At a recent conference on student selection in the health professions, it became obvious that researchers and practitioners continue to routinely conflate the format and content of assessments. What do multiple‐choice questions (MCQs), single best answers questions (SBAQs), extended matching questions (EMQs), very short answer questions (VSAQs), objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) and multiple mini‐interviews (MMIs) all have in common? They all refer to format rather than content: an MCQ that assesses basic knowledge recall is qualitatively different from an MCQ that assesses reasoning.