MBBS admission criteria as predictor of academic performance in a medical college of Pakistan

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between scores obtained by students in assessments considered as admission criteria (cognitive and non-cognitive) with their academic performance in medical college. METHOD: This correlational study used the data of students who got admission in Shalamar Medical and Dental College (SMDC) in 2015. Spearman correlation and Multiple regression tests were carried out to determine the relationship between admission criteria (Matric, FSC, MDCAT and MMI) and academic performance in medical college (pre-clinical and clinical years). RESULTS: There was significant positive correlation between scores obtained in MDCAT and pre-clinical years. When combined, MDCAT and MMI scores showed a significant positive correlation with scores obtained by students in clinical years. Scores obtained by students in pre-clinical years strongly correlated with their performance in clinical years. While scores obtained by students in FSC showed negative correlation with clinical year scores, significantly. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the tools used for admission criteria should include both cognitive and non-cognitive elements. MDCAT is a good predictor of academic performance in pre-clinical years however it can only predict performance in clinical years when combined with MMI since MMI assesses the non-cognitive attributes (communication, empathy, ethics etc.) required in those years. FSC should not be given weightage as admission criteria owing to a lot of variability in the exams and scoring of different academic boards of the country