Evaluation of Multiple Choice and Short Essay Question items in Basic Medical Sciences

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Assessment in Health Professions Education

Background:

• Medical education relies heavily on assessment tools to evaluate student competency.
• Ensuring the quality of assessment items is crucial for accurate evaluation of learning outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Short Essay Questions (SEQs) in Basic Medical Sciences.
• To identify item writing flaws (IWFs) in MCQs and determine the cognitive level of both MCQs and SEQs.

Main Methods:

• An analytical study was conducted on assessment tools from a new medical college in Karachi, Pakistan.
• The first and sixth module assessment tools in Biochemistry were analyzed for cognitive levels and MCQ item writing flaws.

Main Results:

• 83.33% of SEQs and 76% of MCQs assessed were at the recall cognitive level.
• 69 item writing flaws were identified in 150 MCQs, with implausible distracters, unfocused stems, and unnecessary information being most common.
• 24% of MCQs assessed data interpretation, while 16.67% of SEQs assessed interpretation.

Conclusions:

• There is a significant need to review and improve the quality and content of medical science assessment tools.
• Structured faculty development programs are recommended to enhance the creation of assessment tools that align with learning outcomes and measure student competency.