Previous experience in select biological science courses confers performance advantages for students in an upper-level Human Physiology course

Principles of Human Physiology (PHSL3061) is a team-taught survey course covering the major areas of Human Physiology (cell, skeletal muscle, neurophysiology, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, gastro-intestinal, metabolism, renal). PHSL3061 is required for Human Physiology (PHSL) majors as well as Biomedical Engineering (BMEn) majors. Historically, BMEn majors have outperformed PHSL majors in high stakes assessments, such as exams. More recently, small stakes assessments such as weekly quizzes and practice exams narrowed academic performance gaps between PHSL and BMEn majors. In this current study, we examined previous course work taken by both PHSL and BMEn majors. We hypothesized that select courses taken by PHSL and BMEn majors prior to PHSL3061 could provide knowledge base advantages that result in increasing positive outcomes. We examined the BMEn curriculum and found that BMEn majors that earned an “A” score in a required engineering major-specific cell biology course (BMEn2051) outperformed PHSL majors for whom the BMEn cell biology course was not required. Our Human Physiology major requires courses in Biochemistry (BIOC3021), Genetics (GCD3022) and Cell Biology (GCD3033). We found that PHSL majors who earned an “A” in any of these three courses before taking PHSL 3061 outperformed majors who had not yet taken those courses. Further analyses of PHSL students that took these courses revealed that there was a positively strong to moderately strong correlation between grade point average and their performance in PHSL3061. Interestingly, PHSL majors completing a Human Anatomy course (ANAT3001, 3601, 3611) prior to enrollment in Principles of Human Physiology had little impact on their academic performance in the class. Taken together, we have identified courses PHSL students should take prior to PHSL3061 to increase their chances of success. These data will further inform our academic advising as well. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.