Entry tests for graduate medical programs: is it time to re-think?
Author: Michele A Groves
Published online: 7 May 2007
In reply: Marley makes an important point about the conclusions that can be drawn from our study on the effectiveness of medical school admissions tests. As acknowledged in our article, the size of the study and the restriction of range to which he refers do limit the strength of the findings. Nevertheless, it is precisely because admissions tests elicit such an emotional response from the general community, as well as being costly and stressful for both aspiring students and medical schools, that there is an urgent need for a large-scale multi-institutional evaluation of the process — a need that our results highlight.
It is reassuring that the Australian Council for Educational Research, the developers of the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), is currently conducting one such study in conjunction with several Australian graduate-entry medical schools.
We hope that our study serves to stimulate still more discussion and analysis of medical student selection processes.