Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬

Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬

Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

FACULTY OF DENTISTRY

TAIF UNIVERSITY
ASSESSMENT POLICY DECISIONS

Revised and updated by:

Examination Committee

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Introduction :-

The complete curriculum is divided in 3 phases and everyone has to Qualify /

Pass each phase before promoting to the next phase.

Phase I: From the1st, 2nd year & 3rd year .

Phase II: From 4th year , 5th year and 6th year

Pattern of Assessment

PHASE I & II

 MCQs for theory consisting of separate papers for medical terminology,

study skills, Anatomy, Basics of Biochemistry, Basics of Physiology,
General Microbiology, General Pharmacology and General Pathology. It
is a full semester composed of mid-term paper and final paper
examination not in blocks.

There will be practical examinations in courses when appropriate

Other modules:

 Theory paper of MCQs. Distribution of MCQs is based on weightage of

Lectures, Seminars, and Labs etc.

 OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination) or OSPE (Objective

Structured Practical Examination), depending on the requirement

 Clinical Examinations

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Assessment rules for second dental year curricula.

Written exams

1. They are generally supplied in multi choice form, MCQs and short answers
(completion) form.
2. Questions are set according to:
 Course objectives.
 The weight of the lecture\topic relative to the curriculum outline.
3. Questions are set and revised periodically by the joint commission of the
curricula and assessment commissions.

Practical exams

They are set according to the nature of the practical curricula of the course.

Courses with no practical content will be scored according to its continuous

assessment and written exams scores.

Continuous assessment

This assessment will be set according to the nature of the course. The followings
are regulations for continuous assessment scoring:

 Attendance of more than 75% of total sessions is mandatory for being

eligible to attend final exams (refer to university regulations)
 No scores are given for attendance.
 Log book should be signed by the supervising staff member as a record for
fulfilling the required task.
 Deadlines for task submission should be strictly respected.
 Submission of tasks\assignments after deadlines could be rejected or
subjected to low scoring according to the policy of the department.
 Plagiarism or bluffing will be subject the student\s to strict faculty
regulations that might end up by exemption from attending the final exams.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Pass / Fail Guidelines

If a student has obtained a minimum of 60% in total in a module then he is

declared as pass for all the phases.

Marks distribution

Phase I & Phase II

Assessment scores are divided according to the following rules

Summative assessment
Written Practical Continuous
exams exams Example
assessment
Mid- Final Mid- Final
year year year year
30 %  Tooth
 Quizzes description
 Practical  Anatomy
sessions  Biochemistry
15 25 10 20 assessment&  Physiology
log note
 Seminars
 Web research
 Attendance
40%  Introduction to
 Quizzes dentistry.
 Practical
Yearly subjects

sessions
25 35 No practical assessment&
log note
 Seminars
 Web research
 Attendance

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Summative assessment
Written Practical Continuous
exams exams Example
assessment
Mid- Final Mid- Final
term term term term
30% Tissue structure
 Quizzes and function.
 Practical Dental material.
sessions Oral biology.
15 25 10 20 assessment&
Term subjects

log note
 Seminars
 Web research
 Attendance

40%
 Quizzes Islamic culture.
English
 Practical language.
sessions Study skills.
25 35 No practical
assessment&
log note
 Seminars
 Web research
 Attendance

NB. If we have subject with huge clinical or laboratory content the marks
distribution will modified to:- Continuous assessment (20%), Written exams
(40%) & Practical or clinical exams (40%).

i. If a student scores 58%, in aggregate he / she may be given grace marks by

College Board and may be upgraded to 60% in any only one module /
discipline, provided he / she passed in all other modules of the current
semester.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

ii. If an examination has only a theory component, then the minimum pass
marks are 60%.

iii. Seminar marks will be added ONLY if a student passes the theory and the
practical components.

Distribution of Marks in Theory and Clinical /Practical

i. A student must obtain 60% in aggregate to declare as pass.

ii. A student must obtain 60% in clinical examination
iii. A student must obtain 50% in theory examination (MCQ only)
iv. Any student who did not fulfill the above criteria should be declared as
FAIL
v. 10% marks CAN NOT be given without proper assessment. The assessment
tools used for these 20% marks must be mentioned in the study guide.
vi. 10% marks will be added to the aggregate ONLY if the student passes both
Theory and Clinical exams
vii. Slide show may be made part of theory and cannot be given more than
10 marks. The decision should be made by the department and approved by
the scientific committee.

Re-sit examination: General Policy

I. In exceptional cases, a student may be allowed to forgo a re-sit examination
and may be allowed to repeat the block in the next year (with the junior
batch). In this case, the credits would be doubled for that block. The student
must apply to the appropriate authority before the re-sit exam is due.
Students must be informed of this option and its consequences.
II. If a student fails in 40% of the credits for a semester, he / she will become
ineligible to sit for the re-sit. He must then repeat the failed blocks in the
next year.
III. If a student gets more than or equal to 25% absent in a block, he/she should
be considered as prohibited unless he/she has an accepted excuse. Students,
who are declared as ‘Mahroom’, will not be allowed to take a re-sit
examination.

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 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

IV. If a student fails in the 1st semester his/her re-sit should be held during
the 2nd semester. If he/she fails in 2nd semester his/her re-sit exam will be
held before the start of the next academic year, in accordance with the
regulations of the University. Such a student will be allowed to continue for
the rest of the year.
 There will be no opportunity for a resit in that year if student did not attend a
sufficient number of academic activities (deprived).

Qassim
 The student who got less than fifty marks does not allowed to enter the exam
University  The resit examinations with a pass mark of 60%. The resit mark will normally be
College of based on 100% examination (i.e., coursework marks will NOT be carried forward
Dentistry and included with the mark).
 The resit examination period is set by June 15th till Aug
21st in 2016.
 No resit exam for the courses that includes laboratory or clinical sessions more
than 40% of its content.

