Study on the impact of open and closed book formative examinations on pharmacy students' performance, perception, and learning approach

Srinivasan Ramamurthy; Hui Meng Er; Vishna Devi Nadarajah; Peter C K Pook

doi:10.1016/j.cptl.2016.02.017

Study on the impact of open and closed book formative examinations on pharmacy students' performance, perception, and learning approach

Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2016 May-Jun;8(3):364-374. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2016.02.017. Epub 2016 Mar 21.

Authors

Srinivasan Ramamurthy¹, Hui Meng Er¹, Vishna Devi Nadarajah², Peter C K Pook¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Pharmacy, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
² School of Medicine, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: vishnadevi_nadarajah@imu.edu.my.

PMID: 30070247
DOI: 10.1016/j.cptl.2016.02.017

Abstract

Objectives: To study the impact of open and closed book formative examinations on pharmacy students' learning approach and also to assess their performance and perception about open book (OB) and closed book (CB) systems of examination.

Methods: A crossover study was conducted among Year 1 and Year 2 pharmacy students. Students were invited to participate voluntarily for one OB and one CB online formative test in a chemistry module in each year. Evaluation of their learning approach and perception of the OB and CB systems of examination was conducted using Deep Information Processing (DIP) questionnaire and Student Perception questionnaire respectively. The mean performance scores of OB and CB examinations were compared.

Results: Analysis of DIP scores showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the learning approach adopted for the two different examination systems. However, the mean score obtained in the OB examination was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those obtained in the CB examination. Preference was given by a majority of students for the OB examination, possibly because it was associated with lower anxiety levels, less requirement of memorization, and more problem solving.

Conclusion: There is no difference in deep learning approach of students, whether the format is of the OB or CB type examinations. However, the performance of students was significantly better in OB examination than CB. Hence, using OB examination along with CB examination will be useful for student learning and help them adapt to growing and changing knowledge in pharmacy education and practice.

Keywords: Closed book examination; Deep information processing; Learning approach; Open book examination; Pharmacy students.