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 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.