Evaluating the role of exam blueprinting as a tool to improve the exam quality and students’ achievements

Abstract

BACKGROUND The written exam is a complicated step in the educational process; this step is of equal importance to teachers and learners. Students are frequently asking their teachers “what are the topics that will be assessed in tests, and marks allocated to each topic? Exam blueprinting provides a well-organized constructive solution to answer these questions and increases the validity of examinations and students’ success.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the role of the exam blueprinting; as a tool to improve the exam quality and student’s achievement in anatomy and physiology course in medical imaging students.

METHODOLOGY The grades’ data of Anatomy and Physiology course HEAL 5421 were compared in two successive years; 2019 and 2020. This is a cross-sectional study that compared grades of the 2019 cohort (34 students- group A) who have submitted all their tests/exams in the traditional method, and the 2020 cohort (36 students group B), who have submitted their tests/exams with the gaudiness of test blueprint.

RESULTS The study showed a significant increase in all the students' grades particularly cohorts 2020 with an average (77%-90%). Students were strongly felt that there was an appropriate distribution of questions across topics and appropriate weightage given anatomy related to medical imaging importance, tests and examinations were fair. Also, students in group B were strongly felt that blueprints align assessment with learning outcomes of the course and preparing them very well for their tests and exam.

CONCLUSIONS Blueprinting is a valid tool to align objectives with assessment, it also indicates the marks carried by each question, distribution of appropriate weightage, and questions across the topics. Moreover, it helps them to attempt tests/examinations better. The blueprint should be an integral part of the moderation process of any written assessment. It is also useful to prepare the test blueprint and hand it to the students before the test/exam