Comprehensive Assessment to Enhance Integration and Retention in Undergraduate and Graduate Physiology Learning

Physiology is foundational for health professionals, providing the conceptual framework underlying clinical reasoning, patient care, and success in advanced biomedical and health sciences training. Mastery of physiological principles enables students to integrate knowledge across systems, a skill essential for safe and effective practice. To promote durable learning and prevent fragmented understanding, comprehensive assessments were implemented at both undergraduate and graduate levels at Benedictine University. In BIOL 3258: Human Physiology, an upper-level undergraduate course, students complete five unit exams followed by a 100-question cumulative final covering all semester material. Students who achieve ≥60% on the comprehensive final exam may replace their lowest unit exam score, incentivizing concept review and reinforcing integrative understanding. This approach encourages active recall and conceptual connection across physiological systems. Students consistently report that, although challenging, the comprehensive exam deepens understanding and enhances long-term retention. Alumni pursuing professional and graduate programs have affirmed that this cumulative approach provided a strong foundation for standardized testing and professional and graduate study. At the graduate level, BIOL 5590: Comprehensive Exam in Integrative Physiology is a 1-credit capstone course for MS in Integrative Physiology (MSIP) students. Students synthesize knowledge across biochemical, anatomical, and physiological systems by answering five of ten essay topics. Written performance is graded as “High Pass,” “Pass,” “Just Pass,” or “Did Not Pass,” and MSIP students must pass at least four topics to advance. The oral exam focuses on the topic with the lowest score: students have 30 minutes to prepare a case study analysis, deliver a 5–10-minute presentation to a faculty panel, and answer questions assessing integration, conceptual understanding, and clinical reasoning. Oral performance is rated “Exceeded Expectations,” “Pass,” or “Did Not Pass,” with feedback and reassessment provided until mastery is achieved. Grounded in retrieval-based learning and constructivist theory, these iterative assessments enhance synthesis, durable understanding, and readiness for graduate-level biomedical training. Implemented across undergraduate and graduate curricula, they strengthen conceptual integration, reinforce long-term retention, and support lifelong learning. This scalable, evidence-informed model prepares students for success in advanced health sciences training. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.