DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i11.001

Pages: 3859-3862

In theory paper assessment of knowledge is made whereas oral examination and practical examination are utilized to assess the skill of students. The traditional oral viva examination can be called unstructured one, as there is no fixed pattern, no Time duration, and no fixed number of questions. This study was conducted to access Objective Structured Viva Examination (OSVE) as a tool for formative assessment of undergraduate medical students. In this cross-sectional study, seventy-four students were exposed to different stations of viva as well as Objective Structured Viva Examination (OSVE). A comparison was made of the student’s performance was compared in both Objective Structured Viva Examination (OSVE) and traditional viva examination (TVE). Feedback was also gathered from the students about the same. Two sample independent ‘t’ Test was applied to test the difference in the mean values of two groups. The mean scores out of 30 were 21.4 ± 4.5 for TVE and for OSVE the mean scores out of 30 were 24.7 ± 5.8, respectively. The difference was found to be statistically highly significant. 49 (79%) rated OSVE easier than TVE, 6 (9.7%) stated that it was the same as TVE, 7 (11.3%) found OSVE more difficult. Forty-six (74.2%) of the students felt that OSVE is less time consuming as compared to the TVE. 45 (72.6%) of the students were of the opinion that OSVE had a broader coverage of the content, 11 (17.7%) felt that TVE covered the course better, while the remaining 6 (9.7%) were uncertain about it. 53 (85.5%) of the students OSVE was objective and unbiased as compared to TVE, 9 (14.5%) were uncertain. Objective Structured Viva Examination (OSVE) is a better tool than traditional oral viva examination (TVE) for formative assessment of undergraduate medical students. In the current scenario, TVE can be supplemented with OSVE i.e. combination of both the methodologies can be used to achieve better results.