Assessment of Learning Preferences of Undergraduate Medical Students using the Vark Questionnaire and its Association with Academic Performance

Abstract

Background: Current medical education, operating within the Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) framework, has gradually shifted toward a learning outcome-oriented, student-centered teaching model. All teaching arrangements under this framework must be designed around the learning objectives that students are required to achieve, rather than solely following the pace of instructors' lectures. The focus of teaching has shifted from how teachers teach to how students learn. This requires us to quickly identify the methods each student is most accustomed to using to receive and process information. The Visual, Auditory, Read/write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) model can precisely help us identify these different sensory learning preferences it categorizes learning preferences into four types based on the senses used to receive information: visual learners who receive information through sight, auditory learners who receive information through hearing, read/write learners who receive information through reading and writing, and kinesthetic learners who receive information through hands-on, physical participation. This model has been validated, is reliable and easy to use, and is simple to implement. Research Objectives: To identify the learning modalities preferred among undergraduate medical students at Government Medical College, Kadapa, and to analyze the correlation between these preferences and academic performance. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st January 2026 and 5th March 2026 among 459 medical undergraduates using a self-administered, validated VARK questionnaire (version 7.1) circulated through a Google Form, alongside a socio-demographic proforma. Data were analysed in SPSS version 26 using frequencies, percentages, mean ± standard deviation, one-way ANOVA, and the chi-square test, with p<0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: Of 459 participants (mean age 20.5 ± 1.46 years; 55.3% female), unimodal learners predominated (63%), followed by bimodal (27%), quadmodal (6%), and trimodal (4%) learners. Kinesthetic learning recorded the highest mean score (7.92 ± 3.56), followed by auditory (7.4 ± 3.44), visual (5.63 ± 3.4), and read/write (4.61 ± 3.35) styles. Kinesthetic preference showed a statistically significant association with academic performance (F=7.51, p=0.001), and overall modality type was significantly associated with performance band (χ²=18.1, p=0.01). Conclusion: The conclusions drawn from this study are that among the participating undergraduate medical students, the majority rely on a single dominant sensory learning modality, with the largest number of students preferring kinesthetic and auditory learning. The study also found that kinesthetic learning preferences, as well as the overall distribution of all students' learning modalities, have a significant correlation with their academic performance. This conclusion supports a specific direction: more hands-on practical content, demonstration-driven teaching methods, and interactive teaching strategies that promote student participation should be incorporated into the curriculum for undergraduate medical students.