BMJ  2004;328:585 (6 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7439.585-a

Letter

School exam results matter in medical job applications

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Last month's report from the Working Group on 14-19 Reform announced 6-7 point assessment scales reforming current A level grading, welcoming counteraction of grade inflation and findings that A level mathematics fail to meet higher education needs.^1-3

McManus et al identified speed of career progression and attainment of postgraduate qualifications as indicators of vocational success in medicine.⁴ These principal outcome measures were used to justify the use of A level results as intelligence indicators during selection for medical school.

However, A level results continue to exert a post-selection bias during postgraduate training, and nowadays, these indicators can inversely correlate with vocational success if applicants undertake full time postgraduate research or general medical or surgical training.

We surveyed 51 registrars in various specialties in London to test the hypothesis that A levels influence postgraduate medical applications and career progression. Fifty of them had time to answer standard questions anonymously.

. . . [Full text of this article]

Institute of Ophthalmology, London EC1V 9EL

Department of Ophthalmology, Imperial College, London W6 8RP

Charing Cross Hospital, Ear Nose and Throat, London W6 8RF

Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 4JD

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A levels and intelligence as predictors of medical careers in UK doctors: 20 year prospective study

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