Student performance and perception regarding descriptive and case based anatomy questions

Objective: It was the objective of this study to quantify the performance and ascertain the first year students’ perception of descriptive and clinical anatomy questions.

 

Methods: Students in the 1st year 2nd semester at the Faculty of Medicine Peradeniya were recruited. They were given 2 questions similar to exam questions from a familiar area. One question was descriptive, and the other a clinical case scenario. Students were given 30 minutes to answer. Scripts were marked according to a marking scheme and scored out of hundred. At the end of the assessment students were given a questionnaire to gather information regarding their perception regarding the two types of questions.

 

Results: There were 192 students and all had answered both questions. Average scores were 73.2% for the descriptive question and 65.7% for the clinical case scenario. Of the students 65.3% thought that the clinical case scenario type of question should be given for assessments while 58% said that they preferred to answer this type of question. Eighty two percent said descriptive type of question was easy.

 

Conclusion: It is evident from these findings that even though students score better in descriptive type of questions a majority think that clinical case based questions should be included in assessment and they prefer to answer such questions.