Students admission grades and their performance at Ibadan University pre-clinical MBBS examinations

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this study w a s to examine the admission grades in Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) and Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) Examinations in relation to their performance at the pre-clinical class, at the University of Ibadan medical school. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out from December 1998-April 1999. Records of students admitted into the medical school in 1991/92 session were studied. The results showed a stronger correlation in the performance of the students at the 100-level examination and the Part 1 MBBS examination with the SSCE grade s than their JAM B scores. Students admitted on merit according to JAM B scores performed averagely better than their other counterpart with lower JAMB scores This result demonstrated that the SSCE scores are a better predictor of performance at preclinical MBBS examination than the JAMB scores. More attention needs to be placed on the quality of SSCE scores during admission into the medical school.