Practical Exams

Last week we had practical exams in lab. A practical exam is an exam where the students have the "opportunity" (I think the students would probably choose a different set of words to describe it!) of showing off their learned manual skills. Besides the psychomotor skills the students have to demonstrate their ability to think on their feet and make rational decisions. Almost everyone gets pretty nervous for these types of tests but the students did well. In these sets of exams we had the students go through 5 different stations including: Positional strength and Range of Motion/Neurodynamic Testing, Taping, Soft Tissue Mobilization, Exercise, and Joint Mobilization. We had a different proctor at each station and had 5 pairs of students testing simultaneously. It was quite the sight to see with a lot happening at once. This is one of my favorite practical exams as it is the closest thing to really treating a patient in a clinic that we have...it brings in most of the elements and the environment is similar to being in the clinic with all the noise and activity. I don't know if the students have the perspective at this point to appreciate the exam but it is nice to see the students growing and learning and demonstrating this to us.