PREP- A Medical Student Led Initiative to Enhance Learning and Facilitate Assessment Preparation
Adam Quick1, Samuel Paul1, William Schwartzman1, Vamsee Vemulapalli1, Galo Bustamante1, Chloe Amsterdam1, Christopher Pierson1
1The Ohio State University
Objective:

To develop a novel, student-led method of creating high yield review material during a foundational neuroscience curriculum.

 

Background:

Neurology and Neuroscience are significant components of foundational curriculum for US medical schools. Studying for summative assessments in medical school presents a challenge because commercially available material like board preparation texts and question banks are expensive and may not align with a school’s curriculum.

 

Design/Methods:

Peer Reviewed Exam Practice (PREP) is a student-led method for creating review questions aligned to content of the neurological disorders block at The Ohio State University College of Medicine; a 7-week course consisting of neuroanatomy, neuroscience, clinical neurology, ophthalmology and psychiatry. A team of 5 students wrote 5 multiple choice questions each day that covered presented material. Questions included detailed rationale and citation from curriculum content. Questions were internally peer-review and provided to course faculty for editing and feedback. They were distributed in a series of quizzes and a practice exam. When students completed questions, correct response and rationale were immediately available for review. Students rated question difficulty on a 1-10 scale with 5 anchored as “appropriate difficulty.”

Results:
159 review questions were generated over the course of the block and distributed as 8 quizzes and a cumulative practice exam. Class participation ranged from 68% to 23%. Average question difficulty rating was 6.5. Student quiz and practice exam scores ranged from 61.5% to 78.5% correct compared to an 84% average on the block final exam. Narrative feedback comments from students were positive.
Conclusions:

PREP is a successful student-led method of developing course review and assessment preparation material for medical students during a foundational neuroscience block. Students benefited from review questions that were internally derived, aligned to block content, faculty-reviewed, and free. Satisfaction was high among students who utilized the questions and student participation was good.

10.1212/WNL.0000000000204216