The use of multiple-choice tests in anatomy: common pitfalls and how to avoid them

Multiple-choice questions (MCQ) are widely used to evaluate students in the health sciences, including anatomy. Unusual responses in 90 simple MCQ examinations have been identified and classified as to cause, including a number of illustrated examples. About one-quarter of these errors were attributable to the teacher and could have been avoided by a critical analysis of the questions before use. The increasing use of sophisticated formats of the MCQ in medical education indicates that teachers need to analyze their questions more carefully before and after actual tests to minimize errors.