A seminal review in the early 1990s called attention to
the low validity of knowledge and performance selfassessments.
Self-ratings were closely associated with
generalized perceptions of self-attributes and were not substantially
influenced by test scores or faculty feedback [2]. In
the following decade, a review on the state of the art of selfassessment
in medical education, as well as higher education
in general, also raised questions about the accuracy of selfassessment
[3]. More recently, a systematic review of the
congruence between physicians’ self-assessments and
external observations of their competence in the context of
continuing education found little evidence to support the
value of self-assessments. The authors concluded that
external assessments might be more appropriate than
self-assessments to support physicians’ professional development
activities [4].