How to create a board review question

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Overview

There are various medical board examinations for which people use questions similar to those seen on the exam, to practice for the exam. In general, questions alone are not sufficient to study for an exam. They are a supplemental tool to test ones knowledge, and help to solidify what they have learned.

Description

The aim of the questions is to teach rather than to test. The cognitive tasks that the questions should target can be one or more of the following:

• Making a diagnosis
• Ordering diagnostic tests
• Ordering treatment
• Identifying risk
• Interpreting data
• Recommending patient management
• Identifying clinical features
• Recognizing pathology

Step by Step Guide

1. Go to the home page on WikiDoc, and click on the icon that says, "Board Review", or click here.
2. Click on the icon that says "Click here to add questions".
3. Type in the name of the author of the question.
4. Select from the dropdown menu, the specific exam that your question pertains to.
5. Categories for the question will appear. Check off ONE main category, and the appropriate subcategories that the question covers.
6. Type in the general explanation for the question in the box that says "overall explanation".
7. Use the remaining boxes to type in the answers to the questions and the explanations for each of the answers.
8. Enter in the letter denoting the correct answer, and then check the "Reviewed" box, once you have checked over your work.
9. For more information on how to create a board review question, click here.

Design of the Questions

Stem of the Question

• The questions are preferred to be narrated as a clinical vignette that is not an actual case.
• The information as well as the illustrations should serve the testing point.
• Below are some of the information that can be found in a question. They should be orderly included as follows:
  • Age, Gender (e.g., a 70 year-old man)
  • Site of Care (e.g., comes to the emergency department)
  • Duration (e.g. that has started one week ago)
  • Significant Patient History
  • Significant Family History
  • Significant Diagnostic Studies or the Results of Diagnostic Studies
    • Try as much as possible to include images whether still or motion
  • Initial Treatment and Response
• The questions should not include negative phrasing , for example “except” or “not”.

Answers

• Answers should include five choices where one answer is correct and the other four answers are distractors.
• Answers should not be "true" or "false".
• All distractors should be homogeneous as they should fall in the same category as the correct answer and should me similar in length.
• Long correct answers are discouraged.
• Illogical answers, absolute terms, word repeats ( for example: a word or phrase in the correct response is the same as in the stem) are discouraged.
• “None of the above”, “All of the above” or some combination of response must not be used.

Answer Explanation

• The questions should include detailed explanation that provides the following:
  • The reason why the correct answer is correct
  • The reason why each of the distractors is incorrect
• These questions are intended to teach rather than to test, hence the use of graphics, references and guidelines is encouraged when applicable.

References

References should be included when possible linking to new articles, review articles or guidelines that serve the initial teaching goal of the questions.