Story by BBC News (abridged)
A medical student in the UK with dyslexia claims multiple choice exams discriminate against people with the condition and is taking legal action to prevent their use.

But why do children who struggle with reading find multiple choice difficult? Dyslexia is known to cause problems with the way the brain processes words and sequences, and students with the condition are generally granted 25% extra time in exams.

But Naomi Gadian, a second year medical student, is calling for the General Medical Council to scrap multiple choice questions as part of doctors' training. She says although essays and practicals have not been a problem, multiple choice questions discriminate against people with dyslexia. "They don't let me express my knowledge. In normal day life, you don't get given multiple choice questions to sit. Your patients aren't going to ask you 'here's an option and four answers. Which one is right?'" she says.

THE ANSWER
A lot of information in one question can be difficult to remember. So are multiple choice questions particularly difficult for people with dyslexia? Dr John Rack, head of psychology at Dyslexia Action, says people with the condition can find multiple choice questions difficult because of the large amount of information which they have to deal with, all at once. "Dyslexics often have problems with their 'working memory'," he says, "which is the space where we hold on to information. If there are too many options, it is hard to keep track of them and by the last option, they have forgotten the first."He says everyone can find this problematic, but those with dyslexia find it harder - especially as they tend to read more slowly.

Reasonable adjustments
But Dr Rack does not think multiple choice is the worst exam format for those who have dyslexia - and says it is unusual for people to have a particular problem with them. He says case studies and essays can put pressure on the speed of writing and fluent writing skills such as spelling, structuring and sequencing.

"So long as multiple choice questions are well structured and short, they should be fairly accessible," he says.

Story from BBC NEWS
It is interesting that test skills and learning skills overlap. Gemm Learning's programs aimed at resolving learning issues also work in the test prep format.