Short- and long-term academic predictors of medical student performance

The relationship between entry qualifications and performance throughout the medical course was studied in individual cohorts of students admitted in the years 1977 to 1981. A modest but significant relationship with overall initial qualifications was found throughout the course. Students without biology showed a marked disadvantage in the first year but the effect did not persist. There were quite marked variations in all these effects between cohorts; studying only a single cohort could lead to inappropriate conclusions.