STUDENT’S PERCEPTION OF EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE; ARE THEY RELATED?

Abstract

Objective: To correlate student‟s perception of learning environment with scores obtained by participants in their final year MBBS exam.

Study Design: Cross-sectional analytical study.

Place and Duration of Study: Study was carried out at Bahria University Medical and Dental College (BUMDC), Karachi. Students of batch 2013 final year MBBS participated in the study.

Methodology: Students of final year MBBS batch 2013 were inducted in the study after obtaining informed consent. The participants filled the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory at the end of final year, before their exam break. Subsequently, scores obtained in final year MBBS exams were correlated with the DREEM scores.

Results: A strong positive correlation of 0.76 was found between DREEM scores and scores obtained by participants in their final year MBBS exam.

Conclusion: Students' perceptions of their educational environment were positive which lead to better academic performance, as depicted by scores obtained in their final year MBBS examination.