The expanding classroom trends and issues in postgraduate medicine. Why self-assessment?

Self-assessment can provide more than a direction for independent study and credit toward recertification. It can also provide an effective learning experience if the instruments are designed to serve an instructional purpose as well as the more traditional measurement function. Based on existing research, the characteristics of self-assessment instruments--questioning, controlling attention, elucidating objectives, evoking performance, and assessing outcomes--can enhance the learning and retention of new material.