Dropping the non-core subjects from undergraduate final professional examination: How it would impact the results
Introduction: Observing the dearth of distinctions in the two decades of final professional medical examinations (FPE) caused concern. Multiple True False (MTF) tests with penalty scoring pulling down the scores was considered one reason. Another possible reason was having too many subjects cove...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en |
| Published: |
Malaysian Medical Association
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38176/1/Dropping%20the%20non-core%20-%20Copy.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/38176/ http://www.e-mjm.org/ |
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| Summary: | Introduction: Observing the dearth of distinctions in the two decades of final professional medical examinations (FPE)
caused concern. Multiple True False (MTF) tests with penalty
scoring pulling down the scores was considered one
reason. Another possible reason was having too many
subjects covered in the MTF and Best Answer Question
(BAQ) papers. This study aimed to explore the impact of
dropping the non-core subjects with minimal inputs from
MTF and BAQ papers and the students’ views in this regard.
Materials and Methods: We examined the students’
performance in the core and non-core subjects in MTF and
BAQ papers and the impact of dropping the non-core
subjects’ contribution to the students’ scores of the recent
four final professional examinations. We also surveyed the
opinions of the students, who took the FPE in the year 2000.
Results: The failure rates were significantly higher in noncore than core subjects (p < 0.001) except in one MTF paper. The mean scores were significantly lower in non-core than core subjects in all the four FPEs (p < 0.05) except in one MTF paper. Dropping the non-core subject items from MTF
and BAQ showed an improvement in the scores of MTF,
theory total, and most grand totals resulting in two more
students reaching distinction status. A mere 3.8% of the
students could thoroughly revise the non-core subjects
before the FPE. Two-fifth of them believed that non-core
subjects had a significant impact on theory performance.
Only 31.5% favoured dropping the non-core subjects, and an
equal number preferred a status quo, while the rest
suggested a reduction in their weightage. Conclusion: Most of the students considered the non-core subjects important in their career. However, very few of them
could revise these subjects for the professional
examination. The study demonstrated that dropping the
non-core subjects from MTF and BAQ improved the
students’ final scores and helped more students to attain
distinction status. |
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