background: multiple choice tests (mct), are widely known and applied as useful evaluation tests in the field of education especially in medical science. items on a multiple-choice test consist of a stem, which is followed by a correct answer as well as three to four distracters. items on a well-written multiple-choice test will have stems that are precise and clear, one answer that is clearly ...

Kibble JD, Johnson T. Are faculty predictions or item taxonomies useful for estimating the outcome of multiple-choice examinations? Adv Physiol Educ 35: 396–401, 2011; doi:10.1152/advan.00062.2011.—The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether multiple-choice item difficulty could be predicted either by a subjective judgment by the question author or by applying a learning taxonomy to the i...

INTRODUCTION Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are a cornerstone of assessment in medical education. Monitoring item properties (difficulty and discrimination) are important means of investigating examination quality. However, most item property guidelines were developed for use on large cohorts of examinees; little empirical work has investigated the suitability of applying guidelines to item d...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether multiple-choice item difficulty could be predicted either by a subjective judgment by the question author or by applying a learning taxonomy to the items. Eight physiology faculty members teaching an upper-level undergraduate human physiology course consented to participate in the study. The faculty members annotated questions before exams with ...

This study examined what types of passage and individual item attributes of reading ability tests affect item difficulty. Ninety-six questions from the GatesMacGinitie Reading Test for 7/9th graders were analyzed in terms of individual item characteristics and passage features that were considered to affect the item’s difficulty. Whereas two passage features, word frequency and sentence length,...