R. Navajothi1, Raadhika2, Susila3
BACKGROUND
Pharmacology is the toughest subject in the II MBBS syllabus. Students have to memorise a lot about the drugs’ name and classification. We are conducting internal assessment exams after completion of each system. Number of failures will be more than 60% in the internal assessments conducted during first six months of II MBBS course.
AIM
To assess the formative assessment pattern followed in our institution with the students’ feedback and modify the pattern according to the students’ feedback.
SETTINGS & DESIGN
Prospective Observational Study conducted at Department of Pharmacology, Government Sivagangai Medical College, Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Questionnaire was prepared and distributed to the 300 students of Government Sivagangai Medical College and feedback was collected. Data collected was analysed in Microsoft Excel 2007 version.
RESULTS
Received feedback from 274 students. Most (80%) of the students wanted to attend the tests in all systems. Monthly assessment test was preferred by 47% of the students. Students who preferred to finish tests before holidays was 57%. Most (56%) of the students preferred tests for 1 hour. Multiple choice question (MCQ) type was preferred by 43%, which is not a routine question pattern. Only 7% preferred viva. Recall type of questions was preferred by 41% of the students.
CONCLUSION
In our institution, internal assessment is conducted as per the students’ mind setup. As the feedback has been the generally followed one, we will add MCQs in the forthcoming tests. Application type questions will be asked for more marks than Recall type of questions.
