Exam Review Research Articles

Exam Wrappers in Nursing Education: A Metacognitive Tool to Improve Performance.

Metacognition can assist students in improving poor examination (exam) performance. An exam wrapper is a metacognitive tool used to assess a student's thought processes and behavioral patterns during test-taking. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an exam wrapper tool used during one-to-one exam review sessions with faculty on prelicensure nursing students' subsequent exam performance. Paired t-tests and repeated measures ANOVA were used to compare undergraduate students' (n=91) exam scores before and after an exam review session with faculty in which the exam wrapper tool was used. Students who completed a one-to-one exam review session with faculty using the exam wrapper showed significant improvement in subsequent exam scores. Use of an exam wrapper tool as part of a one-to-one exam review session with faculty is a viable way to leverage metacognition to improve student exam performance.

Transforming Exam Reviews: A Collaborative Approach to Enhance Student Success.

Transforming Exam Reviews: A Collaborative Approach to Enhance Student Success.

Post-Exam Wrappers: A Tool for Critical Reflection.

Post-exam review sessions that reveal a completed exam to students can be time-consuming and ineffective. Additionally, the review may jeopardize exam integrity by exposing the individual items. To promote critical reflection, an exam wrapper, without the return of a completed exam, was implemented. Students were encouraged to take deeper ownership of learning and be active in the process of exam review. Most students strongly agreed or agreed that they adjusted their study strategies based on their self-reflection (68.5%) or on the instructor feedback (66.7%) provided through the wrapper. All faculty stated the process of using wrappers was much more or more valuable and efficient, compared to prior post-exam feedback methods. Using an exam wrapper as a stand-alone, post-exam debrief, students assume a more proactive role by reflecting on individual exam preparation and learning strategies without the return of a completed exam. [J Nurs Educ. 2024;63(X):XXX-XXX.].

Student Perceptions of Two Preclinical Medical School Exam Feedback Approaches

Background: In medical school, where learning an abundance of information in a short period of time is required, it is necessary that learners receive valuable feedback after summative assessments (i.e., unit exams). First-year medical students at Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) begin their education with a course titled Human Structure (HS), followed by Molecules to Cells and Tissues (MCT). Both courses provided different formats for exam feedback, resulting in anecdotal comments about preference and utility of feedback. This study uses qualitative research methods to examine IUSM-Bloomington students’ perceptions of exam feedback formats with respect to their utility and applicability.
 Methods: Five, second-year IUSM-Bloomington medical students participated in a focus group to discuss their utilization and perceived usefulness of HS and MCT exam feedback. A thematic analysis was used to interpret data from the focus group. This study was deemed exempt by the IU-IRB (19409).
 Results: The thematic analysis revealed that students’ discussions fell into three categories: logistics, utilization, and mentality. These categories were further broken into themes and subthemes, revealing 13 unique codes. Students spent a substantial amount of time discussing logistics of exam feedback. Barriers to utilization of exam feedback included a lack of information provided at the feedback sessions and a lack of time in the schedule available for feedback sessions. Students preferred MCT approach to exam feedback, however they recognized HS course logistics may prevent similar adoption. Students had small suggestions on how to improve feedback in both courses.
 Conclusions/Implications: The data suggest students would benefit from small changes in how first-year medical school courses at IUSM provide exam feedback. Improvements could include extending the time of exam review sessions, incorporating a discussion on commonly missed exam concepts, providing answer explanations for incorrect and correct answers, and transitioning statewide reviews to be campus led.

Tab-Meta Key: A Model for Exam Review

Tab-Meta Key: A Model for Exam Review

Success Stories of Top Performers in Teacher Education and Liberal Arts

This study was conducted to describe the journey of topnotchers from a private Catholic higher education institution in Tuguegarao City. Employing a phenomenological study approach, this study explored the lived experiences of the four topnotchers from the School of Education, Criminology, Arts, and Psychology between 2013 and 2023. Using thematic analysis to analyze the answers of the top notchers to the validated semi-structured interview questionnaire, several key factors that contributed to their success in achieving top placements in the board examinations were revealed. These factors were strong institutional support, effective teacher mentorship, good personal characteristics, a supportive family, peer support, and strategic personal interventions. These emphasize how important it is to have a solid support system inside and outside the school setting. Based on these results, the study offers various recommendations for the institution to enhance further its support for those students who are determined to succeed. These include strengthening academic and emotional support strategies from the school, family members, and peers. Moreover, it is important to invest in faculty development, enrich library resources, and intensify board exam review courses to incorporate meaningful learning experiences and test the effectiveness of a certain practice. Additionally, assessing students’ study routines to improve effective study habits and leveraging more top-notch testimonies for promotional purposes to attract more enrollees. These could serve as a source of inspiration for students and a means of enhancing the school’s standing as a producer of high scorers on board exams. Therefore, this study encourages students to pass and ace the board examinations.

