Answering multiple-choice questions in high-stakes medical examinations

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 5...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical education 2005-09, Vol.39 (9), p.890-894
Main Authors: Fischer, Martin R, Herrmann, Sibyl, Kopp, Veronika
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Choice Behavior
choice behaviour
Curriculum subjects: programmes and methods
education
Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods
Educational Measurement
Educational sciences
Female
Germany
Humans
Male
medical
Medical and paramedical education
medical/psychology
students
Students, Medical - psychology
Teaching methods
undergraduate/methods
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0308-0110
1365-2923
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2005.02243.x