Negative Scoring System: The Burden of Medical Students

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Have you noticed that your doctors ask too many questions for the one or two medications they prescribe? It is borne out of pain in their past. 



Firstly, read this encounter with one of my clients.

Some months ago, I medically examined an engineer who gave me some talk about his work. His medical complaints were mild so he was in a chat mood after the consultation had ended. I was in a chat mood too. I listened to him with keen interest. After his talk, I began to ask for clarifications about the things he said about his profession. 

Though he answered all my questions, I still apologized for being inquisitive. Some persons do not like answering questions. They want to talk/lecture but not be questioned. He was not that type. He told me that he had a doctor friend who liked to clarify issues properly also.

“Doctor, I understand you. My doctor friend is also like you.” He made the statement to make me feel comfortable to ask my questions.  I learnt a few engineering jargons that day.

Time however did not permit me to explain to him how doctors became questioning or interrogative in nature. The “negative scoring” method in medical school examination is responsible for the attitude.

Before medical school, nobody ever warned us that there could be an additional penalty for answering (or guessing the answer to) a question wrongly. Unlike the examinations in secondary school during which we had the liberty to guess the answers, medical school withdrew the freedom from all of us.  

In non-medical faculties, students who answer all 100 objective questions in an exam but get only 75 correctly will be awarded 75%. The student will get a distinction in that course. Medical students are not as fortunate. In most courses, for each objective question attempted but answered wrongly, another half mark is removed from the initial score. We were told in the University of Lagos that for Pharmacology, a course taken in 300 level, a full mark is removed for making such errors.

It means that a medical student who attempts all 100 objective questions in an exam but gets only 75 correctly will have a final score of 62.5%. Half mark for each 25 questions answered wrongly is further deducted. Hence 12.5 marks are removed from the 75 scored initially; the final score is 62.5 out of 100, hence 62.5%.

No penalty is given for not attempting all the questions in an examination. One has to be very certain before choosing “A, B, or C” in a multiple-choice question examination.

The reason for the “negative scoring” method as we were told was that they expected doctors to be 100% certain of their decisions when caring for patients. Hence, no room was allowed for guessing during examinations. "Any mistake made in the care of clients can result in death," the lecturers emphasized.

When next your doctor asks you a thousand questions only to prescribe just one medication, don’t blame him or her; the scars of medical examinations are indelible and unforgettable. 


Image credit: ©johnlund.com

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2023 at 7:49 PM

    I realy don't get tired answering my doctors questions.

    ReplyDelete

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