Incorporation of practice testing to improve knowledge acquisition in a pharmacotherapy course

Background and purpose: To incorporate and assess the impact of a coordinated practice testing activity on pharmacy student knowledge acquisition, retention, and perception as an effective study technique in a pharmacotherapy course. Educational activity and setting: Students were instructed to individually create, exchange, complete, and discuss solutions to weekly, cumulative practice tests of targeted material during the first unit of the course. Students completed surveys on their perceptions of practice testing. Unit and final examination scores were compared to the previous year. Findings: Comparison of average unit examinations scores showed only minimal improvement in knowledge acquisition, and no impact was detected in knowledge retention. Most students in the course did not perceive practice testing to be beneficial in learning or retaining unit material. Discussion and summary: Incorporating a coordinated practice testing activity may have minimally improved knowledge acquisition in our pharmacotherapy course. However, limitations exist which make it difficult to attribute improvement solely to our learning activity.