Perceptions of Undergraduate Medical Students Regarding the Written Exam System Used for Cognitive Assessment at Suez University

Background: Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Modified Essay Questions (MEQs) are used at Faculty of Medicine, Suez University (FOMSU). They are significant due to their structured approach to testing wide areas of knowledge. Aim: To assess undergraduate medical students' perception regarding the written exam system that has been used at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez University (FOMSU), in order to recommend a plan for improvement. Methodology: cross-sectional study composed of 73 students, conducted at FOMSU; the participants were selected by comprehensive sample. the study was applied using two types of self-administrated anonymous questionnaires. Results: More than half of the students agreed that it took a lot of time to comprehend the stem of the MCQs to the extent of affecting the time consumed in responding to questions. Around 60% of the students agreed that the questions might have explicit answers that can be found in the stem of the MCQs without any necessity of its analysis. Approximately 47.9% of the students concurred that simple answers could be obtained for the questions in the problem of MEQs exams without having to analyze it. Conclusion: The perception of undergraduate medical students towards both types of written examinations was positive, though there were several areas that were recommended for change, such as clarity of questions and format. Several changes could be contemplated as reformulating the wording of MCQ stems to avoid unwarranted complication, ensuring MEQ questions are not too time-consuming and not too trivial, and adjusting time allocation to yield a better match between the needs of the examinations and the intellectual abilities of the students