Journal of Research in Medical Education & Ethics

For delivering medical education, we must have concern regarding making of efficient, world class, motivated doctors who take responsibility of exam performance as adults. Self-appraisal of exam performance is a tool for medical teachers and students which bridge the gap between what is considered important in obtaining good marks by teachers, and how students judge themselves.

(1) To identify factors associated with self-assessment accuracy of exam performance. (2) To determine the degree of agreement in exam performance by medical students with respect to teacher's assessment.

There were 150 medical students who appeared for first professional MBBS exam, of which, 75 students gave consent of participating in the study. The subjects for examination were Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry. Study design was a cross-sectional observation survey. Study tool used was a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire filled up by students. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, correlation coefficient was calculated and described using scatter plot. Percentage agreement between obtained and estimated marks was found out, using kappa statistic.

Out of 75 students who participated in the study, average obtained marks by them in theory written exams in each subject were 49.7% in Anatomy, 43.53% in Physiology and 50% in Biochemistry. Average estimated marks were 57.43% in Anatomy, 57% in Physiology and 53.68% in Biochemistry. Methods of preparation and mental state during exams were similar in all students. Kappa statistic for percent agreement between obtained marks and estimated marks was found to be very low (<0.4), for all three subjects. There was a weak positive correlation between estimated marks and obtained marks by all students in the three subjects, with r=0.11 (A), 0.17 (P), 0.13 (B).

There was poor agreement between marks estimated and obtained. Exam performance was average for both males and females, whereas excellent obtained marks were by females (above 60%) in theory written examination.