The impact of COVID-19 on the postgraduate exit examination in a clinical subject

The year 2020 world experienced the rise of a new pandemic COVID-19 beginning. It started in India in early March. Maharashtra state saw a lockdown from March 2020. It has affected all the aspects of life in India including economy, patient care and medical education. The whole working system of hospitals had to be changed and most of the hospitals were divided into COVID and non-COVID parts. This article is an effort to study the perceptions of postgraduate medical students in the department of medicine on the exit examination at the end of three years of residency in a medical college in Pune. Along with the postgraduate student’s perceptions, views of examiners are also studied under four aspects protective measures during examination, assessment of knowledge using case scenarios, student’s experience of case presentation without physical presence of patients and overall satisfaction with the novel method of examination.

Measuring logical competences and soft skills when enrolling in a university degree course

Logical abilities are a ubiquitous ingredient in all those contexts that take into account soft skills, argumentative skills or critical thinking. However, the relationship between logical models and the enhancement of these abilities is rarely explicitly considered. Two aspects of the issue are particularly critical in our opinion, namely: (i) the lack of statistically relevant data concerning these competences; (ii) the absence of reliable indices that might be used to measure and detect the possession of abilities underlying the above-mentioned soft skills. This paper aims to address both aspects of this topic by presenting the results of a research we conducted in the period October – December 2020 on students enrolled in various degree courses at the University of Florence. To the best of our knowledge, to date this is the largest available database on the subject in the Italian University System. It has been obtained by a three-stage initiative. We started from an “entrance” examination for assessing the students' initial abilities. This test comprised ten questions, each of which was centered on a specific reasoning construct. The results we have collected show that there is a widespread lack of understanding of basic patterns that are common in the everyday way of arguing. Students then underwent a short training course, using formal logic techniques in order to strengthen their abilities, and afterwards took an “exit” examination, replicating the structure and the questions difficulty of the entrance one in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. Results show that the training was beneficial.

Student Learning in Online College Programs

We draw on administrative data from the country of Colombia to assess differences in student learning in online and traditional on-campus college programs. The Colombian context is uniquely suited to study this topic, as students take a compulsory exit examination at the end of their studies. We can therefore directly compare the performance on the exit exam for students in online and on-campus programs both across and within institutions, degrees, and majors. Using inverse probability weighting methods based on a rich set of background characteristics coupled with institution–degree–major fixed effects, our results suggest that bachelor’s degree students in online programs perform worse on nearly all test score measures (including math, reading, writing, and English) relative to their counterparts in on-campus programs. Results for shorter technical certificates are more mixed. While online students perform significantly worse than on-campus students on exit exams in private institutions, they perform better in SENA—the main public vocational institution in the country.

My Experience of Participating as External Examiner in Online Radiology Residents Exit Examination During COVID Pandemic

Life has brought us to such a point, where we are forced to think, whether we actually have done any progress or not, in last so many years. COVID 19 has forced everyone to standstill and most developed nations are biggest sufferers. Till date, most modes of travel, including International flights, are more or less stopped, and we yet don’t know, when all this will start again. We are slowly and steadily accepting COVID as part and parcel of life, and steadily trying to return to work. In Medical schools in India, Postgraduate Exit Examination (PEE) are usually scheduled in April to June, with atleast two External Examiners travelling to Medical College, from same or different state. Due to restriction on travel and Government advisory, PEE couldn’t be held in April 2020; and henceforth Medical Council of India (MCI) had to change its policy in regard to PEE. Board of Governors (BOG) MCI held a meeting on 15 May 2020 and decided to give one-time relaxation to Medical Universities, for appointment of External Examiners (EE) for year 2020-2021, in view of COVID pandemic. Medical Universities were asked to complete PEE until 30 June 2020, with following options:

Test Preparation and Students’ Performance: The Case of the Colombian High School Exit Exam

Standardized test scores play a central role in determining college admission decisions in both developed and emerging countries. For that reason, many courses are offered by schools and other educational institutions to prepare students for the exams. However, it is still unclear whether additional preparation has a positive and significant effect. The objective of this paper is to use the results of the Colombian high-school exit examination to gain a better understanding of the relationship between preparation and test results. Our results show that, on average, preparatory activities are associated with an increase of approximately 0.06 standard deviations in scores.

DOCTOR OF MEDICINE AND DIPLOMATE OF NATIONAL BOARD COURSES IN INDIA–ISSUES AND EQUIVALENCE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

India is the only country in the world running two different doctoral courses for doctors, i.e., Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Diplomate of National Board (DNB). DNB course was introduced in 1975 to overcome shortage of specialist doctors and medical teachers. Both courses have centralized entry examination, similar tenure period, academic and clinical activities, and research exposure and exit examination (in the host institute in MD examination and in designated exit exam centre in institute other than poarent institute in case of DNB examination). Initially, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Medical Council of India (MCI) established the equivalence between two. Discrimination started since October 2012 through MCI gazette notification for DNB trainees from non-MCI recognized institutes with regards to teacher appointment. DNB doctors were united to raise their voice against this. While the Government of India (GOI) is in favor of equivalence between two, MCI is against the same. Recently, MCI is dissolved and is going to be replaced by the National Medical Commission and positive outcome is expected for the DNB side. A recent notification is issued toward equivalence of two courses provided candidate completed DNB course from hospitals with minimum 500 beds. Evaluating quality of education on the basis of number of beds seems unjustifiable as there are many better indicators of quality of medical education. The NMC act also retained the same 500 bed criteria. Taking into account the view point of benefit of population and improvement in medical education in India, it is desirable to reconsider the issue by the Government of India (GOI) and to act accordingly. To enhance the standard of current medical education, higher standards should be imposed in curriculum and centralized exit examination to be made compulsory for both the courses.

Explanatory factors of the accreditation of the General Graduation Exam (EGEL) in students of the Bachelor of Science in Education, UABC, Mexico

Research on variables related to academic performance is becoming increasingly important in universities; with special interest the study of those factors that may be subject of intervention for the improvement of the academic performance of their students (Davis & Thomas, 1999). The purpose of the study, among others, was to identify the main factors associated with the accreditation of the students of the Bachelor's Degree in Educational Sciences in a standardized test called the General Graduation Exit Examination in a Mexican public university. The sample was made up of 272 supporting students; Descriptive analyzes were carried out, chi-square (X2) and a logistic regression model was generated. The main results show that the age of the supporters, the schooling of the mother and the average in the Degree are the factors that most relate to the accreditation of the exam. The study presents empirical evidences that can be useful for the obtaining of more favorable results of the students in this type of standardized evaluations and for the decision making for the improvement of the educational processes in the university.