title: MCQ and higher examinations as exemplified by the primary Fellowship of the Faculty of Anaesthetics, Royal College of Surgeons of England.
abstract: A major problem of the use of multiple choice examinations is the inherent difficulty of the questions, a fact which cannot be assessed in relation to questions not previously used. Questions which have been used during previous examinations, however, will have an available measure of the difficulty in the form of candidates' previous scores. The performance of candidates in a current examination can be compared with that in a previous examination. On the strength of these differences it is possible to decide whether the candidates in any single examination are better prepared than their predecessors or less well prepared. Pass marks can be appropriately adjusted.
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013337:Students, Medical; D006113:United Kingdom