Remarks by the Medical and Surgical Corporations of the United Kingdom on the reports of the Visitors of Examinations 1881-2.

Date:
[1882?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Remarks by the Medical and Surgical Corporations of the United Kingdom on the reports of the Visitors of Examinations 1881-2. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    R. COLL.SURG. Eng. The Council have arrived at the conclusion that any advan- tage which might be gained by insisting on dissections would not be commensurate with the practical difficulty as to space, time, and supply of subjects which Avould attend their introduc- tion as a distinct element of the Examination, if made compul- sory, in the case of every candidate. This objection becomes practically insuperable in the case of the College Examinations during the months of April and May, when more than 600 can- didates are examined. It must not be forgotten that every candidate is required to produce positive evidence that he has actually dissected, indeed, diligently and to the satisfaction of his teacher; and that can- didates are examined on recently dissected parts. 4. The effects of limitation of time in the Oral Examination, and the method of MarlHng, as being, in the view of the Visitors, possibly prejudicial to the success of a candidate hioiuing his worli fairly V The serious strictures and unfavourable ^'’general impression of the Visitors on this subject (p. 27) appear to the Council hardly justiBable, and may possibly be explained by their neces- sarily brief acquaintance with the Examinations of the College and the mode in which they are conducted. The Visitors observe (p. 27) that at the Primary Examina- tion “ there is great risk that a candidate knowing his work fairly may be rejected ; ” and the causes they “assign for this are twofold—the strict limitation of time for each department of the viva voce, and the method of marking.” • ^ P The Council must point out, first, that in dealing with large numbers of candidates, coming from all parts, a strict limitation of time becomes an absolute necessity for the regular and syste- matic conduct of the Examinations ; secondly, that in the ex- perience of the College Examiners, both past and present, it has rarely happened that any doubt has arisen as to the stifficiency of a candidate’s knowledge, after an examination of a quarter of an hour’s duration; and that, in any such doubtful case, it has been and is the practice in the Primary Examination to give the can- didate an opportunity of a further examination in that part in Avhich any doubt concerning him may have arisen. The Visitors further remark, as one cause of possible I’isk of