Exploring the effect of backwash in first year medical students and comparison with their academic performances

Assessment is an important aspect of learning and teaching which enables students to progress to either higher grades of studies or seek for employment, it also helps the teachers to assess the effectiveness of their teaching methodology. Several academicians have emphasized that assessment has strong impact on all aspects of learning. According to Buck, Backwash is influence of examination on learning. We explored presence of backwash effect by questionnaire, rated on 6 point Likert scale with 10 items, in first year medical students and compared with their academic performances. The first year medical students were surveyed by newly developed and validated backwash questionnaire (BAQ) in this study. The questionnaire was based on qualitative studies on backwash effect. All students were categorised into three groups based on their previous exam scores. High achievers were defined as having cGPA of >3.5, medium achievers with cGPA ranges between 3.5 to 3.0 and low low achievers of cGPA <3.0. All three groups were evaluated for the presence of backwash. The first year MBBS students (n=81) from a designated private medical university in Malaysia participated in this study. The male: female ratio was 1:1. High achievers were 39.5% (32/81), medium achievers 48.1% (39/81) and low achievers were 12.3% (10/81). Backwash was present in 46% (38/81), highest in medium achievers 50% (19/38), followed by high achievers 39% (15/38), low achievers 10.5% (4/38). These results suggest that medium achievers are more prone to adopt learning strategies with the aim to pass assessments only. However, it is also interesting observation that high achievers also tend to have backwash. As far as low achievers are concerned, they have less backwash effect as observed in this study. The presence of negative effect of Backwash in high & medium achievers, suggests that assessment exert great impact on learning of medical students. To take the maximum benefits out of assessment, there is need to improve learning by adopting new strategies and improvements in teaching learning activities.(C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.