First-year medical students' use of practice questions to understand science courses

First-year medical students encounter dense biomedical science content and must develop strategies to achieve conceptual understanding. Practice questions accompanied by explanatory rationales have become widely adopted learning tools, yet how students use these resources to make sense of science course material remains underexplored from a qualitative perspective.

To explore how first-year medical students use practice questions to understand science course content.

Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 first-year medical students and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. For the purposes of this study, practice questions are defined as multiple-choice and case-based items accompanied by detailed explanatory rationales, drawn from both institutional course resources and commercial question banks.

Four themes were constructed: (1) practice questions simplify complex science by breaking content into manageable units; (2) rationales are valued more than answers because they explain underlying concepts; (3) questions are used to confirm understanding rather than initially build it; and (4) questions are often treated as single-use learning tools once understanding feels secure.

Practice questions function as meaning-making tools for first-year medical students navigating science courses. Students prioritise explanatory rationales over correct answers and integrate questions into routines that serve both constructive and confirmatory purposes. These findings highlight the importance of recognising how students engage with learning resources in science-heavy curricula.