title: Gender differences in learning styles and academic performance of medical students in Saudi Arabia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Teachers at medical school are often faced with challenges of improving student satisfaction with the learning environment. On the other hand, education in the medical field is very competitive and medical students are exposed to diverse methods of teaching. Students adapt specific learning styles to keep pace with the information delivered to them in their institutions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to know the differences in learning styles between male and female students, and the effect it has on academic performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The VARK Questionnaire version 7.0 (Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic) was administered to the fourth year and fifth year medical students at King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia for determining the preferred learning methods of students participating in this study. The learning styles were then compared to cumulative grade point average (GPA) obtained by the students.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dominant learning style preference of students was multimodal. Among students who preferred unimodal preference, aural and kinesthetic preference was predominant for males and females. Moreover, Females had more diverse preferences than male students. Multimodal learners have higher cumulative GPAs when compared with the unimodal learners.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study revealed variation in learning style preferences among genders, and its implications on academic performance of medical students.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences, PO 59046, Riyadh 11525, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. anuzhat@kfmc.med.sa
authors.forename: Ayesha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nuzhat
authors.forename: Raneem Osama
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.forename: Nasser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Al Hamdan
authors.forename: Nada
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ashour
mesh_terms: D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D013337:Students, Medical; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires