The Investigation into the Board Examinations in Majors Related to Adult Cancer in Iran

National Board exam is one of the important ways of assessment throughout a physician’s life span. This exam could be considered as the major director for acquiring knowledge during the residency educational program. This way, it should be in the way of social accountability and the medical problems which they would be faced with. This study evaluates the budgeting and quality of the National board exam in the adult cancer.

In a descriptive study, the questions within the national board exams in adult cancer specialty in the academic years 1395 and 1396 as well as the same exams in hematology and oncology sub-specialty between the academic years 1392 and 1396 were analyzed. The sampling method was convenience sampling. Budgeting regarding the distribution and Bloom’s taxonomy was evaluated. We considered the questions in three Bloom’s level, namely, recall (first), application and analysis (second), and composition and evaluation (third). Frequencies and respective frequencies were calculated and reported.

 Most of the questions in hematology and adult cancer board exams were in the first and second Bloom’s level. However, in endocrinology sub-category of questions, the third level was dominant. Palliative care and cancer complications had no place in the board examinations.

 Despite our expectation in terms of being at the higher levels, most of the questions were in the first and occasionally in the second level of Blume’s taxonomy. Therefore, it is highly recommended that questions are aimed at the higher levels, particularly in the area of diagnosis and treatment. It is also recommended that faculty members should be trained to develop questions at higher levels of cognition.