Predictability of dental students' performance in clinical courses based on their performance in pre-clinical and academic courses

Objectives Some dental schools depend on the students' academic performance for admission purposes. This research aimed at investigating the correlations between dental students' performance in specific academic courses and their pre-clinical and clinical counterparts and the correlations between students' performance in the pre-clinical practical courses and the clinical courses. Methods Academic and practical pre-clinical and clinical grades were retrieved for 811 students who graduated from the School of Dentistry, the University of Jordan, between 2016 and 2018. Ten courses (five academic and five practical) were selected. Pearson's rho test was used to calculate the correlations between the courses. Results Statistically significant weak-to-moderate positive correlations were found between each academic course and its pre-clinical or clinical counterparts and between pre-clinical and clinical courses. A statistically significant positive moderate correlation (p < .001) was found between students' performance in fourth and fifth year restorative clinics. Conclusion The results of this study suggest that the academic performance could partially predict the practical performance in both the pre-clinical and clinical courses and that the clinical performance could partially be predicted from the pre-clinical practical performance. Moreover, students who can successfully perform the required clinical procedures in fourth year will successfully perform the required clinical procedures in fifth year. However, other confounding factors should be taken into consideration such as manual dexterity and artistic skills even though their intellectual abilities are average.