Objective To explore the strategies of improving the teaching quality of complete physical examination in diagnostics. Methods A total of 314 medical students' surveys relating to contents and skills of complete physical examination in Diagnostics were accomplished. Problems in the teaching quality of the complete physical examination were selected and countermeasures were determined by analyzing scores and performance of students. Results Among 192 items in a complete physical examination, students mastered poorly in 77 (40.1%) items, and especially poorly in 14. Skills of a comprehensive physical examination, including examination without repetition, inversion, omission and skills of palpation and percussion, were difficult to acquire. Conclusion It is helpful to improve the teaching quality of a complete physical examination by analyzing the problems in the physical examination to formulate the teaching objectives and optimize teaching methods.