Third year Science unit, LSB647 Diagnostic Microbiology: theory examination
Developed by Associate Professor Louise Hafner, Dr Deb Stenzel and Moira Cordiner
Synopsis of the task and its context
While this task is a termed a ‘theory’ examination, it assesses a combination of the theoretical and practical aspects of the unit (offered at QUT). The supervised examination is comprised only of short answer questions. Some of these may require students to do a diagram, while others may require an explanation in sentence or bullet points. Some questions require a combination of these two types of responses. The criteria sheet sets out (in general terms), the main features being assessed, that is:
 disease processes including signs and symptoms, cellular biology and morphology, their pathologies, host –immune status, epidemiology, and host responses
 implications and context for treatment and management of patient health
 laboratory skills (detection, isolation, drawing and identification) for the diagnosis of the disease-causing organisms
 using data and information presented in different formats, e.g. in life cycle diagrams, photographs, graphs, drawings, tables, clinical test results
Match between objectives/learning outcomes and criteria for the task unit objectives
On completion of the unit, you should be able to:
1. Demonstrate and apply:

laboratory skills (detection, isolation, drawing and identification) for the diagnosis of these diseases

knowledge of the fungal and parasitic disease processes in humans, their pathology, and implications for patient health
2. Analyse and interpret clinical situations to propose hypotheses that determine the strategy for data gathering.
3. Justify the diagnosis of fungal and parasitic diseases task-specific criteria
On completion of this task, you should:
1. Demonstrate and apply theoretical and practical knowledge
(objective 1)
2. Analyse and interpret data and information to justify the:

identification of the causative agents of infection

diagnoses of the diseases

the implications for human health
(objectives 2 and 3)
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Interpreting the criteria sheet
Note that this criteria sheet uses some descriptors across standards. For example, the descriptors for criterion 1 (which is about the demonstrating and applying knowledge) apply to both standards Distinction (DN) and Credit (CR), because this is what Louise and Deb typically see in student work and what they expect of students who reach these two standards. The descriptors for criterion 2 (about analysing, interpreting and justifying) for these two standards are different. Therefore, it is these different descriptors that distinguish a standard DN from a CR for the whole task.
This way of setting out standards can help you avoid ‘contriving’ a difference between the standards when, in some instances, there is no difference.
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Theory exam for parasitology OR mycology 40% of the unit
This exam assesses the theoretical and practical aspects of the unit:

disease processes including signs and symptoms, cellular biology and morphology, their pathologies, host
–immune status, epidemiology, and host responses

implications and context for treatment and management of patient health

laboratory skills (detection, isolation, drawing and identification) for the diagnosis of the disease-causing organisms

using data and information presented in different formats, e.g. in life cycle diagrams, photographs, graphs, drawings, tables, clinical test results
Criterion
HD (High Distinction) DN (Distinction) CR (Credit) PP (Pass) NN (Fail)
In the theory examination, you have:
In the theory examination, you have:
In the theory examination, you have:
In the theory examination, you have:
In the theory examination, you have:
1. Demonstrate and apply theoretical and practical knowledge approximate weighting 1/3
2. Analyse and interpret data and information to justify the:
 identification of the causative agents of infection
 diagnoses of the diseases
 the implications for human health approximate weighting 2/3

demonstrated a comprehensive knowledge to consistently recall accurate facts, and apply the relevant ones correctly in context

analysed and accurately interpreted data and information in detail

demonstrated knowledge to recall mostly accurate facts and apply the majority of the relevant ones correctly in context

analysed and interpreted data and information accurately

analysed and accurately ( the data and information

demonstrated for the most part partiallydeveloped knowledge to recall mostly accurate facts and apply some of them correctly in context
), interpreted
 succinctly explained and justified all your identifications, diagnoses and implications by specifically relating to the contexts given in the questions

explained and justified all your identifications, diagnoses and implications by specifically relating (for the most part), to the contexts given in the questions

explained and justified most of your identifications, diagnoses and implications, by relating to aspects of the contexts given in some of the questions

explained and justified at least half of the identifications, diagnoses and implications, but in many cases you used irrelevant facts
 listed facts about some of the organisms
 stated your identifications, diagnoses and implications by giving simple observations and/or reasons that may or may not relate to the given contexts
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