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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2001;122:637
© 2001 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Letters to the Editor

A few words about multiple choice tests: An open letter to the American Board of Thoracic Surgery

Francis Robicsek, MD, PhD

Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Carolinas Medical Center,
Charlotte, NC 28232

To the Editor:

I hate multiple choice tests more than I hate cheap Scotch.—Stephen Madden

Everybody's taking multiple choice tests. We use them to prove our professional readiness, to attest our education, to flaunt our intellectual prowess, whatever.

Why do we use multiple choice tests? Some malicious contenders may state that they are used because some of our examinees might be able to make a checkmark but are unable to give an intelligent answer in their own words. Probably there is some truth to that. On the other hand, multiple choice tests do allow us to provide a uniform and unbiased grading, as well as anonymity. They also let us rely on a computerized evaluation to establish a uniform passing-failing rate. Multiple choice tests are simple and easy to handle, and they do reflect knowledge or lack of the same.

So what is the problem? The truth is that multiple choice questions as they are administered at our specialty board examinations are basically unfair. More often than not, multiple questions presented to our applicants are either "too close" or "too far." If they are too close, they . . . [Full Text of this Article]






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Copyright © 2001 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.