Pathology program directors beliefs on changing answers and literature review

The unfounded belief that changing answers during an examination will usually result in a diminished score due to the likelihood of changing correct responses to incorrect responses persists despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Ninety two percent of the Pathology Residency Program Directors responding to this survey had been told this sometime during their career. Although the majority of Program Directors reported not propagating this belief, 14 % still reported providing advice to their trainees to not change answers during an examination. A simple, overarching directive concerning changing answers is not possible given the complexity of this topic and the variables that have been discovered that influence answer-changing behavior. The influencing factors include academic ability, item difficulty, preexisting bias, the use of item marking, time for item reconsideration, and the metacognition of the examinees particularly with respect to the confidence they have in the change in the item selection. A more thorough explanation of these influencing factors should be given to trainees prior to an examination to achieve a truer evaluation of their knowledge and skills and improve the validity of the examination.