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Predicting Medical Student Performance on the OB/GYN NBME Subject Examination

Objectives: There are differences between student learners and their capacity to adapt to new material. We sought to predict students’ prospective performances on the NBME subject examinations by administering a pre-clerkship and a mid-clerkship assessment tool. This will provide an improved guide to learning throughout the clerkship.

Study Design: A formative assessment tool was administered, over five consecutive OB/GYN Clerkship rotations (each rotation is 6 weeks long), to third-year medical students during orientation (before exposure to any study material or lecture) and again at the midpoint (week 3) of the clerkship. The assessment tool used was the APGO online uWISE 50-question comprehensive quiz. Results of the two assessments were compared to the NBME scores taken at the completion of each rotation. Data analysis was performed using t-test and ANOVA analysis. This project was exempt from IRB approval.

Results: A statistically significant correlation was observed between the pre-clerkship assessment tool and the score on the end of clerkship NBME subject examination. There were no statistically significant correlations seen between the mid-clerkship assessment and the NBME examination.

Conclusion: This study has shown a statistically significant way to estimate students’ performances on the OB/GYN NBME subject examination early in the clerkship, when potential interventions may improve performance. Continued search with other evaluation methods may provide a further strong correlation and prediction of success.

Topics: 2014, Student, Clerkship Director, Medical Knowledge, Systems-Based Practice & Improvement, Practice-Based Learning & Improvement, UME, Assessment, General Ob-Gyn,