Why should students bother to read

Abstract Two consecutive groups of final-year dental students received an identical examination paper based on recent articles in the field of restorative dentistry. One year was given none of the articles to read, the other year received a proportion of them. Both students' years scored similarly and within the year which had received some of the articles no differences were detected which would support the view that receiving the articles enhanced the examination score. Informal teaching and student interchange of information is suggested as the most likely reason for this result.