An evaluation of the pharmacy college admissions test as a tool for pharmacy college admission committees

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, Fall 2001 by Kelley, Katherine A, Secnik, Kristina, Boye, Mark E

The purpose of this study was to determine the capacity of the PCAT to predict success in pharmacy school. T-tests were used to test for differences in mean PCAT scores by gender, race and native language. Regression analysis was used to explain first-quarter pharmacy GPA utilizing pre-pharmacy GPA and PCAT scores as the independent variables. T-test results yielded statistically significant differences in mean PCAT scores between groups on all three demographic variables. The adjusted R^sup 2^ values for the regression model (N=360) explaining pharmacy GPA using PCAT and pre-pharmacy GPA together (R2=0.353) were the best indicators. The analysis of average pharmacy GPA by PCAT decile showed that below a composite percentile score of 40, the average first-quarter GPA fell below 2.0. PCAT used in combination with pre-pharmacy GPA is meaningful in assessing applicants to pharmacy school. Applicants with PCAT composite percentile scores below 40 should be given particularly careful attention.

INTRODUCTION

Colleges of Pharmacy in the United States continue to experience decreasing numbers of applicants to their professional programs a trend that began in the second half of the 1990s(1) (Table I). During this same time period pharmacy education in the U.S. has changed, in some cases dramatically, which has left colleges and their admissions committees with the challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified applicants to their pharmacy schools. Because of this decline in numbers of applicants, colleges of pharmacy should recognize and attempt to reduce barriers to program entry. In addition, admissions practices need to insure the assessment of applicant skills that are relevant to the new programs to which students are being admitted. This investigation was designed to evaluate the usefulness of one potential assessment tool - the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT).

Beginning with the 1997 admissions cycle, The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Pharmacy adopted the PCAT for use in its admissions process. After three admissions cycles requiring PCAT scores, the admissions committee had only a general idea of how well this test explained success in pharmacy school. The research reported in this article was conducted, with committee support, in order to assess and test performance in this student population. Data analyses from the first three admissions cycles (1997, 1998, 1999) were shared with the committee at the start of the fourth admission cycle (autumn 2000) with the hope that prior results would produce more informed admissions decisions with regard to the use the PCAT scores. Data from the fourth admission cycle (autumn 2000) were subsequently collected and analyzed to determine if the committee had successfully incorporated what was learned from the initial data analyses (admissions cycles for 1997, 1998, 1999) into their decision making process for the 2000 admissions cycle.

The PCAT was introduced in order to help discriminate between increasingly large applicant pools in the early 1970s, and numerous studies have reported on the early (pre-1990) stages of PCAT development(2). Results of this initial research suggested PCAT scores accounted for 18-60 percent of the variance in pharmacy school grade point average (GPA). Generally, in these studies, pharmacy school GPA was defined as the cumulative GPA at the end of the first professional year of study. While the PLAT study results are similar to studies on other admissions exams, these early studies varied in their ability to provide useful information for admissions committees. Authors of more recent articles(3-7) have also found varying results with regard to the usefulness of the PCAT in predicting pharmacy school success. In addition, studies have been reported on the usefulness of the PCAT in explaining minority student success(4) and the differences in PCAT score by gender(8) (see Appendix).

Similar to most of the existing published literature on PCAT, data for this investigation were collected from a single institution. Results from a single study, however, are seldom conclusive and rarely generalizable. The purpose of this research, therefore, was to further extend our knowledge and strengthen (or weaken) generalizations regarding the association between PCAT scores and pharmacy school GPA within the context of our new educational environment. In sum, does this test provide information that is useful to admissions committees or is it merely a barrier for the applicant? Careful evaluation should be given to the continued use of this test at a time when the challenges to admissions committees (i.e., decreasing numbers of applicants and a graduate professional curriculum versus an undergraduate professional curriculum) are vastly different from the time that the test was developed.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions were investigated.

1. What differences in average PLAT scores exist by gender, race and native language?

2. To what extent does knowledge of student's PCAT score explain success in pharmacy school?