Ricketts, C., Brice, J., & Coombes, L. (2010). Are multiple choice tests fair to medical students with specific learning disabilities ? Advances in Health Sciences Education , 15 (2), 265–275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-009-9197-8

Accommodations included extra time, which was specified as an extra 20 minutes per hour of test time, and in some cases, modified test formats such as colored paper or filters were provided; neither readers nor scribes were used.

Participants in the study were 1,592 undergraduate medical students in the United Kingdom (UK) who either took tests in 2006–2007 or 2007–2008. Approximately 1,502 had no identified disabilities, and 90 were identified with "specific learning disability (SLD)/dyslexia" (as defined by UK national guidelines; the 12 students identified with "other disability" were excluded from consideration due to small number). Data on sex and ethnicity of participants were also reported.

The study used scores on four multiple-choice tests of 125 items each which were taken as learning progress checks in the course across the school year.

No significant score differences were found across demographic groups—neither based on ethnicity, sex, nor disability status; that is, all student groups performed equivalently to one another on the tests. Students with disabilities, therefore, were concluded to have benefited sufficiently from accommodations such that the multiple-choice tests were considered fair to students with learning disabilities.