Factors affecting students performance on the National Ranking Examination in a French Medical School.

Objective: Results on the National Ranking Examination (NRE) taken at the end of 6 years of medical school determine how much choice students have about the medical specialty and geographic area where they will perform their residency. Our objective was to identify academic and non-academic factors predicting performance on the NRE.

Methods: We conducted a database study of all medical students who completed the 6 years of medical studies at Creteil medical school (Paris 12 University) and who took the NRE between 2004 and 2008 (n = 473).

[Transposition of an American-designed comprehensive medical student examination within the framework of the forthcoming French nationwide comprehensive examination. A preliminary study].

Medical training is undergoing extensive revision in France. A nationwide comprehensive clinical competency examination will be administered for the first time in 2004, relying exclusively on essay-questions. Unfortunately, these questions have psychometric shortcomings, particularly their typically low reliability.

Assessing medical students' clinical sciences knowledge in France: a collaboration between the NBME and a consortium of French medical schools.

Purpose: The French government, as part of medical education reforms, has affirmed that an examination program for national residency selection will be implemented by 2004. The purpose of this study was to develop a French multiple-choice (MC) examination using the National Board of Medical Examiners' (NBME) expertise and materials.

Method: The Evaluation Standardisée du Second Cycle (ESSC), a four-hour clinical sciences examination, was administered in January 2002 to 285 medical students at four university test sites in France.