Predictors of academic performance in the pre-clinical sciences: effects of age, sex and mode of admission at the Maiduguri Medical School.

The effect of age on admission, sex and mode of admission as correlates of academic performance in the final pre-clinical examination was investigated. Records of 222 medical students covering five academic years (1987-1992) were obtained and matched for each student with the result of the final pre-clinical examinations in Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry. Age significantly affected students' performance as those below 20 years and those above 24 years performed better than those with ages between 20 and 24 years. A higher proportion of the male medical students were successful in all the three subjects when compared with females. Medical students admitted through the Joint Matriculation Examination performed better than those admitted through the remedial science and direct entry programmes. The implications of these findings are discussed.