Progress testing
One of the tools for formative assessment is progress testing (PT).8 PT is defined as a longitudinal, comprehensive examination of knowledge acquisition and retention. It is a quality-controlled assessment tool for improving learning and teaching.8,9 The test is comprehensive, sampling as much as possible from the entire curriculum. PT has a demonstrable positive effect on student learning behavior by discouraging learning a lot shortly before an exam and then forgetting it all soon after the exam, thus the progress test is believed to promote deeper, lifelong learning, instead of rote memorization for shorter periods of time.10 Further research suggest a positive effect of PT, demonstrated by continuous growth of medical knowledge and the retention of basic knowledge over the years.10,11 Data also suggests, that PT can be used to determine the growth of functional medical knowledge for every student, enabling more reliable and valid decisions making about promotion to a next study phase.11 There are many known advantages of PT in the context of medical knowledge. However, there is less evidence on assessment of clinical skills progress.12 Written progress tests provide information on learners’ medical theoretical knowledge and they do not address the need to assess clinical skills or other competencies. The academic progression in medical students preceding the clinical training often emphasizes performance in non-clinical tasks. Many times there are limited opportunities for students to practice clinical skills in settings that simulate future clerkship environment.13,14