Evaluating the Quality of Examination Items From the Pathophysiology, Drug Action, and Therapeutics Course Series.

Objective: To determine the impact of item-writing flaws and cognitive level on student performance metrics in 1 course series across 2 semesters at a single institution.

Methods: Four investigators reviewed 928 multiple-choice items from an integrated therapeutics course series. Differences in performance metrics were examined between flawed and standard items, flawed stems and flawed answer choices, and cognitive levels.