The Assessent
The assessment of students enrolled in integrated academic programs involves an exam, a differentiated quiz and quiz (written, oral, computer-based). For clinical courses, the assessment extends to testing practical competencies. The ongoing exams and final attestation are conducted in centralized computer rooms with more than 350 computers. Oral exams are employed for main professional courses in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th years as well as during the final attestation (3rd stage). High-performing students in the Faculty of Pharmacy have the option to choose between undertaking an oral examination or defending master’s thesis for their final attestation while students in the Faculty of Public Health are mandated to defend a master’s thesis.
The university has implemented several multi-component assessment systems. A 10–point grading scale is implemented for all attestation methods: “excellent” (10–9), “good” (8–7), “satisfactory” (6–5), and “unsatisfactory” (4–1). For quizzes, a non–differentiated assessment of knowledge (and/or skills) is applied: the results are assessed “passes” or “fail”. In the event of an unsatisfactory grade in an exam or a differentiated quiz, or if the student got “fail” in the quiz, the student has the opportunity to retake them during the retake period. Success in the retake allows the students to continue their studies, while failure in the retake results in dropout from the university. In certain subjects, should a student fail on their second attempt, they are granted two additional opportunities to retake the exam (a differentiated quiz or quiz), provided it is done before the commencement of the final year of academic program.
However, after the second retake period, if the student accumulates an academic debt exceeding 12 credits in total, they face dismissal from the university. Reinstatement is possible in the following academic year, excluding the first semester of the first year. The student is ineligible for transfer to the final year if he/she carries any academic debt.
The final attestation involves a three-step examination process at YSMU.
In the first step, the assessment focuses on the graduate’s level of professional and practical readiness. The assessment is conducted in the OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) format and takes place in the university’s simulation centres and hospitals where the learning process was carried out. In the initial stage, the student has to sequentially demonstrate all the essential skills relevant to professional activities employing training manikins, phantoms, simulators, medical equipment, laboratory data and equipment, ECG, X–ray records, medicinal raw materials, reagents, and other relevant resources.
The assessment of practical skills mastery in the faculties of general medicine, military medicine, and stomatology is rated on a scale of “excellent” (10–9), “good” (8–7), “satisfactory” (6–5), and “unsatisfactory” (4–1). In the Faculty of Pharmacy, the assessment is based on the verification of the performance of professional functions, resulting in either “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” grades. This particular stage is absent in the Faculty of Public Health.
During the second step, which involves computer-based evaluation of the graduate’s theoretical knowledge in the main professional subjects. To assess the clinical and professional thinking of the graduate, a variety of test questions are employed. The results of the test exams in each subject are graded on a scale of “excellent” (10–9), “good” (8–7), “satisfactory” (6–5), and “unsatisfactory” (4–1).
A graduate who failed the practical skill or test examination for any given subject is ineligible to participate in the subsequent oral examination for that subject (or to defence the master’s thesis).
In the third step, the assessment is conducted through an oral exam or the submission of a master’s thesis to evaluate the graduate’s general training and medical thinking in the main professional subjects, as outlined in “The procedure for conducting the final attestation at YSMU”. The results of the oral exams are graded on a scale of “excellent” (10-9), “good” (8-7), “satisfactory” (6-5), and “unsatisfactory” (4-1).
In case of an unsatisfactory grade in the oral examination or the defence of the master’s thesis, graduates are not awarded a qualification, however, they are permitted to participate in that step again the following year.
The final assessment for graduates of general medicine and military medicine faculties is formed by considering their results in all steps of the final certification, while for graduates from other faculties solely the outcomes of the second and third steps are considered, with the corresponding qualification being awarded accordingly.