and somehow graduated to become doctors today. If attendance is a strict criterion to determine whether a medical student passes or fails, then I dare say that 20% to 30% of those who studied with me should have failed too.

Another strategy used by some medical students is to be in a close relationship with senior medical doctors who will appear as examiners in the final year exams.

This gives those medical students an unfair advantage as these examiners tend to be lenient towards them.

Last but not least, I hope all stakeholders in the medical field in Malaysia will come up with a solution to prevent any grave injustice from happening to any medical student like what happened to me.

AUGUSTINE CHEWA RAJA

Klang