INTRODUCTIONAssessment is a powerful driver of innovative changes in education and defines goals for learners and teachers. Assessment is said to drive student learning and define curriculum. However, the assessment of learning is often one of the more difficult and time-consuming aspects of education.1 The performance assessment communicates the students what material is important, motivate the students to study, identify areas of deficiency and the need for further learning. It also identifies areas, where the course or curriculum is weak, and it facilitates modification of the syllabus or curriculum and help in guidance and counselling.2 Success in education, in turn, is largely measured by performance on examinations. If students know that that their success on the examination rests entirely on rote recall of facts, they will adopt a learning style that relies purely on memorization. On the other hand, if students are required to integrate, interpret and apply information they will adopt a strategic learning style in order to drive the highest degree of success. Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are a common type of assessment due to their reliability, validity and ease of scoring. 4MCQs offer advantage of being more versatile in measuring rote memory to more complex knowledge. Large amount of information can be measured in a short time. Scoring is objective and can be reliably completed. With 3-5 options, the effects of guessing can be reduced.Another common type of assessment is short or long essay type questions. This format allows students more flexibility in their response and reflects their individuality of approach in which interpretative skills can be evaluated. 5 ABSTRACT Background:The aim was to assess the effectiveness of multiple choice versus short answer questions (SAQs) as assessment tools for evaluating performance of 2 nd MBBS students. Methods:The study was observational, retrospective study of written pen and paper type assessment that utilized a sample of 100 2 nd year medical students. Study consisted of two parts; part I was multiple-choice questions (MCQs) based on endocrine system where four options were given for a question and the single best answer was to be ticked. MCQ was timed at 20 mins for 30 questions with 1 mark each. There was no negative marking. Part II was SAQ on same system where 16 SAQ were given. SAQ was timed at 60 mins for 30 marks questions. After the test students had to reply on a feedback form. Result: There was a strong correlation between the marks scored in two formats of test and there was no statistical difference between the two set of marks. Conclusion: SAQs are as effective as MCQs in assessing the performance of the students in medical pharmacology.

Background: MBBS course content is extensive and requires immense and strenuous effort on the part of the medical students to complete it. Some students excel in their academics while others strive to pass and some even drop out. If the factors contributing to the excellent academic performance could be identified, these factors then can be incorporated to upgrade the struggling medical students. Hence, early identification of low achievers and the factors responsible for their poor performance is crucial. We undertook this study to identify the various factors influencing the academic performance of these two groups of students. Methods: We identified the top thirty percentile and bottom 30 percentile students in the subject of pharmacology based on their third semester examination marks. All the 62 students opted to participate in the study, and their informed consent was taken. They were then given the questionnaire and allowed to answer in a stress free atmosphere. Results: Factors which were statistically significant in contributing to the good performance of high achievers were the use of reference books from the library, learning from other sources such as patients, avoiding repetition of mistakes made in the past, proper time management skills, and having immense intrinsic motivation to study. Conclusion:Through our study, we identified important factors contributing to high performance in academics, and we concluded that students should incorporate all the factors in a well-coordinated manner rather than focusing on any single factor. If executed, appropriately it will definitely upgrade their academic performance and prevent undesirable failures.