Reasons for differential performance in multiple choice and essay tests.

Abstract

1. Previous studies with preclinical students demonstrated that there were factors other than topic content which produced significant differences in performance in multiple choice (MC) and essay (E) tests. 2. In this study second year medical students completed a battery of psychometric tests measuring both cognitive and non-cognitive personality traits. 3. The scores obtained after factor analyses of these tests were used as predictors of the difference in performance in 6 matched pairs of MC and E achievement tests over 2 years. 4. Students with high scores in a factor associated with introversion achieved better results in MC tests than would have been expected from their performance in E tests. On the other hand, students whose first language was not English did not perform as well in MC as they did in E tests. 5. Students with high scores in a factor associated with emotional maturity and illegible writing performed better in E tests than would have been expected from their MC results.