Evaluation of the academic achievement of rural versus urban undergraduate medical students in pharmacology examinations

Abstract

To compare the academic performance of urban and rural students in pharmacology examinations. It was a comparative study of the academic performance of urban and rural students in pharmacology examinations of the sessions 2014 and 2015. For evaluating the students’ academic performance, urban and rural students were divided into four groups: Group 1: who got <50% marks in exams; Group 2: who scored between 50% and 69% marks; Group 3: who scored between 70% and 79% marks; Group 4: who got ≥80% marks. When the academic performance of the urban and rural students was compared; significant difference was found with P-value 0.038. Additional comparison revealed insignificant difference in multiple choice questions (MCQs) with P-value 0.152 while significant difference was established in short essay questions (SEQs) with P-value 0.043. The results of the present study showed significant difference between the academic performance of urban and rural students.