Improving Summative Assessment Through a Resource-Efficient Faculty Review Process

Committee reviews improve the quality of multiple-choice question (MCQ) exams; however, such review processes are typically highly resource-intensive and time-consuming. We report a review process that requires limited faculty time and administrative resources. A small committee reviewed selected items (14–20%) of the final exams of six independent block courses taken by first- and second-year medical students. This process resulted in a significant increase in the item discrimination of reviewed questions in all exams. Our findings support the utility of a review process and may offer health profession educators a more practical and efficient approach for improving the quality of in-house MCQ exams.