title: Effect of students' determination of testing time on their test performance.
abstract: This article investigates whether giving students control over preparing for and the moment of taking a test affects their test results in comparison with when the school is in control of the amount of training followed by a predetermined test moment. The students participated in training for manual dexterity. After the training, the students performed a test. The results of the test were stored in a database. Students from the group with freedom to select the moment of the test performed much better than those in the other group who did not have the freedom to select the moment for the test, with significantly fewer students requiring three attempts to pass the test. The fact that students when given the responsibility to develop manual skills performed better than when guided by the policy of the school is hopeful in the sense that students can learn in an early stage of their study to take responsibility for learning.
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D R
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1720-0215
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Bakker
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Wesselink
authors.affiliation: Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA), University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vervoorn
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000379:methods; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D009426:Netherlands; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: competency; dental education; education; manual dexterity; self-directed learning; virtual reality