Purpose
Our objective was to analyze data both pre- and post-COVID-19 to quantify the impact on pre-clinical medical student academic performance and satisfaction. Our focus is centered specifically on grades and evaluative data in a single three-week module, Basic Infectious Disease, that runs April-May each year. More specifically, we analyzed grades and survey data pertaining to the Introduction to Infectious Diseases (IID) course, which is the dominant component in our Basic Infectious Disease module. We hypothesized that the stressors on both students and faculty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in 2020 when we faced an abrupt switch to online learning and exams, would result in a decline in academic performance and student satisfaction.

Methods
We extracted course grades for the IID course in the Basic ID module, from years 2013 to 2024 (with 2025 to be included in the final presentation). Additionally, we analyzed responses from routinely collected module evaluations to assess student satisfaction.

Results
While student performance stayed fairly constant overall until 2019, it increased in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, which also was the first exam that was given remotely. Grades dropped significantly in 2021 and again in 2022. However, student performance showed an upward trend in 2023 and 2024, reaching a class average that matches pre-pandemic scores. Student satisfaction during these years of transition post-COVID-19 parallel the trends seen in academic performance.

Conclusion
While students’ grades undoubtedly suffered during the height of the pandemic, our study shows that both academic performance and student satisfaction is on an upward trend since the immediate impact of the pandemic. This suggests that both medical students and faculty have been able to adapt to new learning and assessment strategies since COVID-19.