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Dear Class of 2027: Welcome to the start of the 2023/2024 WSUSOM academic year. Dr. Tia Finney-Sadler has previously communicated the policies related to your assessments at orientation. I want to use this opportunity to provide you some additional information that you will find useful throughout the year. One of the most important rules is that cell phones AND i-watches are not allowed in the testing room. Please secure a locker now. If at any time you have questions or concerns, please contact the testing department (somtesting@wayne.edu) or me (tiafinney@wayne.edu) directly. ASSESSMENT AND GRADING OVERVIEW Human Body Foundations Courses (I, II & III) - Each course will be comprised of three summative assessments (i.e., count towards the course grade). Each of these assessment are faculty authored exams and will be administered via Examplify (a.k.a ExamSoft). The courses will also consist of a gross anatomy practical exam and a NBME summative. The NBME exam will be administered via the NBME web portal and Gross Anatomy Practical exam will be scantron based and administered in the gross anatomy lab. All faculty authored and NBME exams are be timed at 1.5 minutes per item. Ten minutes will be added to Examplify exams in order to facilitate the citation of items that students think are flawed or confusing. Additionally, summative assessments will be cumulative. A certain percentage of materials on later exams will cover material from prior assessments. All information about the composition of assessments including the total number of question, the distribution of questions (i.e., number on each type of exam) and the exam blueprint will be communicated to students by the course director prior to the exam. Grading and summative assessment of students for each of the Human Body Foundations Courses are as follows:
Human Body Foundations Courses also provide formative assessment opportunities for students. These assessments are OPTIONAL but highly recommended. Formatives assessments do NOT count towards the course grade. The formative assessments are created by the course directors and closely mirror the course materials and items on summative assessments. Formative assessments will be posted weekly on Friday afternoons. They will remain open until the end of the course so that students can used them to prepare for their summative assessments. Students will be allowed to take each formative up to 25 times. The formative assessments are timed at 1.5 minutes per question. Students are also provided 20 minutes after each assessment to review their performance through a post exam review process. All formative assessments will be administered via Examplify. Longitudinal Courses (P4, SL, CSC) - Assessment is based on a competency framework. Assessment details and grading criteria are contained in the course syllabi. Electives - Assessment of students enrolled in pre-clerkship electives is determined by the course director based on the objectives and design of the course. Grading criteria is included in the course syllabi. Exam Portal - For the formative assessments, you will need to download EXAMPLIFY on your computer. Please click here for instructions on how to download the latest version of Examplify. You will receive an email with your username and password for Examplify. Please note, if you change your password, please keep a record as it will take us some time to retrieve it for you on exam day. If you run into any technical difficulties, please reach out to Examsoft customer support 24/7 by calling (866-429-8889, ext. 1). Examplify Login information is as follows:
EXAMINATION POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Exam Dates and Times - All examination dates are provided in your class calendar. Students are expected to be available from 8:00 AM EST to 5:00 PM EST on exam days. The testing office will communicate out your exact testing times prior to summative assessments. On rare occasions assessments must be given after 5:00 PM EST. In these instances, the testing office will communicate this as soon as they can. Please note that all exam times are in Eastern Standard Time zone. Additionally, students are NOT permitted to change testing groups. Please pay close attention to group assignments which are:
These groups do not apply to students who receive testing accommodations. Please note your testing groups may not coincide with your GA practical lab groups or any other groups you may be divided out. Exam Location - All examinations (except the gross anatomy practical) will be given in the Mazurek computer labs. You will enter in computer lab 325 and once inside you can go to lab 309 or 324. If you are student who receives testing accommodations, you will receive separate logistics regarding where and when to report for your summative exams. Safety protocols - Masks are voluntary and are not required during exams. The testing offices cleans all surfaces prior to each exam session. Examination Polices - WSUSOM students are held to all examination policies contained with the WSUSOM student handbook. Please carefully read the following and save for future reference. Additionally, review the relevant WSUSOM policies (section 2.4 TESTING POLICIES). Excused Absences and Make-up Exams - In the event that you cannot take an examination because of a serious health problem or unavoidable circumstance, please contact your class counselor for an excused absence. Students that are granted an excused absence will be automatically scheduled to take the make-up exam on the designated make-up day. Please refer to the student calendar for make-up exam dates. The testing office will provide logistics prior to the make-up exam. Please note that students who cannot take the make-up exam as scheduled will be issued a zero for exam. The official WSUSOM policy regarding excused absences and make-up exams is below. ABSENCE FROM AN EXAM (SEGMENTS 1-4) In some instances it might not be possible for a student to be present