Learning from Repeaters : Gender Differences in Behaviour Under Pressure

This paper studies gender differences in behaviour under pressure when individuals take a multiple-choice test. By collecting results from different editions of the Spanish MIR (Resident Medical Intern) national exam, a panel dataset was built, including repeaters, and a new approach was proposed to infer pressure at the individual level. The results show that individuals subject to a great level of pressure answer fewer questions and make fewer errors, in line with a risk-averse attitude. However, no evidence of any gender difference under pressure was found