Pre-admission Grades And Student Performance: The Malaysian Medical School Experience

Abstract

Prior academic achievement is often considered the best predictor and therefore the preadmission criteria for highly competitive medical schools. Most studies that advocate this viewpoint analyzed cohorts based on results of a central examination taken by students who come from various pre-university setups and backgrounds. Far less is known about students who come from a common setup, sit for common assessments, and the effect on their achievement in medical schools. This study sets out to investigate the correlation and association of preadmission grades and various summative results during preclinical year medical program. The association of the whole group is investigated. The association of subgroups (low, intermediate, and high achievers) to preclinical achievement was also investigated to get insight about the consistency. As a group, the pre-university performance (especially in natural sciences) has moderate to high correlations to various results in preclinical phase. As subgroups: low achievers are less consistent and predictable; high achievers are best correlated to various results of preclinical phase; while intermediate achievers are in between. The cumulative grade point and performance in natural sciences in a common pre-university program can serve not only as a predictor of performance, but also as an indicator for consistency of performance in preclinical phase of medical programs. This information may be of use to medical school admission and selection committees.