The Influence of Gender on Undergraduate Performance in Multiple Choice Testing in Clinical Disciplines at University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

We assessed the influence of gender on the performance in surgical and medical disciplines in undergraduate final theory examinations at College of Medicine, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia. The college admits 200 students (120 males and 80 females) every year in the 6 year degree program. The results of written exam for the year 2008-09 for all subjects were analyzed. The question papers consisted of multiple choice tests only. There were 50 assessments which included 19 from medical, 22 from surgical and 9 from pre-clinical disciplines. Using cross sectional design we analyzed the students' theory results. The female students showed overall better performance in all theory assessments (mean ±SD; 71.21±7.89 vs. 67.14±8.08, p=0.01). In a subject-wise comparison, the female students showed significantly higher mean scores in 24 out of 50 assessments. Both the genders had comparable scores for medical disciplines (n=19 assessments), however, in surgical disciplines females’ performance was superior (mean ±SD; 72.0±6.6 vs. 67.47±7.0; p=0.03). The female students showed significantly better scores in surgical disciplines than in medical disciplines and they outperformed male students in overall scores in surgical disciplines.

Keywords

• Undergraduate assessment
• Clinical Disciplines
• Saudi Arabia