Comparison of Students' Performance in PBL test and Traditional test in Islamabad Medical and Dental College, Islamabad, Pakistan

Objectives: To compare the result of students by problem based learning (PBL) and traditional based learning (TBL) methods. Methodology: This comparative study was done from January 2013-March 2013. The subjects were 102 students from first year MBBS. Atest on the topic, 'Physico-chemical aspect and acid base balance' was taken using traditional methods, including MCQ's and SEQ's. The same topic was assessed using problem based method through different scenarios. The scores were compared. Results: In PBL assessment 90% of the students passed, whereas 3.2% failed. In the TBL test 88 % of the students passed, and 11 of them failed. Mean SD score difference between the tests was highly significant (p<0001). Conclusion: The performance in PBL assessment was better than the traditional assessment.