Formative Assessment Test, FAT 2020 for DNB, FNB trainees: NBE releases schedule, eligibility criteria, guidelines for Internal Appraisal by Accredited Institutes

Written by Medical Dialogues Bureau Published On 2021-02-07T10:00:51+05:30 | Updated On 7 Feb 2021 10:00 AM IST

Formative Assessment Test, FAT 2020 for DNB, FNB trainees: NBE releases schedule, eligibility criteria, guidelines for Internal Appraisal by Accredited Institutes

New Delhi: The National Board of Examination (NBE) has informed about the conduction of the Formative Assessment Test of 2020 for DNB and FNB trainees. The exam body has also released the guidelines for the conduct of Internal Appraisal of DNB trainees by NBE Accredited Hospitals/ Institutes.

All the concerned DNB trainees are hereby requested to view the schedule, eligibility criteria, exam details along with guidelines concerning the Annual Internal Appraisals to be conducted by Accredited Institutions for respective DNB batches.

NBE conducts the Formative Assessment Test for DNB, FNB trainees on an annual basis.

The National Board of Examinations shall be conducting Formative Assessment Test (Theory) 2020 on 14th March 2021, as per the schedule mentioned below:

Sr. No.	Activity	Details
a)	FAT Theory Examination, 2020	14th March 2021
b)	Mode of Examination	Descriptive (Paper & Pen); Two sessions
c)	Centres for FAT (Theory), 2020	FAT Centre nearest to the Training Institution;
d)	Application Portal to be live on	15th February 2021
e)	Form & Fees for conduct of FAT 2020	To be filled & paid by Training Institutions
f)	Admit Cards for FAT (Theory), 2020	Shall be issued to Training Institutions by 08/03/2021
g)	Work Place Based Clinical Assessment	Shall be conducted in April / May 2021
h)	Eligibility for FAT 2020	Broad Specialties	2nd year trainees (2019)
		Super Specialties	2nd year trainees (2019)
		Post Diploma	1st year trainees (2020)
		Direct 6 year Course	2nd & 4th year trainees (2017, 2019)

Accredited Institutions shall continue to carry out Annual Internal Appraisals of respective DNB trainees of the following batches in accordance to the Guidelines prescribed by NBE:

Annual Internal Appraisals to be conducted by Accredited Institutions for	Broad Specialties	1st & 3rd year trainees (2020, 2018)
	Super Specialties	1st & 3rd year trainees (2020, 2018)
	Post Diploma	2nd year trainees (2019)
	Direct 6 year Course	1st, 3rd & 5th year trainees (2020, 2018, 2016)
	Fellowship Courses	2nd year trainees (2019)
Guidelines for Internal Appraisals 2020	Mentioned below

Guidelines for conduct of Internal Appraisal of trainees by NBE Accredited Hospitals/ Institutes (2020)

I. Internal Appraisal

1. Internal Appraisal includes various formal and informal assessment procedures by which evaluation of student's learning, comprehension, and academic progress is done by the teachers/ faculty to improve student attainment. The nature of evaluation to be followed in Internal Appraisal should be on Formative Norms ONLY as it shall aim to give feedback on teaching and learning and become an integral part of the effective teaching. The end goal of Internal Appraisal should be to collect information which can be used to improve the student learning process.

The purpose of the exercise is to assist the NBE accredited hospitals/ institutions to develop in to a center of academic excellence.

2. Internal Appraisal is essentially positive in intent, directed towards promoting learning; it is therefore part of teaching. Validity and usefulness are paramount in internal appraisal and should take precedence over concerns for reliability.

3. The Internal Appraisal consists of three parts:

Part I: - Conduction of theory examination

Part-II: - Performance Counseling Sessions session on the performance in the theory examination

Part-III: - Work place based clinical assessment

4. Benefits of internal appraisal for the faculty is that they are able to determine what the students already know and to what extent. They can decide what minor modifications or major changes in training programme are to be introduced so that all trainees can succeed in upcoming assessments. They can create appropriate lessons and activities for groups of learners or individual students and also inform students about their current progress and guide them.

5. Benefits of internal appraisal for students are that they become motivated to learn and take responsibility for their own learning. They can learn valuable lifelong skills such as self-evaluation, self-assessment, and goal setting and become more adept at self-assessment.

