SUM M AR Y M ultiple-choice questions (M C Qs) (one-best-answer type, w ith ® ve alter natives) used for assessm ent of ® fth-year medical students in the Pediatrics course are thoroughly discussed and analysed w ith the students after each test. This study was undertaken with the aim of establishing whether this kind of exposure precludes the reutilization of questions in future years. In all, 197 questions were used more than once from 1994 to 1998. Considering the ® rst and last time they were included in a test, 50 (25%) increased their difficulty, 39 (20%) dim inished it, and 108 (55% ) remained unchanged. The correlation coef-® cient between the percentage of students that answered correctly each question the ® rst and last time they were used was 0.51 (p < 0.0 01). It is concluded that the kind of exposure students are given by our course to M CQs, seem s not to preclude their future reutilization.

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