diff --git a/src/eva/language/data/datasets/classification/pubmedqa.py b/src/eva/language/data/datasets/classification/pubmedqa.py
index c9622f28..6ebe04b5 100644
--- a/src/eva/language/data/datasets/classification/pubmedqa.py
+++ b/src/eva/language/data/datasets/classification/pubmedqa.py
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 """PubMedQA dataset class."""
 
 import os
-from typing import Any, Dict, List, Literal
+from typing import Any, Dict, List, Literal, Optional
 
 import torch
 from datasets import Dataset, load_dataset
+from loguru import logger
 from typing_extensions import override
 
 from eva.language.data.datasets.classification import base
@@ -19,7 +20,7 @@ class PubMedQA(base.TextClassification):
     def __init__(
         self,
         root: str | None = None,
-        split: Literal["train", "val", "test"] | None = None,
+        split: Literal["train", "validation", "test"] | None = None,
         download: bool = False,
     ) -> None:
         """Initialize the PubMedQA dataset.
@@ -31,13 +32,51 @@ def __init__(
             download: Whether to download the dataset if not found locally. Default is False.
         """
         super().__init__()
+
         self._root = root
-        if split is None:
-            self._split = "train+test+validation"
-        else:
-            self._split = "+".join(split)
+        self._split = split
         self._download = download
 
+    def _load_dataset(self, dataset_cache_path: Optional[str]) -> Dataset:
+        """Loads the PubMedQA dataset from the local cache or downloads it if needed.
+
+        Args:
+            dataset_cache_path: The path to the local cache.
+
+        Returns:
+            The loaded dataset.
+        """
+        if dataset_cache_path and os.path.exists(dataset_cache_path):
+            raw_dataset = load_dataset(
+                dataset_cache_path,
+                name="pubmed_qa_labeled_fold0_source",
+                split=self._split or "train+test+validation",
+                streaming=False,
+            )
+            logger.info(f"Loaded dataset from local cache: {dataset_cache_path}")
+        else:
+            if not self._download and self._root:
+                raise ValueError(
+                    "Dataset not found locally and downloading is disabled. "
+                    "Set `download=True` or provide a valid local cache."
+                )
+            raw_dataset = load_dataset(
+                "bigbio/pubmed_qa",
+                name="pubmed_qa_labeled_fold0_source",
+                split=self._split or "train+test+validation",
+                cache_dir=self._root if self._root else None,
+                streaming=False,
+            )
+            if self._root:
+                logger.info(f"Dataset downloaded and cached in: {self._root}")
+            else:
+                logger.info("Using dataset directly from HuggingFace without caching.")
+
+        if not isinstance(raw_dataset, Dataset):
+            raise TypeError(f"Expected a `Dataset`, but got {type(raw_dataset)}")
+
+        return raw_dataset
+
     @override
     def prepare_data(self) -> None:
         """Downloads and prepares the PubMedQA dataset.
@@ -53,38 +92,7 @@ def prepare_data(self) -> None:
             os.makedirs(self._root, exist_ok=True)
 
         try:
-            if dataset_cache_path and os.path.exists(dataset_cache_path):
-                raw_dataset = load_dataset(
-                    dataset_cache_path,
-                    name="pubmed_qa_labeled_fold0_source",
-                    split=self._split,
-                    streaming=False,
-                )
-                print(f"Loaded dataset from local cache: {dataset_cache_path}")
-            else:
-                if not self._download and self._root:
-                    raise ValueError(
-                        "Dataset not found locally and downloading is disabled. "
-                        "Set `download=True` or provide a valid local cache."
-                    )
-
-                raw_dataset = load_dataset(
-                    "bigbio/pubmed_qa",
-                    name="pubmed_qa_labeled_fold0_source",
-                    split=self._split,
-                    cache_dir=self._root if self._root else None,
-                    streaming=False,
-                )
-                if self._root:
-                    print(f"Dataset downloaded and cached in: {self._root}")
-                else:
-                    print("Using dataset directly from Hugging Face without caching.")
-
-            if not isinstance(raw_dataset, Dataset):
-                raise TypeError(f"Expected a `Dataset`, but got {type(raw_dataset)}")
-
-            self.dataset: Dataset = raw_dataset
-
+            self.dataset = self._load_dataset(dataset_cache_path)
         except Exception as e:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Failed to prepare dataset: {e}") from e