The Influence of Pre-Admission Tracks on Students′ Academic Performance in a Medical Programme: Universiti Sains Malaysia

Context: An aim of medical schools is to select the most suitable candidates who are more likely to become good doctors, fulfilling societal expectations. It is imperative to better understand the influence of ′selection′ variables on students′ academic performance. We conducted a retrospective reco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education for health (Abingdon, England) England), 2012-11, Vol.25 (2), p.124-127
Main Authors: Arzuman, H, Ja′afar, R, Fakri, NMRM
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Admissions policies
Biology
Candidates
Core curriculum
Curriculum
Data Analysis
Education, Medical - standards
Education, Medical - statistics & numerical data
Education, Premedical - standards
Education, Premedical - statistics & numerical data
Educational Measurement
Entrance examinations
Female
Grade Point Average
Humans
Malaysia
Male
Medical schools
Missing information
Physicians
Physics
Power
Research methodology
Retrospective Studies
Secondary schools
Statistical analysis
Students
Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data
Variance analysis
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Summary:Context: An aim of medical schools is to select the most suitable candidates who are more likely to become good doctors, fulfilling societal expectations. It is imperative to better understand the influence of ′selection′ variables on students′ academic performance. We conducted a retrospective record review (3R) to examine the predictive power of pre-admission tracks on academic performance in the medical programme at the Universiti Sains Malaysia. Methods: Data were collected on medical graduates′ of the university for the years 2003 through 2007. This represented 805 graduates after exclusion of 42 for incomplete and inconsistent data related to the analysis. Results: A total of 95% of the graduates were included in this analysis; 67% were female. Of the 805 graduates, 75% were from the Matriculation course track, 22% from the High School Certificate (HSC) course and 1% from other pre-admission tracks. There was 2% missing information. The majority (79%) were Biology majors and 13% were Physics majors. Graduates from the HSC course and with a Biology background demonstrated a strong correlation with positive academic performance (P < 0.05) compared with other groups. Conclusion: The HSC track and Biology background may be helpful for the medical school in selecting future students.
ISSN:1357-6283
1469-5804
DOI:10.4103/1357-6283.103460