Assessment influences many aspects of medical education. It influences the learning behaviour too. It quantifies the learning outcomes also. Hence, assessment methods have to be updated and kept valid at all times. Keeping these in mind, this study was started to analyse the current summative assessment of Pharmacology course for medical students. Question papers of the past five years (2012-17), used for summative assessment of II MBBS Pharmacology students were collected. Each question was analysed individually by three qualified Pharmacology faculty. The cognitive domain (as per Bloom’s taxonomy) assessed by each question was determined. Marks allotted to each question were tabulated. Total weightages assigned to different cognitive domains were analysed. Three hundred questions were taken up for analysis of difficulty levels, classified as level I, level II and level III. Classification of drugs, prototype drugs and expected questions were classified as level I questions. Questions on individual drugs and slightly difficult questions were classified as level II. Questions on fine print paragraphs, questions belonging to higher order thinking skills, unexpected questions and questions not usually asked in summative exams were classified as level III. Recall-based questions comprised of 76.5% of the assessment. Comprehension testing questions comprised of 12% of the assessment. Remaining cognitive domains (application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation) comprised of the weightage of less than 6% each. Regarding the difficulty levels, sixty one percent of questions belonged to level I category. Thirty six percent of questions belonged to level II category. Three percent of questions belonged to level III category. Blueprints of question papers must specify coverage of topics, difficulty levels, distribution of marks and cognitive domains to be assessed. Subject experts have to identify and earmark different levels of contents keeping in mind the priorities of the learning objectives and also the difficulties of learners.
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