Eugene Welljamsdorf'73, a firstyear Med student, said two weeks ago that the drop in the boards owed partly to the advent of pass/fail grading, but he added that the faculty's despair over the test scores is not valid.

"Not scoring high on the boards means that you've learned around 20 percent less trash. It's like an achievement test--just straight out-and-out facts," he said.

However, Kennedy said, "A student who can't get through the National Boards really hasn't mastered the field."

Whatever motivated the faculty's decision to retain the graduated grade plan, student complaints have not ceased. About 60 of 100 students who gathered to consider the system shortly after its inception voted to oppose it.

One class member, who asked to remain anonymous, said that while most students want to knock down the grade plan, "no one would have enough energy" to implement the numbering plan again.

"We're all played out now," he explained.