Unpacking medical students’ resit experiences: a qualitative study of early years medical students´ experiences of a peer-assisted learning programme during summer resit exams

Resitting, being offered a 'second chance' at an exam following failure to achieve a passing grade, is both common and stressful in medical school. There is a significant gap in the medical education literature around evidence-based support for resitting medical students. The study explores medical student experiences of resits through a peer-assisted learning programme (PAL) delivered to early years resitting medical students at Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in 2021 and 2022. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first qualitative study analysing early years medical students' experiences of resitting exams. The authors performed an inductive thematic analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews with early years medical students who resat exams at ICSM in 2022. The authors identified three key themes and a cross-cutting theme: Theme 1. Self: students' individual and internal characteristics and experiences that influenced their journey of resitting exams. Subthemes included self-sufficiency and students' emotional approach to resitting; Theme 2. Others: resitting students' social networks. Subthemes explored students' relationships as part of the ICSM academic community, with near-peer role models and with their emotional support networks; Theme 3. Structures: organisational and structural factors that influence student experiences of resit exams. Subthemes included academic information, welfare, and socio-economic factors. Cross-cutting theme. Stigma: experienced a lack of open communication around resitting. The data emphasises the holistic nature of resitting, with students' self-image, their relationships with others, and the structural and institutional context all impacting on their experience, cross-cut with their experience of stigma through silence. The authors suggest that resitting is about more than academic ability: the broader context of resit stigma plays a key role in students' experiences of resits. PAL may be a useful tool to address resit stigma alongside institutional commitments to rethink medical school culture around academic failure.