Can quiz-contest be used in classroom teaching for undergraduate medical students?

Background: Revision exercises (RE) are the review sessions, commonly used for difficult topics in undergraduate medical training to improve the understanding of the students. Controlled discussions (CD) or lectures are the usual teaching-learning (T-L) methods used in RE.

Purpose: The present study was carried out to compare quiz contest (QC) and CD methods during an RE.

Methods: The first-year undergraduate medical students attending the RE for the ‘molecular genetics’ module were divided into two groups by stratified randomisation. One group was exposed to QC and the other to CD. A set of questionnaires was used to evaluate how much the students enjoyed these sessions and how they rated the methods. The effectiveness of achieving the learning objectives was assessed by conducting a written test with objective and short-answer-type questions. The students who did not attend RE were also allowed to appear in the written test.

Results: By comparing the scores from a written test, the QC session was found to be as equally effective as the CD session. The students who remained absent in RE had significantly lower score than those who attended QC or CD. The students attending the QC enjoyed the RE more than those attended CD. Irrespective of methods, the scores in the written test had significant positive correlation with the level of enjoyment in the RE.

Conclusions: We conclude that like CD, QC can also be used as an enjoyable and effective alternative T-L method for RE. The level of enjoyment in T-L sessions influences the learning outcome.