Summary:
The author discusses several studies on basic competencies in the field of medical education, in Brazil as well as in other countries, which show a consensus about the need of defining basic competencies for an adequate evaluation of the medical student. She analyzes appropriate measurement instruments for monitoring the learning process in relation to one single competence - the so-called criteria-related tests. She concludes that criteria-related measurements are only means to help solve the problem of measurement of performance at the school, and as such, to permit to verify to what extent the student has reached those behaviors needed for his performance as a professional.