Improving the Test-Taking Experience Through Comprehensive Item Review

• In Event: 58.082 - Roundtable Session 25
  In Roundtable Session: 58.082-11 - Roundtable Session: Methods and Measures

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a comprehensive item review process on the test-taking experience for first-year medical students. Nearly half of the existing multiple choice items in our database were identified as needing revision violated at least one of the formatting guidelines, the most common violation being lack of question phrasing. One hundred fourteen items were categorized as having poor statistical properties. Qualitative analysis of student feedback identified six general categories of item flaws: ambiguous vocabulary, more than one plausible answer, no correct answer, incomplete or insufficient details in stem, trivial or unfamiliar content, and an “other” category, which encompassed flaws that did not fit into the other five.

Authors

• Sarah B. McBrien, University of Nebraska Medical Center

• Donna K. Czarnecki, University of Nebraska - Medical Center