Students’ Reactions to Three Typical Examinations in Health Sciences

Abstract

Three types of examinations, frequently used in health sciences, appeared to initiate different physical, emotional, and social reactions.

Is the OSCE more stressful? Examination anxiety and its consequences in different assessment methods in dental education

“…The mean state anxiety levels of dental students during the OSCE and written examination (Table 2) are comparable with previously reported state anxiety levels of radiology students during these two types of examinations (59.2 and 47.4 respectively) (25). The observation that the dental students find the OSCE much more stressful than a written examination is in agreement with studies among students studying for other health professions (23)(24)(25)30). A possible explanation is that a written examination is undertaken in relative anonymity, whereas the constant monitoring and observation during an OSCE may increase anxiety levels (21,25,30,31).…”

Dental Environment Stress: Findings among Lusophone Dental Students

“…There is evidence that the type of examination can produce different changes in emotional, behavioral and cognitive assessments, which appeared to initiate different physical, emotional, and social reactions. Oral presentation is perceived as the most difficult by students, the pencil and paper examination is evaluated as the easiest while objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) as intermediate [27]. Due to the curriculum characteristics, the studied population is subjected to different types of examination that can influence the student's perception of stress related to the matter.…”

Percepción de examen oral estandarizado vs no estandarizado en el internado de medicina interna

“…Se ha comunicado que los alumnos perciben los EO como un método de evaluación de mayor dificultad, comparado con exámenes escritos u OSCE 24 y que los EO producen más síntomas ansiosos que los exámenes escritos 25 . Otro estudio reporta que los niveles de ansiedad previos al examen no influyen en la calificación obtenida 26 , ya que la ansiedad es inherente a cualquier mé-todo de evaluación y su intensidad depende de la percepción del evaluado respecto a la importancia relativa del examen en su formación académica 27 por lo que intentar reducirlos no debiera ser el objetivo más prioritario.…”