Assessing medical students: hit or miss
BMJ 2001; 322 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.010487 (Published 01 April 2001) Cite this as: BMJ 2001;322:010487
- David M Kaufman, job title1
- 1Faculty Development, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
The dean of a large medical school receives a threaten. ing note. It says, “Ease up on the tough grading, or else!” He thinks to himself, “My god, these students are monsters.” Upon reading further, however, he sees that the note is signed by the faculty.
This anecdote illustrates the emotion that surrounds the area of student assessment, both for students and faculty. It can be a messy business, yet much is riding on the outcome. Consider the following three fictional cases in the box below.
The “pass” standard varies greatly with different assessment methods (ULRIKE PREUSS)
Case 1
Four faculty members reviewed students' final grades from a year two multiple choice question (MCQ) course examination. Using 60% as the “pass” score, almost 25% of the class had scored below this level. Two members wanted to fail these students and have them resit the examination. The other two wanted to lower the “pass” score to 55%, thus reducing the failure rate to 10%.
Case 2
The fourth year graduating class had just completed a 15 station objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) near the end of their course. The promotions committee was engaged in battle. “Any student who failed a station should remediate in that skill area. These stations are testing the basic core clinical skills,” stated one committee member. “And …
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