title: The progress test as a diagnostic tool for a new PBL curriculum.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The College of Medicine at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) is running a PBL-based curriculum. A progress test was used to evaluate components of the basic medical and clinical sciences curriculum.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the performance of students at different levels of the college of medicine curriculum through USMLE-based test that focused on basic medical and clinical sciences topics.
  
  
  METHODS
  The USMLE-based basic medical and clinical sciences progress test has been conducted since 2007. It covers nine topics, including: anatomy; physiology; histology; epidemiology; biochemistry; behavioral sciences, pathology, pharmacology and immunology/microbiology. Here we analyzed results of three consecutive years of all students in years 1-4.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was a good correlation between progress test results and students' GPA. Progress test results in the clinical topics were better than basic medical sciences. In basic medical sciences, results of pharmacology, biochemistry, behavioral sciences and histology gave lower results than the other disciplines.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results of our progress test proved to be a useful indicator for both basic medical sciences and clinical sciences curriculum. Results are being utilized to help in modifying our curriculum.
authors.affiliation: King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. alwani@ksau-hs.edu.sa
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Al Alwan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Moamary
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al-Attas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Al Kushi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: AlBanyan
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zamakhshary
authors.forename: H M F
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Al Kadri
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tamim
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Magzoub
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hajeer
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003479:Curriculum; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018794:Problem-Based Learning; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D012577:Schools, Medical; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013337:Students, Medical; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult