Assessment

The evaluation of academic achievements is not simple and must take into consideration whether a level of knowledge, skills, abilities and critical maturity has been acquired in accordance with the previously established objectives. This evaluation process involves different levels of assessment: (i) student's abilities towards assimilated information, (ii) student's comprehension and its ability to relate and integrate with other knowledge, (iii) determine whether the student understands and is able to apply the methodologies and techniques acquired during the semester, and, finally, (iv) determine if students can solve experimental problems.

As explained before, the content of this subject is divided into two well-differentiated thematic modules: Cell Biology and Histology that have a weight of 67% and 33%, respectively, in the final grade of the subject. The 2 modules will only be weighted when each of the final mark in each module exceeds 5 points out of 10.

Module I Evaluation: Cell Biology

The competences of this subject will be evaluated through continuous evaluation, and will include different tests, written works, scientific problems resolution and public presentation. The evaluation system is organized in 2 sections, each of which has a specific weight in the final grade of the Cell Biology module:

Written tests-theory (75% of the global mark):

In this section, the scientific knowledge reached by each student, as well as its capacity for analysis and synthesis, and for scientific reasoning is evaluated. The individual evaluation of the theoretical concepts studied will be carried out through two written tests throughout the course (see the syllabus of the subject). The weight of the second written evaluation is a little bit higher than that of the first one (38% vs 37%, respectively).

Scientific problems (25% of the global mark):

In this section, the public presentation of problems resolution by the students of each group is evaluated in the classroom. The mark of this part comes from the arithmetic mean of the sum of the grades obtained in the oral presentations of the students from each group. This final grade will be shared by all the group members and will represent the 10% of the final grade. Likewise, the delivery of the written solutions of the problems -in the appropriate format and established term- and the questionnaires will be taken into consideration (3%). Finally, the obtained grade in this block can be individually modulated downwards, depending on the questionnaires and attendance. Scientific problems sessions are mandatory. In case of unjustified missed classes a penalty will be imposed: absence 1 session = reduction of 10% of the mark; absence 2 sessions = 50% reduction of the mark, absence ≥3 sessions = 0.

The remaining 12% of the overall mark of this section will come from the individual resolution of a scientific problem the day of the written test I (6%) and the day of the written test II (6%).

Students who do not participate in the training activities by solving scientific problems on a group work basis, can only obtain the 10% of the grade corresponding to the individual resolution of two scientific problems on the days of the written tests I and II.

Cell Biology evaluation activities	Itinerary 1	Itinerary 2
WRITEN TESTS
Written test I	37
Written test II	38
Written tests retake		75
SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS
Oral presentation	10	10
Problems delivery and questionnaire	3	3
Individual resolution of scientific problem I	6	6
Individual resolution ofscientific problem II	6	6
TOTAL points	100	100

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Global mark of the module:

Those students with a grade equal to or higher than 4.0 (out of 10) in each of the tests (I and II) can weight them. However, to pass the Cell Biology module, it is essential to obtain a final grade higher than 4.5 (out of 10) in the written tests-theory (75% of the module) and a final mark equal to or greater than 5 points (out of 10) after weighting all the sections (written tests + scientific problems).

Retake process:

Students who initially do not pass the module through continuous assessment, can be eligible for the retake process. However, to do so, the student must have been previously evaluated in a set of activities whose weight equals a minimum of 2/3 of the total qualification of the module (67%). All activities corresponding to scientific problems are excluded from the retake process.

In summary, the retake will consist of a written test exam that will evaluate the acquisition of the formative objectives corresponding to the theory section. The different assumptions for presenting themselves to the retake process include:

- That the grade ofthe written tests I and/or II is less than 4.0 (out of 10).

- That the score obtained after weighing the written tests does not reach 4.5 (out of 10).

- That the weighted average of written tests + scientific problems is less than 5 points (out of 10).

In addition, those students who - having passed the subject through continuous assessment - want to present themselves to upload a grade, may do so if they inform the teacher in advance. In this context, the students renounce the qualification obtained previously in the corresponding partial tests.

 

Module II Evaluation: Histology

Competences of this module will be evaluated through continuous assessment, which include individual tests of theoretical and practical knowledge and evaluation of group seminars.

The evaluation system is organized into two sections, each of which is evaluated in an independent and assigned a specific weight in the final grade of the subject:

Written tests (80% of the overall mark):

In this section, the knowledge obtained by each student is evaluated individually with test-type exams. A written test will be done at the end of the contents of the Histology program. Students who have obtained a grade lower than 4 (out of 10) in this test will not be able to weight it with the grade obtained in the seminars and, therefore, they will have to perform the final test of recovery.

Seminars (20% of the global grade):

This section assesses the capacity for analysis and synthesis of students of each group, as well as the skills of group work and oral presentation.

The seminars will be evaluated as follows:

Report	50%	The teacher evaluates (out of 10) the works delivered by the students on the day of the seminar
Oral presentation	20%	The teacher evaluates (out of 10) the skills of each group of students in the presentation of the work
Inter-group evaluation	20%	Each group of students evaluates (out of 10) the groups that perform the oral presentation
Intra-group evaluation	10%	Within each group, each student evaluates (out of 10)each one of the classmates that make up their work group. This evaluation willbe carried out in the last seminar
TOTAL	100%

Attendance at seminars is mandatory. In case of missing class for unjustified reasons there will be a penalty in the seminar note: absence 1 session = reduction of 20% of the grade; absence 2 sessions = reduction of 40% of the grade; absence ≥3 sessions = reduction of 80% of the grade.

The histology module's recovery test will consist of a test type test of the whole theoretical programme.

In order to pass the Histology module, it will be essential to obtain a final grade, after the weighting of all the sections (written tests + seminars), equal or superior to 5 points (out of a total of 10).

Global Considerations of the Subject

Overall, the relative weight (in %) of each assessment test within each module of the subject is summarized as follows:

	Module 1 - BC	Module 2 - H
Evaluation activities
WRITTEN TESTS (%)
Written test I	24,8
Written test II	25,5
Writtentest III		26,4
SCIENTIFIC PROBLEMS (%)
Oral presentation	6,7
Problems delivery & questionnaires	2,0
Individual resolution of scientific problem I	4,0
Individual resolution of scientific problem II	4,0
SEMINARS (%)
Report		3,3
Oral presentation		1,32
Inter-group evaluation		0,99
Intra-group evaluation		0,99
% Total	67	33

A student will be considered as “Non-evaluated” when the assessment activities performed have a weight lesser than 67% in the qualification of the final score of the course or module.

Students who have not passed one of the two modules (mark below 5 out of 10) willnot pass the course. Despite this, in the following enrolments of the subject, repeating students will only have to evaluate the specific module they have not passed. In addition, if it has been obtained in the problem classes of the BC module (15% overall of the module mark) and/or of the H module seminars (20% overall of the module mark), a grade equal or higher than 5 points out of 10, the student will be exempt from attending these classes and the mark will be recorded for the following academic year. This exemption will be maintained for a period of two additional registrations (a total of 3 enrolments).

Student’s assessment may experience some modifications depending on the restrictions to face-to-face activities enforced by health authorities.

NB: This text has not been proofreading by a native English, so in case of any doubt or incongruity, the information provided in the Catalan/Spanish version will prevail.