Does the medical college admission test predict clinical reasoning skills? A longitudinal study employing the Medical Council of Canada clinical reasoning examination.
BACKGROUND
To investigate the predictive validity of the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) for clinical reasoning skills upon completion of medical school.


METHODS
A total of 597 students (295 males, 49.4%; 302 females, 50.6%) participated from 1991 to 1999. Stepwise multiple regressions of the MCAT and premedical school GPA (independent variables) on the Part 1(declarative knowledge) and Part 2 (clinical reasoning) of the Medical Council of Canada Examinations (dependent variables) were employed.


RESULTS
For Part 1, the multiple regression revealed that three predictors (verbal reasoning, biological sciences, GPA) accounted for 23.3% of the variance, and for Part 2, two predictors (verbal reasoning, GPA) accounted for 11.2%.


CONCLUSIONS
There is both convergent and divergent evidence for the predictive validity of the MCAT for clinical reasoning.
Violato
Claudio
C
Medical Education and Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Community Health Sciences, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, University of Calgary, Calgary Alberta, Canada T2N 4N1. violato@ucalgary.ca
Donnon
Tyrone
T
D002170:Canada; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003099:College Admission Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011340:Problem Solving; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D012577:Schools, Medical; D014481:United States