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Does exam performance correlate with perception of readiness or pretest quizzes?
Author(s) -
Ball Alexander,
Belbeck Larry,
Volc Nicole,
Helli Peter,
Wainman Bruce
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.957.11
Subject(s) - preparedness , psychology , perception , medical education , positive correlation , population , medicine , neuroscience , political science , environmental health , law
We tested the hypothesis that student's perceived readiness for examinations was not correlated to exam performance as has been previously reported. In a population of 615 undergraduate nursing, midwifery, baccalaureate health sciences (BHSc) and engineering students in a required human anatomy and physiology course perceived readiness for examinations was surveyed prior to the beginning of the midterm exam. Perceived readiness was weakly correlated with exam performance (r=0.21, p=0.05). Performance on fortnightly quizzes administered in the lab was more strongly correlated with exam performance (r=0.34, p<0.005) than perceived readiness. Though perceived readiness had a small significant correlation for most students groups the BHSc students, who have the highest course average of 84%, showed no correlation (r=0.15, n = 211). The quiz performance was most strongly correlated with the midterm exam performance in the midwifery students (r=0.61, p<0.005, n=22) and the nursing students (r=0.46, p<0.005, n= 322). This research confirms that students are only poorly able to judge exam preparedness and quantitative measures on structured tests are the most useful predictor of student success.