Examination Question Challenge Policy

It is the policy of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix to provide students with the opportunity to challenge pre-clerkship block examination questions at a designated time post-examination. Block Directors review challenges submitted in the appropriate format, write rebuttals and inform the class of outcomes via email. The email will clearly indicate if a challenge has merit and if any scoring adjustments were made. If a submitted challenge is not deemed valid, the Block Director will not respond in the email to the class, but may respond individually to the student who submitted the challenge. A successful challenge will result in additional credit given to all students who answered the additional correct option(s).

This process lasts no longer than 10 days from the time that students sit for the examination, with the exception of final block examinations in which this process is expedited to accommodate preparation for a possible retake examination.  Block examination grades, and thus block final grades themselves, are only finalized post-challenge.

Students eligible for a block retake examination or students taking remediation examinations have the opportunity to challenge retake or remediation examination questions using the same procedure as outlined in the block syllabus for challenging regular block examination questions.   If a student challenges a retake or remediation question that was used in a block exam in the current academic year and the challenge is accepted, credit will be given retroactively to all affected students on the block exam in the same academic year.  The challenge/rebuttal/scoring/final block grading processes must be completed within five business days of the retake examination date. In the event of remediation, these processes must be completed within five days of the final assessment.

Link to Examination Question Challenge Process