6. The National Board of Examinations shall be conducting Formative Assessment Test for the following DNB trainees:

Eligibility for FAT 2020	Broad Specialties	2nd year trainees (2019)
	Super Specialties	2nd year trainees (2019)
	Post Diploma	1st year trainees (2020)
	Direct 6 year Course	2nd & 4th year trainees (2017, 2019)

7. Accredited Institutions shall continue to carry out Annual Internal Appraisals of respective DNB trainees of the following batches in accordance to the Guidelines prescribed by NBE:

Annual Internal Appraisals to be conducted by Accredited Institutions for	Broad Specialties	1st & 3rd year trainees (2020, 2018)
	Super Specialties	1st & 3rd year trainees (2020, 2018)
	Post Diploma	2nd year trainees (2019)
	Direct 6 year Course	1st, 3rd & 5th year trainees (2020, 2018, 2016)
	Fellowship Courses	2nd year trainees (2019)

8. The hospitals shall be submitting a report of the internal appraisal conducted by them in the format on page number 13.

II. Guidelines for conduct of internal appraisal

1. The assessment scheme consists of three parts as indicated below:-

PART – I	CONDUCT OF THEORY EXAMINATION	A trainee has to appear for theory exam to be held on a single day only.
PART – II	PERFORMANCE COUNSELING SESSIONS ON THE THEORY PERFORMANCE	The evaluated answer sheets of the trainees shall be handed back to them after completion of assessment, for discussion with their respective Head of Departments & faculty.
PART – III	WORK PLACE BASED CLINICAL ASSESSMENT *	After theory examination, trainees have to appear for Clinical Assessment.

* The Work Place Based Clinical Assessment is to be conducted for final year trainees ONLY. It is NOT applicable for the first year trainees in accordance with the prescribed guidelines.

The entire activity of internal appraisal shall be conducted by the NBE accredited institutes/ hospitals on their own. NBE shall NOT bear/ sponsor/ any arrangements/ expenses for the same. The cost incurred in the conduct of the internal appraisal by the hospitals may be adjusted against annual appraisal fee collected by them from the trainees.

2. Part-I: Conduct of Theory Examination

a. The Theory Examination shall be conducted on a single day.

b. Time allotted for the examination shall be 3 hours per question paper.

c. Each question paper shall comprise of 10 questions of 10 marks each.

d. Separate question paper is to be formulated by the faculty of the hospital for each year, i.e., trainees of first year and final year should not be attempting the same question paper.

e. The number of question papers to be formulated for the trainees shall be as follows:

S.No.	Course	Training Year	Number of Question Papers
1.	Broad Specialties	In 1st year of training	One
1.	Broad Specialties	In 3rd year of training	Two
2.	Super Specialties	In 1st year of training	One
2.	Super Specialties	In 3rd year of training	Two
3.	Post Diploma	In 2nd year of training	Two
4.	Fellowship Courses	In 2nd year of training	One
5.	Direct 6 year courses	In 1st year of training	One
5.	Direct 6 year courses	In 3rd & 5th year of training	Two

3. Evaluation of answer sheets

a. The answer sheets of the trainees are to be evaluated by the Senior Faculty/PG Teacher of the concerned specialty only.

b. The hospital may make arrangements for evaluation of answer sheets by an external faculty (of the rank of Sr. Consultant/PG Teacher).

c. The answer sheet of the trainees is to be assessed qualitatively and graded to give feedback to the trainees to improve their performance. The trainees is to be awarded following grades for their answer sheets:

i. Clear Pass (P)

ii. Clear Fail (F)

iii. Borderline (B)

d. The grade secured by the trainees shall be recorded in the report to be submitted to NBE.

4. Part-II: Conduct of Performance Counseling Sessions on Theory Performance

a. In this process, evaluated answer sheets shall be handed back to the trainees upon completion of assessment for discussion with their respective Head of Departments, senior faculty members & PG teachers. The faculty shall discuss with the trainees on the following:

i. How to attempt the theory exam

ii. Discussion with trainees about their performance

b. The activity of Performance Counseling Sessions may be clubbed together with the Work Place Based Clinical Assessment.