Exam Review Versus Categorical Feedback: Which Improves Scores by Doctor of Physical Therapy Students?

Introduction. Feedback after computer-based assessments is essential to the learning process. Options include knowledge of results (KR), knowledge of correct results (KCR), and elaborated feedback (EF). This study aimed to identify whether specific or broader forms of postassessment feedback optimize physical therapist students' computer-based assessment scores. Review of Literature. Health care educators have various types of feedback they can provide to students. Educators may consider the need for exam integrity and increasing student engagement when determining what type of feedback to deliver. Elaborated feedback seems to be most effective in higher-order learning objectives than KCR or KR to improve learning outcomes and can be delivered in clear and engaging ways for students while maintaining exam integrity. Subjects. Forty-nine first-year Doctor of Physical Therapy students. Methods. This study was a quasi-experimental design. Students were given a feedback form postassessment: secure exam review with note sheet (KCR) or Strengths and Opportunities Report (EF). Students repeated assessments on the same content (mix of repeat and related items). Exam scores and question performance were analyzed with linear and logistic regression. Students were surveyed about feedback preferences. Results. After adjusting for differences in the initial exam scores and graduate Grade Point Average, KCR improved retake exam scores (confidence interval [CI95] = 0.07–1.82 percentage points). Knowledge of correct results was more effective than EF for repeated questions (RR = 1.53, CI95 = 1.12–2.09, P = .0031). Knowledge of correct results and EF were similarly effective for related questions (RR = 1.01, CI95 = 0.76–1.33, P = .9997). Most students (89.75%) preferred KCR. Discussion and Conclusion. Compared with EF, KCR provided modest improvements on follow-up exams, specifically on repeated questions. Because students are unlikely to encounter repeated questions on licensure exams, EF may be an excellent choice to balance exam integrity and feedback quality.

Assessing the Effects of Exam Review Attendance on Academic Performance in First-Year Pharmacy Students

Assessing the Effects of Exam Review Attendance on Academic Performance in First-Year Pharmacy Students

Student self-assessment data: an instrument for program assessment

The ability to assess oneself is important in higher education, on the job, and throughout all aspects of life. Knowledge surveys (KS) are a self-assessment tool where students rate their ability to answer a knowledge question or perform a skills task. Previous research has shown that students are accurate self-assessors compared to instructor assessments when KS questions are specific and well-aligned with learning objectives and course content. Although it has been suggested as a use of KS in the literature, there are few data on the specific use of KS as a part of a continuous improvement process for program assessment. In this case study, KS were implemented in a Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam review course at an undergraduate-only civil engineering program in the western U.S. The paper will outline several components of our continuous improvement process, then compare KS with FE exam results from a cohort of students. The comparison demonstrates the utility of student self-assessment data as one artifact that helps to paint a more complete picture for program assessment. In addition, we will present several assessment benefits to implementing KS in courses and throughout an undergraduate program.

Case study: Assessing the impact of concept mapping during an exam review on exam performance in a large-enrollment human physiology course

A typical college-level human physiology course surveys a breadth of physiological topics. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of organ system functions from the molecular to the organismal scale as well as an understanding of how interactions between organ systems produce integrated functions. Concept maps are learning tools that help students make connections between seemingly disparate concepts, like physiological processes occurring at different scales and interactions between different organ systems. The purpose of this study was to compare exam scores of students who attended a review session with concept mapping to those who attended a review session without concept mapping, as well as to assess the perceived exam preparedness of students who attended an exam review and those who did not attend an exam review. We hypothesized that the addition of concept mapping during an exam review session would improve average student exam scores and that students who attended a review session would report that they were better prepared for the exam.The concept map intervention was implemented as part of each exam review session for two in-person offerings of a large enrollment intermediate level human physiology course (n=747 students) in 2021–22 at a large public research university. Control exam performance data was collected in the same course without the concept map intervention as part of the exam review sessions for two in-person offerings (n=807 students) during 2017-18. The intervention groups’ exam review sessions consisted of 30 minutes of concept mapping followed by 20 minutes of a student question and answer session. The control groups’ exam review sessions consisted of 50 minutes of a student question and answer session. After each exam, students were asked to report the grade they expected to earn on the exam (A, B, C, D or F) as a measure of their level of exam preparedness. A student’s t-test was used to determine significant differences between exam scores of students in the intervention and control group. Data are presented as mean exam score (%)±SD.Overall exam scores in the control group (80.4±11.7) were significantly higher than the experimental group (78.75±11.8, p=0.007). Of the students who participated in the survey, 2,228 participated in the exam review and 543 did not. Perceived exam preparedness are as follows for groups that attended the exam review (expecting A:25%, B:55%, C:18%, D:2%, F:0%) and those who did not attend (expecting A:20%, B:49%, C:23%, D:4%, F:2%).The overall exam scores from the control group were higher than the experimental group. This suggests that adding concept maps to the review session did not improve exam scores. There may be confounding factors affecting exam scores (ex: transitioning to an in-person setting after the global pandemic). More research needs to be done to understand the impact of including concept map exercises in exam review sessions on student exam performance. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

An Interactive Final Exam Review: Games for Stress Reduction.

