Accuracy of student self-assessment ability compared to their own performance in a problem-based learning medical program: a correlation study.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of self-assessment ability of students enrolled in a Problem-based Learning program. METHODS: Seventy students enrolled in their third year of a four-year program were invited to voluntarily participate in the study. Self-assessment questionnaire was used to measure the students' self-assessment ability on two different occasions: 1) prior to standardised oral examination in predicting their performance, and 2) following the examination estimating their performance. The accuracy of the self-assessment was investigated by the relation between self-assessment and performance of the students. RESULTS: Our study showed that self-assessment pre-examination was not accurate compared to performance at the oral examination (r ranging from 0.042 to 0.243). However, accuracy is slightly better when the student self-assesses his performance a posteriori, but the relation stays very low (r ranging from 0.257 to 0.334). CONCLUSION: According to our results, the students in the third year of a self-directed Problem-based Learning medical four year program demonstrated poor accuracy of the self-assessment when compared to their own performance.