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Answering multiple‐choice questions in high‐stakes medical examinations
Author(s) -
Fischer Martin R,
Herrmann Sibyl,
Kopp Veronika
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02243.x
Subject(s) - multiple choice , test (biology) , german , medical education , educational measurement , psychology , questions and answers , medical school , medline , mathematics education , medicine , computer science , curriculum , pedagogy , political science , law , significant difference , paleontology , history , archaeology , information retrieval , biology
Objectives To examine whether changing initial answers during a multiple‐choice question (MCQ) test in medicine brings about better overall test results, as has been shown in other academic fields. Methods A total of 36 answer books from the German Second National Medical Board Examination, with 580 MCQs (where 1 answer out of 5 must be selected), were used for analysis. Results We confirmed that high‐stakes MCQ test scores in medicine did indeed improve when students changed their answers once. Further changes of answers did not improve the scores. Conclusions In written, high‐stakes medical examinations, we recommend that students be encouraged, after further reflection, to change their answers in MCQ tests for questions for which they had previously had doubts about the answers.