S43-2 - Preparation of Questions and Developing of software applications for Computer-based Testing (CBT) - Current Status and Awaiting Solutions

Sep 5, 2026

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The document reports a three-year effort to prepare sufficient question banks for Computer-based Testing (CBT). From 1747 SBOs in the Model Core Curriculum, 991 were selected as CBT essentials, supported by 72 pharmaceutical-related institutions and professional bodies. A peer review and CBT trial process yielded 7,202 stored questions. Key challenges include duplicated question types due to limited member cross-information, prompting planned process modification and “panic tests” to validate software, network, and implementation manuals for a third CBT trial.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages1

Reading Time3 min

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Preparation of CBT questions

Selection of CBT essentials (SBOs)

Review, CBT trials, and stored question bank

Issues in the current preparation process

Limited information among members

Future process changes and validation tests

Planned “panic tests” and implementation outcomes

S43-2 Preparation of Questions and Developing of software applications for Computer-based Testing (CBT): Current Status and Awaiting Solutions ◯Takashi ITO2, Satoru MIYAZAKI 1 1 Tokyo University of Science, 2 Showa University In order to prepare enough amounts of questions for Computer-based Testing (CBT), Preparation of the questions has been carried out these three years. Among 1747 SBOs in Model Core Curriculum, 991 of them were adopted as essentials for CBT. All Japanese Pharmaceutical University and Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences (total 72), Japan Pharmaceutical Association, and Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacist have contributed to the preparation of the questions for CBT. The accumulated questions have been reviewed by referees selected from all universities and facilities, then the selected questions have been further tested thorough the CBT trials. As a result, 7,202 questions have been stored as possible ones for the real CBT until now. In the process of questions preparation, several issues were revealed to be difficult problems. Each member has been forced to make questions in the absence of any information about the other questions made by other members. Thus, same kinds of questions were accumulated, and this phenomenon should continue as long as the questions are made under the conditions. In the future, the process should be modified to afford more information to the members, and we hope that questions are accumulated to certain amount which is enough to perform several times of the CBT. So far, we have been holding CBT trials to test the performance of computer software, network environment in each University and its implementation manual. In this year, some so-called “panic tests” are planning. At 16 places, administrators are experienced a sort of panics on purpose. These “panics” includes non-delivery of the set of questions in proper time, denying access to the main server for sending answers set and aborting the software on relay servers etc. We would like to summarize third CBT trial from the viewpoint of the implementation manual preparation and the computational software we developed.

FAQs

How many SBOs were selected as CBT essentials, and how many questions were stored after trials?

Out of 1747 SBOs, 991 were adopted as CBT essentials. After review and CBT trials, 7,202 questions were stored as possible ones for real CBT.

Who contributed to the preparation of CBT questions?

All Japanese Pharmaceutical Universities and Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences (72 total), the Japan Pharmaceutical Association, and the Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacist contributed to question preparation.

What main issue was identified during question preparation, and what solution is planned?

Members were forced to write questions without information about others’ work, causing accumulation of similar question types. The process will be modified to provide more information to members, aiming to accumulate enough questions for multiple CBT runs.

What are the planned “panic tests,” and what do they evaluate?

Administrators at 16 places will deliberately trigger situations such as delayed non-delivery of question sets, denial of access to the main server for answer delivery, and aborting software on relay servers. These tests validate the implementation manual preparation and the computational software behavior.

Sep 5, 2026

Upload by Grenda