Assistant Professor (Drs Elrod and Riley), Kirkhof College of Nursing, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Correspondence: Dr Elrod, GVSU Kirkhof College of Nursing, 333 Michigan St NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 ([email protected]). The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Accepted for publication: December 16, 2022 Early Access: January 20, 2023

Virtual interventional radiology education increases confidence in American Board of Radiology Core Exam Preparation

•The survey data revealed specific Interventional Radiology (IR)-related competencies where perceived confidence was low (extremity venography and imaging artifacts specific to IR), creating opportunities for targeted teaching by IR educators. •Implementation of virtual board exam review courses may enhance resident board preparation, in addition to popular study resources such as practice problems and board review-specific textbooks. •A virtual IR review course for the ABR Core Exam may offer a resident-preferred approach and increase confidence in IR subject areas.

Engaging Learners in Productive Struggle: Escape Rooms as a Teaching Tool.

Designing and engaging learners in active learning are critical skills for nursing faculty with the resulting educational pay-off of increased engagement and learning. Moving away from the standard PowerPoint presentations can be uncomfortable for faculty and result in not taking risks when designing new learning experiences. However, creating psychological safety for both the faculty and learners can result in deeper learning and growth for the faculty's skill set. This article describes a pilot implementation of an escape room to facilitate an exam review for an undergraduate pathophysiology course. This pilot allowed the program to determine the feasibility of integrating escape rooms into undergraduate nursing curriculum while including evidence-based pillars of active and experiential learning such as the creation and maintenance of psychological safety for students and faculty. Lessons learned about in-person and virtual escape rooms are included as well as next steps. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(9):545-548.].

Virtual teaching assistants: A survey of a novel teaching technology

This study centers around virtual teaching assistants (“VTA”) and the potential application of VTAs to reduce the burden on teachers across secondary schools in China exacerbated by the Double Reduction Policy. It seeks to understand how VTAs could be implemented in the classroom while ensuring student and teacher well-being, success, and happiness. Through interviews with fourteen different experts spanning industry, academia, and education, combined with extensive review of the existing literature and ecosystem of VTAs, research shows that VTAs are potentially a major aid in the context of exam review, after school tutoring, automated grading, and student performance reporting. However, they need to be created carefully with an attentive eye towards student support to ensure that the learning experience is not diminished. It must be clearly communicated to all stakeholders that the goal of a VTA is not to replace teachers, but rather to support them such that they can spend more time with students and less time on mundane tasks.

Digital Storytelling Review in a Pharmacy Self-Care Course.

Digital storytelling is a type of active learning that allows instructors to simulate real-life situations through a series of connected videos. While this technique has been used in other healthcare education disciplines, its use in pharmacy has not been well documented. A digital storytelling model was incorporated in a required self-care pharmacy course to assess if the technique was helpful to improve the knowledge, confidence, and satisfaction of students. Due to a shift in online learning, the self-care course offered a remote exam review session containing a digital storytelling model, and this approach was compared to an in-person exam review that followed a lecture-based model held earlier in the course. Pre- and post-knowledge assessments were given to determine the impact of the digital storytelling review. There were 50 students involved in both sessions and there was a 70% response rate in the digital storytelling group and a 90% response rate in the lecture-based group. Students’ knowledge numerically improved, but not to a statistically significant level for most questions. Nonetheless, students reported more confidence (p < 0.05) in their ability to pass the upcoming exam following the digital storytelling review. Thematic analysis revealed that the digital storytelling session was engaging and interactive, though time-management and breakout rooms could be further optimized. Based on these results, exam review in a required self-care pharmacy course using a digital storytelling format may be a suitable method for students to apply course content and may particularly be of utility in online or hybrid courses.

