Applied Knowledge Question Writing

This staff development opportunity is open to all those who teach or support teaching of the Manchester MB ChB. We also welcome allied healthcare professionals to participate.

This opportunity is your chance to also to contribute to the UK’s Medical Schools Council Assessment Alliance question bank. The questions are of Short Best Answer (SBA) multiple choice type. We will give you guidance to draft and review questions for submission to the national SBA item bank, which is used by all medical schools within the UK.

If you are interested, please follow the steps below.

Watch a video on the basics of SBA writing

Please watch this short video outlining the basics of SBA writing by Professor David Kluth in Edinburgh, from the MSCAA, shared with permission and our thanks.

Read the MSCAA Question Writing Guide

David’s presentation is about broad principles, so it is really important before you get started with writing your questions to also read and follow the MSCAA Question Writing Guide (PDF). We are grateful to MSCAA for allowing us to share this resource with you.

Review examples of SBAs

Ensuring your questions are written in accordance to both of the above resources is important: if we don’t adhere to these rules, our questions don’t get into the bank. Please take a look at the Medical Schools Council (MSC) Assessment Alliance, which will take you to some examples of well-written SBAs.

Write some questions!

Once you have reviewed the material above, please write 6 questions and send them to us.

Email: medical.exams@manchester.ac.uk

Please use the subject header: PRIME: APPLIED KNOWLEDGE QUESTION WRITING SUBMISSION.

Attend an Item Review workshop

Once you have submitted your questions, you will then be invited to attend an Item Review workshop, where you will have an opportunity to review and revise questions with peers. This process helps ensure that they are as good as we can make them before we then submit them to the national bank where they will undergo further review.

You will have the satisfaction of contributing, plus a certificate of attendance at this workshop.