Identifying predictors of pharmacy licence examination using grade point average

Abstract

© 2018 FIP. Background: Passing the Pharmacy Licence Examination (PLE) is a goal of students and faculty. Predictors of PLE would help attain this goal. Aims: To identify predictors of PLE using grade point averages (GPAs). Methods: Student records including course GPAs, admissions route, specialty track, gender and PLE scores consisting of multiple choice questions (MCQ) and objective structured pharmacy examination (OSPE) were examined. Associations between student data and PLE scores were determined using linear regression analyses at the significance level of 0.05. Results: Significant relations were found between MCQ and pharmacotherapy, pharmaceutical technology and integration of pharmacy professions (adjusted R2=0.573), and between OSPE and pharmacy practices II (adjusted R2=0.085). The association of admissions route and specialty track with OSPE was slight. Conclusion: This study identified three course sub-areas: pharmacotherapy, pharmaceutical technology and integration of pharmacy professions as strong predictors of high MCQ scores suggesting that high GPAs improved high MCQ scores.