Checklist - Reviewing Q&As

• Content
• Information in the stem, question, answer choices, explanation, and board testing point has to be accurate, relevant, and up to date according to recent guidelines and standards of care.

• Concept
• True, and experts in the field plainly agree upon it.
• Important to direct patient care or public health.
• Not too difficult, not too easy.
• Likely to be tested on the Boards.

• Structure

• Stem
• Clinical scenario is clear, complete, realistic, and free of ambiguity
•  Free of extraneous information
• Question
• Requires a clearly identified clinical task
• Requires an understanding of “basic science”
• Requires higher-order thinking skills (application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation)
• Is positively phrased (no use of “not correct,” “except,” “contraindication,” etc.)
• Correct Answer
• Single-best answer
• Scientifically sound
• Evidence-based or a choice that experts in the field plainly agree upon
• Distractors (wrong answer choices)
• 4 distractors
• Plausible
• Plainly inferior to the correct answer choice
• No use of “all of the above,” “none of the above,” “both __ and __ are correct.”
• Explanation (usually 5–6 paragraphs)
• Paragraph 1: Explains why the correct answer is right (may be only 1 sentence)
• Paragraph 2+ (optional): Supplemental info associated with paragraph 1.
• Delete material that does not immediately help explain or support the correct answer and board testing point.
• Separate the information into logical paragraphs.
• Paragraphs 3–6: 1 sentence per distractor that explains why that distractor is not correct and in which scenario it would be (each in a new paragraph)
• Board Testing Point
• Identifies the important concept that is being examined
•  Brief, clear, direct, and begins with an active verb (e.g., “Know,” “Understand,” “Perform,” “Diagnose,” “Manage,” “Recognize,” “Recall”)