Students who fail the re-sit in courses/modules

a. For medical professional and college requirements courses/ modules:

The result of such students will be declared as ‘Fail’.

Such a student will have to repeat the year and attend the classes of the failed
course(s) / module(s) only. The student(s) will have to appear in the test of the
failed course(s) / module(s) only. This has to be done before the beginning of the
subsequent academic year.

b. For Essential Courses (university requirement):

If a student fails the re-sit of Islamic Culture, Arabic language and Computer
Sciences, he/she will have to pass these courses anytime before he graduates.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Number of examination attempts allowed to pass a failed course/module

A student will be allowed to have a total of four (04) attempts to pass a failed
module. If he/she doesn’t pass the main examination (i.e. first attempt) in one or
more modules, then he/she will be allowed to take the re-sit (2nd attempt) in the
failed course(s) before the beginning of the next academic year, in accordance with
the regulations of the University.

If he/she fails in the 2nd attempt, he/she will be asked to repeat the whole year
(in the failed courses only). If he/she fails the main examination (i.e. 3rd attempt)
even after repeating the year he/she will have the chance of sitting in the re-sit (4th
attempt).

A student has to complete the whole MBBS program between (6) to (9) years.

Where possible, a repeater will be encouraged to attend courses of the next level.
In this case, he/she will not get attendance in the future blocks.

Result of students who have passed a re-sit examination

In case a student passes, he/she will be given only the pass mark of 60%
regardless of the marks he has earned.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Student absenteeism in examinations

a. A student with an accepted excuse:

He/she will be allowed to sit for a substitute exam. He/she will be given the
mark he/she scored in the substitute exam

b. A student without an accepted excuse:

He/she will be considered as absent in that exam and will have to take the re-sit
exam. If such a student passes, he/she will get 60% regardless of the marks
obtained.

Student who fails in a re-sit and is absent for the second re-sit

a. A student with a valid excuse will be allowed to sit for a substitute exam. His
result will be declared as pass/fail.
A student without a valid excuse will be asked to leave the College after approval
by the College Board and the concerned University Higher Authority and
according to university rules.

Valid excuse:

A valid excuse is a written official document which clearly states the cause of the
absence of the student AND is duly signed by competent authority as designated
by the Dean of the College and approved by the College Board. This competent
authority can designate someone in his place if he is absent or unavailable. If a
student misses an examination, he/ she must submit a valid excuse within one
week from the day of the examination; otherwise his/ her excuse will not be
acceptable. Such a student will then have to take the re-sit and his/ her original
marks will not be awarded, i.e. he/ she will be treated as a re-sit candidate.

If a student chooses to forgo a re-sit examination, he/ she will have to obtain prior
permission from a suitable designated authority and approved by the College
Board. In this case this missed exam will not be counted as an attempt.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Substitute exams:

Substitute exams are meant only for those students who have a written accepted
excuse from competent authority. The exam committee must have a schedule for
substitute exams for every course/ block. This schedule must be known to all. The
examination committee cannot give an examination for any student out of this
schedule. Substitute exams cannot be scheduled randomly.

Previous credits of a repeating students

Since a repeating student will be examined in only those courses in which he has
failed, therefore, his credits achieved in the passed courses will be retained but in
the course(s) in which he has failed. He/she will be given marks according to the
policy of the University.

Dropping a semester

If he/she drops any one (1) semester he / she has to repeat the year, in order to
complete that level and to be eligible for promotion to the next level.

Criteria for expelling a student from the College

1. According to rules of Ministry of Higher Education, a student can be

expelled only after he / she has spent 9 years in the Institute. Even in such a
case, the College Board can recommend an extension of not more than 3
more years. So, the total duration possible is 12 years.
2. A student may also be expelled due to misbehavior issue if the College
Board propose such an action.

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

Announcement of Result

The results of end of course/module exams will be finalized after discussion by a

committee represented by the Academic Assessment Unit and the announcement
of the results will be at the discretion of the Vice Dean Academic Affairs.

The final results will be announced at the end of the semester after approval from
Vice Dean Academic Affairs.

The Administrative Assessment Unit will announce the theory results at the end of
each block/ exam after the result is duly approved and signed by the relevant
authority/ies. The final results will announced at the end of semester following the
inclusion of the marks of the OSPE & / or OSCE tests where ever applied.

Results of only those students will be announced who have completed and
submitted evaluation forms for the module. This is in accordance with Taif
University regulations.

SCREENING

It is a common complaint that some of the students entering the clerkship phase are
weak clinically and need a lot of effort to become safe and efficient practitioners.
A small percentage of such students fails courses repeatedly and is left behind from
his batch.

In order to improve the quality of our product, a two- dimensional effort needs to
be done:

a) Improve the quality of teaching in Phase II & III

b) Improve the quality of assessment

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
Taif university ‫جامعة الطائف‬
Faculty of dentistry ‫كلية طب االسنان‬

A third important strategy is to prevent progression of weak students into the

clerkship phase. This can be done by a ‘screening exam’ which is proposed to be
held at the end of the 4th year in the new curriculum.

The main idea behind this test is to assess the students’ ability to:

a) apply basic science concepts

b) take history correctly
c) perform physical examination correctly

The components of this exam will be:

a. Theory
b. OSCE
c. Clinical exam
d. Log book
e. Seminars

If a student fails this screening exam, he/ she will have to take a re-sit. If he fails
the re-sit he will have to repeat the entire year. During the first semester for the
repeating 4th year, the students will have to take a remedial course in hospitals.
During the 2nd semester, they will have to sit through the courses.

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