Am J Pharm Educ. 2021 Sep 10:8696. doi: 10.5688/ajpe8696. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
Objective. The ability of pharmacy students to self-regulate and reflect on knowledge and skills is important as proficient self-assessment skills guide learning strategies and prompt students to bridge their knowledge gaps. The objective was to determine how well third-year pharmacy students self-assess, to explore the rationales behind their self-assessments and determine whether there is a correlation between self-assessment accuracy and academic performance. Methods. A quasi-experimental one-group pre-/post-test design was conducted with third-year pharmacy students. Examiner grades, student self-assessment grades, comparative reports and end-of-semester grades were collected. Students were categorised into tertiles based on academic performance for data analysis. Paired t-tests, Pearson’s r and percentage agreements were conducted to investigate self-assessment accuracy. Correlational statistical tests were implemented to examine the relationships between self-assessment accuracy and academic performance. Results. 162 third-year pharmacy students were included. On average, students demonstrated poor self-evaluation skills and underestimated themselves by 4.9%. Lower performing students were generally overconfident in evaluating their performance. There was no significant correlation between self-assessment accuracy and academic performance on the subsequent end-of-semester examination question. Conclusion. On average students tended to underestimate their academic performance. Further research on self-assessment can help understand how students think about their performance which may help to improve education methods such as inclusion of reflective practices after case-based activities.
PMID:34507958 | DOI:10.5688/ajpe8696
