The association between medical students' learning resource usage and examination performance in an integrated Human Structure course

With many resources available, students may be unsure about which are most beneficial to aid learning of the anatomical sciences. The purpose of this study was to identify which learning resources medical students found most helpful and to examine the association between students' examination performance and their preferred study resources. In an IRB-approved study, students enrolled in an integrated Human Structure course from 2016 to 2022 were asked to list their preferred learning resources prior to the first examination. Resources identified as most helpful were extracted and similar resources were grouped into categories. Students were sorted into three groups based on examination performance. Chi-square tests of homogeneity were used to examine the association between students' examination performance and resource usage. The analysis included 2473 students: 393 high, 1701 average, and 379 low performers. Students identified eight categories of resources; self-assessment resources were most popular (59.5%) followed by lecture materials (53.3%). There was a steady increase in the use of self-assessment resources from year to year, and overall, fewer low performers (50.7%) used self-assessment resources than average (60.7%) and high performers (63.1%; p < 0.001). This suggests that low performers may be missing out on the feedback that self-assessment provides to identify gaps in their knowledge and to monitor their learning; without such feedback, struggling students may be unaware that their study strategies are ineffective for promoting deeper understanding and long-term retention.