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.

Process

Students submit examination question challenges at an optional examination review session. More than one student can challenge the same question. Only challenges submitted using the examination question challenge form are considered, and must include:

1. Student’s full name.
2. Question number being challenged (the number as sequenced on the computerized version).
3. Answer option letter the student selected and is requesting additional credit for.
4. Learning session/format where taught (provide multiple sessions if applicable).
5. Persuasive argument for the answer option the student selected, including:
   1. Claim: The reason why another answer should be considered as correct.
   2. Data: Evidence gathered to support the claim. Students may review one45 lecture material/handouts or other learning material. This data must be obtained from
   3. school review computers.
   4. Warrant: Explanation of why or how the data supports the claim, the underlying assumption that connects data to the claim.
   5. Backing: Additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant.

Examination question challenge form submissions will be displayed on a classroom monitor to ensure that students have correctly submitted a challenge and all participants can view already submitted challenges. Student names will be redacted so that the only visible information is the question number, answer option for additional credit and the claim/data/warrant/backing.

No question will be thrown out. Students must challenge one additional answer option at a time. Submitting a challenge for multiple answers (for example, “ALL answers” or “A, B, and C”) will not be considered.

If the correct answer was mis-keyed, students do not need to submit a challenge form.

Commenting on the quality of a question, for example typos or incorrect learning objective, does not require the submission of a challenge form.

Students should contact the Block Director for comments about question clarity and/or correct learning objectives. Students should meet with the Block Director during office hours to discuss content rather than using review sessions to write about their preparedness/understanding of content.