5. Part-III: Conduct of Work Place Based Clinical Assessment

a. The First Year trainees are EXEMPTED from appearing in the Work Place Based Clinical Assessment.

b. It will be conducted for the following trainees only:

S.No.	Course	Training Year	Admission Session
1	Broad Specialties	In 3rd year of training	2018
2	Super Specialties	In 3rd year of training	2018
3.	Post Diploma	In 2nd Year of training	2019
4.	Direct 6 year courses	In 3rd & 5th year of training	2018, 2016
5.	Fellowship Courses	2nd year of training	2019

c. The Work Place Based Clinical Assessment is to be conducted for a maximum of 8 trainees on a single day. If a department has more than 8 trainees for whom Work Place Based Clinical Assessment is to be conducted by them, the department shall conduct the same on multiple days accordingly.

d. Examiners to be appointed for conduct of Work Place Based Clinical Assessment:

i. Internal Examiners (of the rank of Sr. Consultant or above)

ii. External Examiners (of the rank of Sr. Consultant or above)

e. The Scheme of Work Place Based Clinical Assessment shall be as follows:

ACTIVITY	DESCRIPTION
Clinical Examination (Case Preparation & Presentation)	2 cases for each Trainees ( 30 minutes of preparation & 30 minutes for presentation)
Viva- Voice	Shall be conducted by all the Examiners together on Investigation Techniques, Interpretations, Instrument handling etc.
Assessment of Thesis & Log Book (Not applicable for Fellowship Trainees)	Discussion on Thesis & Log Book

f. The trainees are to be assessed qualitatively in each of the above mentioned activities and graded to give feedback to improve their performance. The trainees is to be awarded following grades for their Work Place Based Clinical Assessment:

i. Clear Pass (P)

ii. Clear Fail (F)

iii. Borderline (B)

g. The grade secured by the trainees shall be recorded in the report to be submitted to NBE.

NBE SHALL NOT bear/ sponsor any arrangements/ expenses for the following activities of internal appraisal:

1. Conduct of Theory Examination

2. Honorarium to faculty for evaluation of answer sheets

3. Honorarium to faculty for conduct of Performance Counseling Sessions

4. Honorarium to faculty for conduct of Wok Place Based Clinical Assessment

5. Food expense incurred

6. Honorarium to support staff

7. Stationary expenses incurred in any activity

8. Travel/ Boarding/ Lodging expenses of any kind

9. Any other expense in conduct of internal appraisal

Please note that all the above expenses incurred in the conduct of internal appraisal shall be borne by the concerned institute/ hospital only as the entire activity of internal appraisal has to be conducted by the NBE accredited institutes/ hospitals on their own. The cost incurred in the conduct of this internal appraisal by the hospitals may be adjusted against annual appraisal fee collected by them from the trainees.

III. Syllabus for the Internal appraisal & Impact on Final Examination of the trainees

1. The exercise of Internal Appraisal shall cover areas of knowledge as per the standard training curriculum and guidelines. The trainees shall be assessed for knowledge as per the curriculum in a composite manner.

2. This would further add value to the services being rendered in these accredited hospitals/institutions. The process of Internal Appraisal is an integral part of teaching as it is essentially positive in intent and directed towards promoting learning. The result of Internal Appraisal shall not impact the score of Final Examination of the trainees.

IV. Timeline for conduct of internal appraisals

1. All NBE accredited hospitals/ institutes shall be required to conduct the internal appraisals in the following time period:

a. First year trainees

Activity	Timeline
Theory Examination	April 2021
Performance Counseling Sessions	May 2021
Dispatch of Report to NBE	By 15th June, 2021

b. Third year trainees

Activity	Timeline
Theory Examination	February 2021
Performance Counseling Sessions	March 2021
Work Place Based Clinical Assessment	April/May 2021
Dispatch of Report to NBE	By 15th June, 2021

V. Submission of report of internal appraisal to NBE

All NBE accredited hospitals/ institutes shall be required to submit the following reports to NBE:

1. Before The conduct of Internal Appraisal of the trainees

a. List of trainees for whom internal appraisal shall be conducted by the institute containing the following details:

i. Name

ii. Specialty

iii. Registration Number/ Testing ID issued by NBE

iv. Admission Session of the trainee

2. After the conduct of Internal Appraisal of the trainees

a. Subject wise result of internal appraisal conducted by the institute as per Annexure 1 is to be send to the following address:

Joint Director

Continuous Professional Development Section

National Board of Examinations

Medical Enclave, Ansari Nagar

Ring Road, New Delhi-110 029

3. NBE can be communicated through the following channels:

Phone Number : 011-45593000 (Ext: 3074)

Email : info1@natboard.edu.in

For queries if any, please contact NBE at info1@natboard.edu.in or 011-45593000 (Extn: 3074).

To view the official notices, click on the following link:

https://medicaldialogues.in/pdf_upload/nbe-147066.pdf

https://natboard.edu.in/viewUpload?xyz=c2Rqc245QXRiVHA4QWRwVDFkTzRSUT09

For more details, log on to the official website of NBE:

https://nbe.edu.in/

nbeFormative Assessment TestFATnatboarddnbDNB trainees

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