for an examination due to either a serious health problem or other unavoidable circumstances (see approved events above). These include unexpected illness/injury, motor vehicle accident, religious holiday or mandatory court appearance. An excused absence permits the student to take a make-up examination at the scheduled make-up date. An unexcused absence for an examination will result in a zero score. TARDINESS FOR AN EXAM (SEGMENTS 1-4) Tardiness is not permitted for scheduled exams. MAKE-UP EXAMINATIONS (SEGMENTS 1-4) Any student that is granted an excused absence from the original exam will be allowed to participate in the make-up exam. A make-up exam will be of comparable content but is not guaranteed to be the same examination given on the originally schedule date. At the time of the make-up examination, the item citation process has concluded, therefore students taking these exams cannot participate in the item citation process. Students are automatically scheduled for the next make-up examination time, but may, in consultation with the Assistant Dean of Continuous Quality Improvement and Compliance, be granted a customized make-up exam schedule to complete courses in a timely manner only under extenuating circumstances. A grade of zero will be entered for the makeup exam if a student is not able to sit for the exam. All course work including examinations must be complete within one week of the course end date (defined as the date of the last exam). Students not complying with the policy may be placed on a leave of absence and their status to return to course work will be evaluated by the Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Career Development. Once a new course has started, taking exams from a previous course must be prioritized and taken first in the exam schedule Official Communication Policy - All communication regarding testing logistics and examination scores will be sent to WSU email addresses, ONLY. The testing office is not responsible for late or missing communications due to forwarding to outside email addresses. Please see the official WSUSOM policy below. 7.16 OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS Official School information is communicated through the use of electronic computer messaging sent to each student’s assigned WSUSOM email address (studentname@med.wayne.edu). Students are responsible for checking and reading their emails on a regular basis. Failure to read an official email communication is not a basis for not complying with or being up to date with medical school policies and procedures. Please be sure to read all communications that may come to you from the medical testing email (somtesting@wayne.edu). This is the email that will be used to send testing logistics and scores. Testing logistics will be sent 1-week prior to a summative exam. Exam Scores - Upon the completion of faculty authored examinations that are administered via ExamSoft, a draft score will be provided to students immediately. The score will be finalized once the course director has reviewed the citations and exam psychometrics. Final scores will be posted via ExamSoft. NBME score profiles will be provided to students via email once the testing office receives them from the NBME. Typically, this occurs within a few business days but can take up to 5 days depending on the NBME. Please remember, do not change your wayne.edu email account to a nickname. NBME score reports are sent based on your registered WSU name therefore, if you change it to something else, it may cause a delay in you receiving your scores from the NBME exams. Grading - Students do not pass or fail individual exams. Students only pass or fail a course. A course grade is comprised of several assessment and other assignments. The guaranteed minimum pass (GMP) for segment 1 fundamentals courses is 70.00%. The pass will not be lowered and scores are computed out to two decimal places. Student scores are not rounded up to a whole number. Please note that is against WSUSOM policy to advocate for examination key changes outside of the citation process. Policy (Examination Process) All Segments Students are permitted to enter the testing area 15 minutes prior via Lab 325 MEC. Students can go to any of the 3 labs once inside the testing rooms. The exam will begin with the reading of instructions at the designated start time. Students who arrive after the start of the exam are not allowed to sit for the exam at that time. Proctors will inform the student that they must report to their counselor in the Office of Student Affairs to request an excused absence. If the counselor grants an excused absence, the student will take the exam on the next scheduled make-up date. Students absent from a scheduled exam without an excuse will receive a zero (0) for the exam. The testing office will supply earplugs, and white boards/markers. It is your responsibility to dispose of all trash, and to clean the white board and return it to the proctor at the end of the test. During the examination process, including post exam reviews, testing facilities are to be secure, which means that students are not allowed to possess non-permitted items on their person, at their seat, or in the testing facility. All non-permitted items are to be stored in a student’s locker. Items are NOT to be stored in the examination facility or adjacent hallway or classrooms during the examination process. Storage of these materials on the floor constitutes a fire hazard and is not allowed. A student may be asked to leave the testing facility if they are seen with a non-permitted item. Permitted and non-permitted items include the following: 1. Permitted Materials
2. Non-Permitted Materials
For additional information, feel free to reach out to: Medical Testing via email (somtesting@wayne.edu) Jason C. Booza, Ph.D. (jbooza@med.wayne.edu) Tia Finney-Sadler, Ph.D. (tiafinney@wayne.edu) Welcome to WSU Medical School - we look forward to working with each of you! |
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