Table 2 Comparison in the discrimination indices of 257 MCQ in the final exam of pathophysiology between students with high scores (group 1) and low scores (group 2)

All questions (N = 257)

0.21 (0.11–0.34)

0.28 (0.18–0.37)

< 0.001

Factual (N = 198)

0.20 (0.11–0.33)

0.28 (0.18–0.37)

< 0.001

Case-based (N = 59)

0.24 (0.11–0.35)

0.30 (0.19–0.37)

0.296

P***

0.300

0.620

Easy (N = 52)

0.11 (0.06–0.17)

0.28 (0.19–0.36)

< 0.001

Non-easy (N = 205)

0.24 (0.14–0.36)

0.28 (0.18–0.38)

0.117

P****

< 0.001

0.663

Non-easy, factual (N = 156)

0.22 (0.14–0.36)

0.28 (0.18–0.38)

0.071

Non-easy, case-based (N = 49)

0.28 (0.16–0.39)

0.28 (0.18–0.37)

0.972

P*****

0.481

0.957