Relationship between admission grades and performances of students in the first professional examination in a new medical school

In order to determine the relationship between the quality of Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) results, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board organised Universities Matriculation Examination (JAMB-UME) scores, and student's academic performance at Lagos state University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Nigeria, records of students admitted into the Medical School in 1998/99 were studied. Data transformations were completed and subsequently standardized. Standard descriptive statistics and correlation coefficient were used to determine the correlation between the variables. The results showed that there was no significant correlation between the SSCE and the JAMB scores. In addition, correlation between JAMB and the student performance at 100 level and pre -clinical sciences also proved to be non significant. These results indicate that SSCE is a better predicator of students' performance at pre -clinical sciences examination than JAMB Scores. African Journal of Biomedical Research Vol. 8(1) 2005: 51-57