MCQ with negative points at the beginning of university

Abusive failures and gender bias

Abstract

Negative point MCQs are often used to minimize the effect of chance in the answers given. Due to fortuitous reasons, the same exam was presented to two groups of students with two different marking schemes announced: one without penalties, the other with penalties. While equivalence between the two groups was attested, there were more failures in the "with penalties" group. The analysis of these abusive failures shows that they concern more female students than male students. Here we have tangible results that demonstrate the existence of a gender bias. This can be explained by the different response strategies of men and women. On the basis of this study, the use of MCQs with negative points in the certification assessments or entrance examinations of our students should no longer be permitted.