Ability of Admissions Criteria to Predict Early Academic Performance Among Students of Health Science Colleges at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of admissions criteria at King Saud University (KSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to predict students' early academic performance at three health science colleges (medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy). A retrospective cohort study was conducted with data from the records of students enrolled in the three colleges from the 2008-09 to 2010-11 academic years. The admissions criteria high school grade average (HSGA), aptitude test (APT) score, and achievement test (ACT) score were the independent variables. The dependent variable was the average of students' first- and second-year grade point average (GPA). The results showed that the ACT was a better predictor of the students' early academic performance than the HSGA (beta=0.368, beta=0.254, respectively). No significant relationship was found between the APT and students' early academic performance (beta=-0.019, p>0.01). The ACT was most predictive for pharmacy students (beta=0.405), followed by dental students (beta=0.392) and medical students (beta=0.195). Overall, the current admissions criteria explained only 25.5% of the variance in the students' early academic performance. While the ACT and HSGA were found to be predictive of students' early academic performance in health colleges at KSU, the APT was not a strong predictor. Since the combined current admissions criteria for the health science colleges at KSU were weak predictors of the variance in early academic performance, it may be necessary to consider noncognitive evaluation methods during the admission process.