Performance of ChatGPT 3.5 against clinical dental students in General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) module

Performance of ChatGPT 3.5 against clinical dental students in General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) module | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Performance of ChatGPT 3.5 against clinical dental students in General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) module AMIELIA YUSRINA MOHD AZIZI, MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ MOHD ZAIN, ANDREAN HUSIN, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background This study aims to evaluate the performance and accuracy of ChatGPT-3.5 in answering multiple choice questions (MCQs) related to the General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) or also known as Human Disease Module against UiTM clinical dental students who had completed the same module. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using 50 MCQs divided into general medicine ( 20 ), traumatology ( 10 ), and general surgery ( 20 ). The test involved 66 Year 4 students, 72 Year 5 students, and ChatGPT-3.5 tested in 72 sessions. Data were compiled and analyzed using SPSS, including descriptive statistics, Mann- Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. Results In the Overall Performance: ChatGPT-3.5 vs. Students, ChatGPT-3.5 had a mean score of 33.12 ± 1.67, while students scored 23.60 ± 5.20. In the Performance by Academic Year: Year 4 vs. Year 5 vs. ChatGPT-3.5, Year 4 students scored 24.78 ± 4.08, Year 5 students scored 22.50 ± 5.86, and ChatGPT-3.5 achieved 33.12 ± 1.67. In the Performance by Subject Area: ChatGPT-3.5 vs. Students, ChatGPT-3.5 scored 12.83 ± 1.160 in General Surgery compared to 9.50 ± 2.61 for students, 11.91 ± 1.17 in General Medicine compared to 7.71 ± 2.51 for students, 8.38 ± 0.82 in Traumatology compared to 6.38 ± 1.70 for students. Conclusions In our limited study, ChatGPT-3.5 performed better than students in answering MCQ-based questions in GMGS modules. Despite the repetition in prompting the same questions 72 times, ChatGPT-3.5 did not achieve perfect scores or improved scores. This finding suggests the need for further investigation into how AI responds to repeated testing and its implications for educational assessments. Artificial Intelligence ChatGPT-3.5 Dental students Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Tables are available in the Supplementary Files section Supplementary Files TABLESPerformanceofChatGPT3.5againstclinicaldentalstudentsinGeneralSurgeryGeneralMedicineGMGSmodule.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 01 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Apr, 2026 Editor invited by journal 21 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 19 Apr, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Apr, 2026 First submitted to journal 15 Apr, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9429227","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":632955961,"identity":"f0979528-1f6f-4802-84fa-9ddf23540d8e","order_by":0,"name":"AMIELIA YUSRINA MOHD AZIZI","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Teknologi MARA","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"AMIELIA","middleName":"YUSRINA MOHD","lastName":"AZIZI","suffix":""},{"id":632955962,"identity":"94ae769f-4ffe-4b81-8c06-19fbcfee177d","order_by":1,"name":"MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ MOHD ZAIN","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Teknologi MARA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"MUHAMMAD","middleName":"SYAFIQ MOHD","lastName":"ZAIN","suffix":""},{"id":632955963,"identity":"c61bf246-7115-4786-8d19-29e6d83fe4ce","order_by":2,"name":"ANDREAN HUSIN","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Teknologi MARA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"ANDREAN","middleName":"","lastName":"HUSIN","suffix":""},{"id":632955964,"identity":"b9974cc2-2b9a-4cdc-a7d5-496c7c669606","order_by":3,"name":"Mohammed GH Abd Ali Al-Naser","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Teknologi MARA","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mohammed","middleName":"GH Abd Ali","lastName":"Al-Naser","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-15 15:53:31","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108798279,"identity":"d16e6a1b-6e7d-45d3-b9f1-3f589d1ccff9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-08 13:45:06","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":700675,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"V1BMCMedicalEducationReportreviewedbyABH18Sep25.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9429227/v1_covered_f7555eb1-9291-42a0-9b50-373172d0ebfc.pdf"},{"id":108798217,"identity":"cf84ec7c-859d-4ae1-be7c-96ab03c77893","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-08 13:44:48","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":150097,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TABLESPerformanceofChatGPT3.5againstclinicaldentalstudentsinGeneralSurgeryGeneralMedicineGMGSmodule.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9429227/v1/c8f5fcfc6377cec3b85d5470.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eNo competing interests reported.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTables are available in the Supplementary Files section\u003c/p\u003e","formattedTitle":"Performance of ChatGPT 3.5 against clinical dental students in General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) module","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-medical-education","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"meed","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Medical Education](http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/meed/default.aspx","title":"BMC Medical Education","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT-3.5, Dental students","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003ch2\u003eBackground\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study aims to evaluate the performance and accuracy of ChatGPT-3.5 in answering multiple choice questions (MCQs) related to the General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) or also known as Human Disease Module against UiTM clinical dental students who had completed the same module.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMethods\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eA cross-sectional study was conducted using 50 MCQs divided into general medicine (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e), traumatology (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e10\u003c/span\u003e), and general surgery (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e20\u003c/span\u003e). The test involved 66 Year 4 students, 72 Year 5 students, and ChatGPT-3.5 tested in 72 sessions. Data were compiled and analyzed using SPSS, including descriptive statistics, Mann- Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eResults\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn the Overall Performance: ChatGPT-3.5 vs. Students, ChatGPT-3.5 had a mean score of 33.12\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.67, while students scored 23.60\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.20. In the Performance by Academic Year: Year 4 vs. Year 5 vs. ChatGPT-3.5, Year 4 students scored 24.78\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.08, Year 5 students scored 22.50\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.86, and ChatGPT-3.5 achieved 33.12\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.67. In the Performance by Subject Area: ChatGPT-3.5 vs. Students, ChatGPT-3.5 scored 12.83\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.160 in General Surgery compared to 9.50\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.61 for students, 11.91\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.17 in General Medicine compared to 7.71\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.51 for students, 8.38\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.82 in Traumatology compared to 6.38\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.70 for students.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eConclusions\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn our limited study, ChatGPT-3.5 performed better than students in answering MCQ-based questions in GMGS modules. Despite the repetition in prompting the same questions 72 times, ChatGPT-3.5 did not achieve perfect scores or improved scores. This finding suggests the need for further investigation into how AI responds to repeated testing and its implications for educational assessments.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Performance of ChatGPT 3.5 against clinical dental students in General Surgery General Medicine (GMGS) module","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-05-08 13:43:03","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9429227/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"338059182172713408763489813615577927133","date":"2026-05-01T11:54:44+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"26357895004661784526081082057063972678","date":"2026-04-29T07:45:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-29T07:29:39+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-21T10:37:30+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-04-20T01:39:59+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-04-20T01:39:49+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"BMC Medical Education","date":"2026-04-15T15:44:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"bmc-medical-education","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"meed","sideBox":"Learn more about [BMC Medical Education](http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/meed/default.aspx","title":"BMC Medical Education","twitterHandle":"BMC_series","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"3f554d18-9bdd-44ea-8afa-0f7e558110f6","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 8th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"338059182172713408763489813615577927133","date":"2026-05-01T11:54:44+00:00","index":39,"fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-08T13:43:04+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-05-08 13:43:03","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9429227","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9429227","identity":"rs-9429227","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}