Multiple Choice Questions in Hospital Surgery

An examination system which is to assess the results of a number of years of study should do so fairly, uniformly and reliably; it should cover as much of the syllabus as possible, and be able to differentiate between good and bad candidates in a consistent manner. The objective test succeeds to a large degree in fulfilling these requirements but in itself it must not be a handicap to the candidate who should be well versed in this form of examination technique. The knowledge required to answer multiple choice questions for the part 1 of the surgical exam is often only to be gained by having a good knowledge of basic facts and principles in medicine and consulting many different textbooks and review articles. In this book short subject summaries have been written giving concisely the factual information on which each question has been based, there summaries provide a foundation for answering other questions on the same topic. The ground covered is not exhaustive but may be useful at a later date for quick reference and revision for further examinations or clinical problems encountered on the ward. It is not claimed that the questions in the subsequent chapters will provide a painless method of passing the undergraduate's surgical finals, for it is hoped that the horizon of examining boards will include date obtained from other important spheres such as continuous assessment, long term case studies, oral assessment and conventional essay-style questions. It is hoped that the book will provide the student with an introduction to objective testing and, in particular, with a method of both testing and improving his surgical knowledge.