Association between EMS Question Bank Completion and Passing Rates on the EMS Certification Examination

Clemency, Brian M.; Martin‐Gill, Christian; Rall, Nicole; May, Paul; Lubin, Jeffrey; Cooley, Craig; Dillen, Christine Van; Silvestri, Salvatore; Portela, Roberto C.; Cooney, Derek R; Knutsen, Christian C.; March, Juan A.

doi:10.1080/10903127.2017.1294225

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Students are able to track their own progress over time and often compare their results with other students. They are used by students studying for the United States Medical Licensing Examination [13], and associated with improved rates of passing the Emergency Medicine certification examinations in the United States [14]. In these contexts, students are using the question banks to revise and practice exam technique for specific examinations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical students: what educational resources are they using?

et al. 2019

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BackgroundThe number of resources available to medical students studying a degree in medicine is growing exponentially. In addition to traditional learning resources such as lectures and textbooks, students are increasingly using e-learning tools like commercially available question banks to supplement their learning. Student preference for learning resources has not been described in detail, and a better understanding of the tools perceived to be useful could provide essential information to medical educators when designing and implementing medical curricula.MethodsWe invited 1083 undergraduate and postgraduate medical students from two major Australian universities to complete an online survey. Questions asked students to indicate the frequency with which they use various types of resources when learning new material or when revising previous content.ResultsApproximately one third (32.3%, N = 350) of invited participants completed the survey, and of those who responded, the gender distribution was even with a median age of 25 years. Making written notes and reading textbooks were the most frequently utilized resources for learning new material. Online or downloaded question banks were the most frequently used resource for revision. In addition to the use of traditional learning tools, the majority of students report using a variety of e-learning tools including online teaching videos (92%, n = 322) and question banks (90.6%, n = 317).ConclusionDespite the trend towards e-learning, traditional resources like attendance at face-to-face lectures remain the most popular for learning new material. The increasing use of question banks raises potential issues of poor alignment to medical school curricula. With the advantages of exam technique practice, time efficiency and multiplatform availability, their popularity is likely to continue. Evaluation of existing question banks is required to facilitate appropriate integration into the curricula, with equitable access for all students.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical students: what educational resources are they using?

et al. 2019

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“…However, it is not clear from the study whether the same subject experts who created the question bank were also involved in formulating questions for the fellowship exam. The most important fact is these students used question banks along with regular learning resources [ 33 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the usage of learning resources by medical students in the basic science stage and their effect on academic performance

Ranabhat,

Kunjukrishnan,

Dubey

et al. 2024

BMC Med Educ

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Background The United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) step 1 is one of the two examinations written after completion of the first two years (basic science stage) of medical school to be eligible to apply for residency training in the USA. A huge number and types of study materials are available to prepare for the exam which might confuse students choosing a resource. We investigated learning resources being used by the third and fifth-semester medical students and their association with academic performance. We also compared learning resources and exam scores of high-performing and low-performing students. Methods Data collection was done using structured (quantitative study) and semi-structured (qualitative study) questionnaires during a face-to-face interview. This article is about the quantitative part which was designed as a correlational study. Single factor one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlation coefficient test, T-test, and Fisher’s exact test were used to analyze the data. Results About half of all students used three or more commercial resources dealing with the same content. A weak negative correlation was observed between the number of commercial resources and the exam scores, especially when the number of these resources was three or more (r = -0.26). The mean exam score of textbook users was statistically significantly higher than the mean score of textbook non-users (p = 0.01). The usage of textbooks was statistically significantly higher in the cohort of top performers in comparison to the rest of the students (p = 0.006). In addition to less usage of textbooks, the mean number of review books was higher in the group of weakest students (2.84 versus 3.7; p = 0.75). Conclusions Most students did not use professional textbooks and about half used too many commercial review resources. While the former fact was significantly associated with poor academic performance, the later fact had weak negative correlation with exam score. Pedagogical interventions are urgently needed to make the right type of learning resources available by making professional textbooks more USMLE-oriented and helping the students choose the best and right number of resources for optimum academic performance. By fulfilling the observed needs of the students in this way, they might feel empowered because of self-determination which will motivate studies.

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“…All data were originally collected for programmatic/quality assurance purposes as part of the EMS Question Bank/In-Training Exam program. Surveys were distributed as part of an EMSITE that was developed from an EMS Question Bank created by members of the Council of EMS Fellowship Directors (Overland Park, Kansas USA) 7 . The exam consisted of 170 multiple-choice questions and allowed fellows to compare their performance to their peers and to candidates who were preparing for the 2015 EMS Sub-Specialty Exam.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%