As we come to the conclusion of our pre-clerkship phase of medical school we, the class of 2025, are preparing for clinical rotations. However, the recent policy change regarding the CBSE exam has turned this exciting time of transition into a greater stress on our mental health as a class. We believe the current policy as it stands is unjustifiable when viewed in the context of past historical student performance, lack of school-provided practice exams, and inadequate dedicated study time. As it stands, students are compelled to use what little days off for a mental break as study time for a STEP 1 equivalent standardized exam. This is on top of the current workload from our psychiatry unit, PPM, and weekly ASMC and SFM assignments. As a direct result, students are performing poorly on formative quizzes and many are concerned they may not pass the summative exam. This is because students are studying for the CBSE exam at the expense of the current unit, as the threat of repercussions under the current policy weighs heavily on students' minds. Students are concerned they would be withdrawn from rotations and thus may not graduate on time, or dismissed from medical school altogether. We understand the need for the CBSE as a diagnostic tool in our transition to the clerkship phase, however, with the lack of dedicated study time and a 50% threshold with no basis of past student performance, we believe the current policy is unfair. A recent poll of 50 students from the class of 2025 shows that only 4% of those who have taken a pre assessment have been able to score a 50% or higher. With this in mind, we propose the following to lessen the burden on students in order to make the transition into this new policy as feasible as possible:

-Lower the threshold required to move onto clerkships considering the lack of notice for the new policy and limited dedicated study period.

-We urge transparency on how the CBSE threshold is determined.

-Allow more dedicated study time to retain information and fill in gaps of knowledge that were not taught during pre-clerkship years, but are still tested on CBSE exams.

With these changes to the current CBSE policy, the class of 2025 believes that this will relieve the burden on our mental health, enhance our understanding of the process, help improve the policy for incoming students, and allow us to focus on the current unit without worrying about severe repercussions as outlined.