A survey of student's perspectives of open-book examinations in histology/embryology

Background and An open-book exam permits the examinees to consult some selected reference sources or materials while answering the exam questions. This study focused on students'' perspectives of open-book examinations in histology/ embryology courses, Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS), Zahedan, Iran. The survey was conducted via a questionnaire after open-book examinations in histology and embryology courses during the 2009-2010. Of 254 students who entered to the new education system, 160 students selected randomly. Results showed that 72% of the students preferred open-book to closed-book examinations. Most of the students stated that this type of exams is more suitable for high cognitive learning and solving real life situation problems, with less stress while preparing and taking the exam. They also mentioned that their marks in these examinations were not higher than closed-book examinations. The Overall satisfaction scores in biological sciences students were significantly (P<0.001) higher than medical sciences students (16.28 ± 4.17 vs. 12.65 ± 5.16), in governmental university students was significantly (P<0.001) higher than international university students (14.93 ± 4.53 vs. 10.24 ± 5.08), in the embryology course was significantly (P<0.001) higher than histology course (15.23 ± 4.07 vs. 12.79 ± 5.4) and in MD students was significantly (P<0.001) lower than BSc students (12 ± 5.1 vs. 15.93 ± 4.29).There was a positive correlation between the score they acquired in their course and the overall satisfaction score with open book examinations (r = 0.46, P-value = 0.01). The finding of a positive response toward the open-book examination foresights is well for extending such an examination to other subjects in our university.