Abstract

Objective:The present questionnaire survey investigated perception of students in medical biochemistry curriculum with regard assessment methods by PBL and its comparison with traditional assessment methods.
Study Design: Comparative cross-sectional.
Methodology: In this comparative study subjects were first year MBBS class . They were assessed by two methods on the .the same topic Physico-chemical aspect and acid base balance. The conventional methods included MCQ and SEQ on the topic .Same topic was assessed by problem based method using cases and scenarios. The data was collected by students and was analyzed by using SPSS frequencies of responses by the students by inferential statistics.
Results: The students of first year MBBS participated in the study. The answers of questionnaire had three options agree `disagree or don’t know.This study examined student perceptions about traditional assessment and to a problem-based learning (PBL) at Islamabad medical and dental college of Bahria University. Twelve research questions were addressed in the study which examined the student different aspects of assessment. The results showed that students rated PBL assessment more highly than traditional assessment methods. They were very satisfied with their assessment experience, but expressed a need for vigorous study by books and elaborative techniques.
Conclusion:PBL assessment was perceived to be a better approach compared to Traditional assessment with some difficulties in studying problems.

Key words: Problem based self directed learning, Traditional test, Perception of students.