Toronto's Honours/Pass/Fail Debate: The Minority Position

IsittimefortheUniversityofTorontotojoinmany other Canadian medical schools in adopting a Pass/Fail (P/F) grading system for preclerkship in place of the current Honours/Pass/Fail (H/P/F) scheme? Citing goals of decreasing student stress and inter-class competition as well as an "exagger - ated differences" argument (79% gets Pass while 80% gets Honours), Toronto medical students have largely supported a switch to P/F. However, stress and competition may not be decreased by elimination of the Honours category since stu - dents will seek alternate means of distinguishing themselves. Furthermore, the exaggerated differ - ences problem is an innate difficulty encountered with all categorical reporting, and the solutions, eliminating cut-offs altogether or reporting per - centage grades, are both extreme and carry disad - vantagesoftheirown. Studieshaveshownthatres - idency program directors prefer an H/P/F system to a P/F system, and many feel that students from an H/P/F system are at an advantage relative to those from a P/F system. Finally, a large-scale studyofmedicalstudentsandresidentshasproven that first year grades are indeed predictive of future clinical competence, a finding which vali - dates the current norm of distinguishing students based on preclerkship academic performance.