COMPARISON OF EXTENDED MATCHING QUESTIONS (EMQ) WITH MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS (MCQ) IN UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDIES

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assess and compare the undergraduate dental students’ performance and get their feedback on these tests. A cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate the performance of the dental students in extended matching questions (EMQ) and multiple-choice questions (MCQ). Dental students of the 2nd year professionals were the respondent of this study. The total number of 80 students participated. The students of 1st, 3rd and final years professionals were excluded. The test was taken from the topic “Decade Missing Filled Teeth (DMFT)†consisted of 5 MCQ and 5 EMQ. They were given 10mins to complete the test. After the test, feedback regarding the EMQ’s and MCQ’s were taken from the students in the form of questionnaire, including 5 items. The results showed that dental students’ performance on EMQ’s were better as compared to MCQ’s. Based on simple and feasible to attempt, students were inclined towards the Multiple-Choice Questions whereas for effective learning, opted EMQ’s. It is concluded that there should be more exposure towards EMQ that will help to get the depth of the knowledge and facilitate to learn in better way.