Progress testing as a pattern of excellence for the assessment of medical students’ knowledge: concepts, history, and perspective

Abstract

Progress test has been created with the necessity of an assessment method align with problem-based learning. Although it was specifically created to overcome the limitations of traditional assessment for problem-based learning, nowadays is used by different type of curricula. In this paper, we first present the basic assumptions, the history, benefit and challenges of the progress test. Progress test overcomes many limitations of traditional assessment, such as validity and reliability. However, the implementation of progress test is a logistical challenge. In addition, we discuss the limitation of progress test when used as summative assessment, which may not always be aligned with constructivist theory. When adding feedback and methods of analysis that considers multiple testing, progress test is then align with constructivist theory. Finally, the use of progress test’s sub scores may lack validity because of the low number of items; thus, pass/fail decision should not be based on the sub scores, but only on general scores.