The Effects of Test-Wiseness in Medical Education

Abstract

This study considered the effects of Test-Wiseness (TW) training and level of TW on multiple-choice item type performance, on both standardized and teacher-made examinations in undergraduate medical education. Medical student subjects trained m TW skills obtained significantly higher mean scores on one of four multiple-choice formats employed on the Part I National Board Examination. However, no significant differences were evidenced on either of two in-house teacher-made examinations. As a result it was concluded that certain conditions, inherent only in standardized tests, must be present before a suscepti bility to the extraneous source of variance of TW is evidenced. Level of TW, and the interaction of TW training and TW level did not result in any consistently significant differences in item type performance on either standardized or teacher-made tests.