Multi-inquiry hybrid e-learning: Instructor-learner experiences

Background: Hybrid teaching methodologies involve the purposeful combination of traditional teaching with technology advances. Despite some challenges, they have gained popularity recently, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. This study evaluated hybrid e-learning with multiple inquiries involving students’ receptiveness, preferences, behaviours and instructor observations. Method: The methodology involved a mixed-method approach with a qualitative observational case study, surveys and interviews for problem-based learning alternatives to traditional lectures. Instruction included: 1) Assigned primary literature reading with study questions to be completed before class; 2) Out-of-class online video-clips with visual, practical application (i.e. lithium and non-lithium induced tremor assessment) and online discussion in CANVAS Learning Management System; 3) Start-of-class quiz in ExamSoft, in-class team-based application questions with instructor-led discussion; 4) Out-of-class team final exam review assignment in CANVAS. Results: Qualitative themes were student engagement, flexibility, preferences, academic and non-academic stressors, etiquette, and defining responsibility for academic success. The majority of students preferred primary literature review, video clips, followed by online CANVAS discussions. Written assignments were the least desirable. Conclusion: These experiences are useful for qualitative evaluation of teaching and learning methods.

Escape Zoom!: Reviewing Introductory Evolution Content Using an Escape Room Format

Reviewing and integrating key concepts and learning goals at the end of a biology course can be overwhelming to students and instructors alike. Often end-of-term review sessions in preparation for final exams are heavily based on memorization, and content coverage may be favored over students&rsquo; deeper understanding of fewer key ideas. We developed a final exam review for a virtual introductory evolution course using an &ldquo;escape room&rdquo; format, which consisted of unique activities&mdash;including puzzles, role-playing, and literature searches&mdash;aligned with course learning goals. Similar to a traditional escape room, students needed to collaboratively solve or complete each activity before moving on to the subsequent task. Our escape room activity was conducted virtually via Zoom and included both whole-class and smaller breakout room interactions. We recommend instructors utilize escape rooms as an engaging and effective way to review key concepts in their courses. <em>Primary image:&nbsp;</em>Virtual Escape Room. In our activity, students virtually engage in activities related to evolutionary topics such as cichlid speciation, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, and extinction, among others. All images used in this image are open source, and associated links for all images are listed here:&nbsp;<a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/smgTvepind4">https://unsplash.com/photos/smgTvepind4</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/4_hFxTsmaO4">https://unsplash.com/photos/4_hFxTsmaO4</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/_BJVJ4WcV1M">https://unsplash.com/photos/_BJVJ4WcV1M</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/k0KRNtqcjfw">https://unsplash.com/photos/k0KRNtqcjfw</a>, <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Pitb97HIn6Y">https://unsplash.com/photos/Pitb97HIn6Y</a>

A Preference for Peers over Faculty in the Pandemic Era: Development and Evaluation of a Medical Student-led Virtual Physiology Exam Review

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, students at the University of California, Irvine, reimagined their peer-led, small-group, tutorial sessions into an online format. The virtual sessions improved student-reported understanding of physiological principles and reduced exam anxiety. Peer-led review remains a valuable resource in the era of virtual medical education.

Deep learning-based automated detection of pulmonary embolism on CT pulmonary angiograms: No significant effects on report communication times and patient turnaround in the emergency department nine months after technical implementation

ObjectivesRapid communication of CT exams positive for pulmonary embolism (PE) is crucial for timely initiation of anticoagulation and patient outcome. It is unknown if deep learning automated detection of PE on CT Pulmonary Angiograms (CTPA) in combination with worklist prioritization and an electronic notification system (ENS) can improve communication times and patient turnaround in the Emergency Department (ED). MethodsIn 01/2019, an ENS allowing direct communication between radiology and ED was installed. Starting in 10/2019, CTPAs were processed by a deep learning (DL)-powered algorithm for detection of PE. CTPAs acquired between 04/2018 and 06/2020 (n = 1808) were analysed. To assess the impact of the ENS and the DL-algorithm, radiology report reading times (RRT), radiology report communication time (RCT), time to anticoagulation (TTA), and patient turnaround times (TAT) in the ED were compared for three consecutive time periods. Performance measures of the algorithm were calculated on a per exam level (sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, F1-score), with written reports and exam review as ground truth. ResultsSensitivity of the algorithm was 79.6 % (95 %CI:70.8−87.2%), specificity 95.0 % (95 %CI:92.0−97.1%), PPV 82.2 % (95 %CI:73.9−88.3), and NPV 94.1 % (95 %CI:91.4–96 %). There was no statistically significant reduction of any of the observed times (RRT, RCT, TTA, TAT). ConclusionDL-assisted detection of PE in CTPAs and ENS-assisted communication of results to referring physicians technically work. However, the mere clinical introduction of these tools, even if they exhibit a good performance, is not sufficient to achieve significant effects on clinical performance measures.

ENC(C) Exam Review Questions

ENC(C) Exam Review Questions