Study Skills assessment among Medical Undergraduates – Where they stand?

Abstract

Introduction: Medical education is facing a lot of new challenges today. Education among medical students is perceived to have declined largely in recent years.Objective: To assess the study skills among final year MBBS students.Materials and methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done on 'Study skills assessment' among 137 Final MBBS students of Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Out of 137 students, 125 students who filled in the questionnaire completely were included in the study. Pre tested, modified, self-administered questionnaire which has been adapted from 'DENIS CONGO STUDY SKILLS INVENTORY' was used.Data was analyzed using MS excel and relevant statistical tests were applied. Results: Out of 125 students,58 were boys and 67 were girls. 82 students were hostellers while 43 were Day scholars.While reading a text book, only 11 (9%)students said that they almost always formulate questions before, during or after reading the text book.Only three students stated that they do not use mnemonics while all others stated that they use mnemonics some or other time while learning. When the domains were assessed gender wise, the mean score for notes taking was higher among females (11.32 + 3.19) than males (8.79 + 3.28) and this difference was found to be statistically significant. Recommendation:Study skills among students can be improved further by better time management and test preparation. Applying study skills leads to better student learning.