MS1 exam formats

[sparkysparkyboomman]

Hi all,

Hope you’re staying healthy.

As most, my medical school has recently gone online for the rest of the semester. There is currently a lot of talk about how exams should be administered (especially NBMEs).


Just curious- How are your schools administering exams in light of the pandemic?

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[Arsartium]

With an online remote proctoring program called "Proctorio." For us, this includes both faculty-made and NBME exams. The only change is that we can no longer have so-called "customized" NBME exams in which professors could choose questions/subtopics from an NBME test bank. Only broad topics (e.g. cardiology, microbiology, anatomy & embrology) are available.

 

[sparkysparkyboomman]

With an online remote proctoring program called "Proctorio." For us, this includes both faculty-made and NBME exams. The only change is that we can no longer have so-called "customized" NBME exams in which professors could choose questions/subtopics from an NBME test bank. Only broad topics (e.g. cardiology, microbiology, anatomy & embrology) are available.

We’re also using a remote proctoring system which, based on a few trial runs, is very glitchy.

We haven’t decided on NBME format yet however.

 

[mehc012]

I wonder how my school is doing it, given that they don't use multiple choice exams (essay and short answer only) and the Anatomy ones have always been hand-written to allow for both essay and drawing.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My school is making us come into school to take our exams. They’ve split the class up into really small groups so that there aren’t more than like 6 people in a testing room. Still seems risky to me, but they’ve assured us they have planned everything out to make it safer than even getting food delivered lol.

 

[efle]

For us, all offerings are being converted to Pass/Fail and the unit exam is designed to be open note

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I wonder how my school is doing it, given that they don't use multiple choice exams (essay and short answer only) and the Anatomy ones have always been hand-written to allow for both essay and drawing.

Wat. All of that sounds awful.

 

[yugimuto]

Exams are online and there is no proctoring system. They are multiple choice based. School said use honor code.

It's up to the students if they want to follow it.

 

[mehc012]

Wat. All of that sounds awful.

I thought it was nice, because it meant I really just had to learn the concepts and how to apply them, and *@!#$ random nit-picky details!

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I thought it was nice, because it meant I really just had to learn the concepts and how to apply them, and *@!#$ random nit-picky details!

LMGTFY - Stockholm Syndrome

 

[sparkysparkyboomman]

My school is making us come into school to take our exams. They’ve split the class up into really small groups so that there aren’t more than like 6 people in a testing room. Still seems risky to me, but they’ve assured us they have planned everything out to make it safer than even getting food delivered lol.

Wow.

We have several immunosuppressed students in my class and I can’t imagine how stressful that would be for them if this was our format.

Interesting call by your school

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Wow.

We have several immunosuppressed students in my class and I can’t imagine how stressful that would be for them if this was our format.

Interesting call by your school

Well, we're the military so no one in my class can be immunosuppressed lol. But they said if any of us live with a high risk individual, that they would make alternative arrangements such as taking the exam alone. All in all, it was a pretty safe experience. They propped all the doors open and had people there enforcing the social distancing. They also closed the university and deep cleaned all the rooms over the last few days. Honestly, I felt safer taking the exam than even being on a walk around my block.

They also said they are in the process of making future exams completely online in the event that this stretches out, so I think this might have just been for this exam.

 

[Goro]

With an online remote proctoring program called "Proctorio." For us, this includes both faculty-made and NBME exams. The only change is that we can no longer have so-called "customized" NBME exams in which professors could choose questions/subtopics from an NBME test bank. Only broad topics (e.g. cardiology, microbiology, anatomy & embrology) are available.

We're doing something similar.

 

[IMG69]

In the UK so far these have been the decisions, cancelled and auto progressed, sit them online, open book, multiple attempts. Others are giving auto progression but holding the exam and using it for class ranking still.

Sadly there seems to be no standardization amongst universities.

So one of the above I would assume would happen in the US as well.