Metacognitive Awareness of Third-Year Chinese Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in Wuhan University of Science and Technology: Preliminary Evaluation and Implications for Training of Life-long Learners

Background: Assessing and improving metacognitive awareness in pharmay students is essential to maintain lifelong competency of pharmacists and high-quality care for their patients. Objective: This preliminary study aimed to investigate the acquisition of metacognitive awareness and self-assessment as a predictor/estimator of scores on a summative examination in 57 third-year Chinese undergraduate pharmacy students in Wuhan University of Science and Technology. Methods: The 30-item Meta-cognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) was used to assess students’ metacognitive beliefs. Before administration of examination, students were required to complete a percentage correct scale for self-quantifying their potential performance, and students were also provided estimates of their performance after completing the examination. Results: The mean score of MCQ-30 was 76.95, and there were no significant differences in MCQ-30 scores according to gender and age, except that males scored 2.03 points higher than females in the “Need for control over thoughts” subscale. However, only 33.3% of students correctly predicted their total scores before exam, and the differences between actual and estimated performance after exam were statistically significant. In general, respondent pharmacy students have under-predicted their performance before the exam, but over-estimated their performance after exam. Moreover, students who accurately or under-predicted their performance before exam had higher MCQ-30 scores than over-predicted students. Conclusion: It is necessary to explore effective educational methods to help Chinese pharmacy students to practically develop metacognitive awareness and skills by creating awareness of their existing knowledge.