Academic performance of male in comparison with female undergraduate medical students in Pharmacology examinations.

OBJECTIVE To compare the academic performance of male and female medical students in Pharmacology examinations. METHODS The comparative study was conducted at Rehman Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan, from March to August 2015. For evaluating the students' academic performance, male and female students of academic sessions 2013-14 and 2014-15 were divided into 4 groups. Group 1: < 50% marks; Group 2: 50-69% marks; Group 3: 70-79% marks; and Group 4: >80% marks. SPSS 20 was used for data analysis. RESULTS Of the 200 medical students enrolled, 102(51%) were male and 98(41%) were female. There was no significant difference in the academic performance in terms of gender in multiple choice questions (p=0.811) and short essay questions (p=0.515). The effect of attendance was also insignificant (p=0.130). Significant difference was found between the academic records of urban male and female students compared to rural students (p=0.038). Boarder students' results were insignificantly different from those of day scholars (p=0.887). CONCLUSIONS There was no significant difference between the academic performance of male and female students.