Traditional and Novel Predictors of Classroom and Clerkship Success of Pharmacy Students

American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 2003 by Kidd, Robert S, Latif, David A

The CCTST, CCTDI, PCAT, required prepharmacy GPA, cumulative pre-pharmacy GPA, essay score, and interview score served as independent variables and were assessed in relationship to the students' overall pharmacy GPA (ie, cumulative GPA during their 4 professional years), first through third year pharmacy GPA (ie, cumulative GPA for all 50 courses during the first 3 professional years, 1-3 year GPA) and clerkship GPA during the fourth professional year (ie, cumulative GPA for all 7 experiential clerkships during the fourth professional year) by multiple regression analysis. The GPAs were calculated as a numerical weighted average based on the course credit hours and quality points of the letter grade achieved (ie, A = 4.0, B = 3.0, C= 2.0, and D = 1.0). Finally, colinearity analysis was performed to assess if multicolinearity was a problem. A priori significances were set at the 0.05 alpha level. SPSS v.10 software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, Illinois) was used to evaluate the data for statistical significance.

RESULTS

Using PCAT scores, required prepharmacy GPA, and cumulative prepharmacy GPA as dependent variables, the Student's t-test revealed that those students for which we had complete records were not significantly different from those for which we did not have complete records. A one-way ANOVA revealed that students enrolled in each of the class years were not significantly different from each other based on the variables of interest. Therefore, we concluded that the classes were not systematically different from one another in terms of markers of academic performance.

The first analysis examined the influence of the 7 independent variables on students' overall pharmacy GPA. The model contributed significantly to students' overall pharmacy GPA (p = 0.001). As shown in Table 1, PCAT, essay, CCTDI, and CCTST all contributed significantly at the 0.05 alpha level to overall pharmacy GPA. Colinearity analysis revealed that multicolinearity did not appear to be a problem with this sample.

The second analysis examined the influence of the same 7 independent variables on students' 1-3 year GPA. The model contributed significantly to students' 1-3 year GPA (p

The third analysis examined the relationship between the same 7 independent variables and the students' clinical performance as measured by the clerkship GPA (actual performance on the fourth professional year experiential rotations). The model significantly contributed to clerkship GPA (p = 0.008). However, as Table 3 reveals, of the 7 independent variables, only the CCTST made a significant contribution to clerkship GPA at the 0.05 alpha level (p = 0.006). The other critical thinking marker, CCTDI, approached significance at the 0.05 alpha level (p = 0.056). Again, colinearity analysis was performed and it did not appear that multicolinearity was a problem.

DISCUSSION

The determination of accurate predictors of applicants who are more likely to have success in classroom courses, and more importantly the ones who are more likely to develop into competent practitioners in the practice setting, is critical to both the mission of schools of pharmacy and the profession of pharmacy. This study confirms previous findings from several studies that an applicant's PCAT is a good traditional predictor of a student's academic success in pharmacy school. Most studies have evaluated the PCAT alone or in combination with GPA in relation to performance in the first year of pharmacy school and found it to be a good predictor of various measures of success. Chisholm et al performed a comprehensive review of studies evaluating the PCAT as a predictor of success.17 This study extends those finding and demonstrates a significant correlation between PCAT score and classroom-based course success, as well as overall success in pharmacy school. It also identifies the on-campus timed essay, CCTST, and CCTDI as accurate predictors of students' overall success. The report by Allen et al is the only other study to examine a standardized critical thinking exam in pharmacy students, and they identified the CCTST to be a strong predictor of practice-related and clerkship success, but not overall success.18 Finally, this investigation identifies the CCTDI as an accurate predictor of success in first through third year classroom-based courses that has not previously been examined as a predictor of success in pharmacy students.