Helping Students Prepare for the GRE and Other Graduate/Professional School Entrance Exams Ed Freeman, Maryann Herman, Eileen Lynd-Balta, Virginia Maier, Eileen Merges, Laura Phelan, Dawn Rager, Zachary Shirkey, and Theresa Westbay

Why a Learning Circle on this Topic?  Anecdotally, we had noted that Fisher students’ performance on graduate entrance exams often seems to fall short of expectations based on their undergraduate academic records. We therefore decided to:  Identify skills and content knowledge required for/assessed by the exams and determine where/how these are addressed in the Biology and/or Psychology programs;  Explore Fisher students’ actual performance on some of these exams;  Define the characteristics of ideal test preparation versus the actual preparation conducted by our students;  Consider programmatic modifications (e.g., related to advising, curriculum) informed by the above.

 Graduate Record Exam (GRE) – General  Required by many different graduate programs  GRE subject test may be required by some schools  Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)  Dental Admissions Test (DAT)  Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT)  Optometry Admissions Test (OAT)  Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)  Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) The Exams

 Please follow along with the handout provided  Information about the other graduate entrance exams is available online at the websites listed on the next to last slide Overview of the GRE

Data on Fisher Students’ Performance  We investigated actual student performance on exams through student self-reports (based on items included on senior exit surveys developed and administered by the Biology and Psychology Departments) and reports generated by the testing agencies.  MCAT scores for Fisher students are available to the Health Professions Advisor (Ginny Maier) who maintains in-house records and tracks student performance.  As a result of the activities of our learning circle, scores for all Fisher students who took the General GRE since 2004 have been acquired by the College from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Interested parties can access these reports through Liz Lachance in the Office of Institutional Research.  The data largely supported our anecdotal observations, and some summaries and analyses are presented in the next several slides

GRE General Test Performance, 2002 – 2009

Writing Sample: 99 – 04 = national median (“O”) = one step above national median (“P”) Section scaled score MCAT Performance, 1999 – 2009

Percentile compared to reference group PCAT Performance, 2008 – 2009

Relationship Between Fisher GPA and GRE Scores is Only Slightly Positive

Little Relationship Between Fisher GPA and MCAT Score

Or Between Fisher GPA and PCAT

Fisher Students’ Test Preparation  Of 10 psychology majors surveyed who took the GRE last year:  1/10 took a test preparation course  5/10 used a test preparation study guide  4/10 took one or more practice tests  4/10 reported feeling adequately prepared for the exam  Students’ estimates of time devoted to test preparation ranged from 0 to 65 hours, with a mean of 17 hours  Students who took practice tests were more likely to report that they felt adequately prepared for the exam

 Commercial prep courses may have little effect on performance on MCAT and USMLE  Systematic review of studies on this subject through October 2002 (McGaghie, et al. 2004)  Ten studies identified for meta-analysis  Conclusions: research to date substandard, but evidence in support of utility of the courses is weak or nonexistent.  More recent study demonstrated similar results on “Austrailian version” of MCAT (Griffin, 2008). Correlates of Success on the MCAT

 Major choice and research experience may have a slight effect  A national sample of 495 students taking the MCAT in  Regression analysis: standardized coefficient for attending a university was 0.15 (versus college), for physical science major = 0.08, and work on a professor’s research project =  Correlation vs. causation? ■Undergraduate major and number of “related” undergraduate science courses do not affect first and second year med school performance (Yens and Stimmel, 1982; Canaday and Lancaster, 1985; Hall and Stocks, 1994) ■Survey of 90 dental students at University of Kentucky indicated that undergraduate coursework had no discernable effect on DAT scores (Humphrey et al. 2002) Other Factors that may Affect MCAT Scores

 Success comes from significant practice with particular test format and diligent preparation over many months  Content for most tests is covered in basic science and math/statistics courses. However, because content coverage is so great, test takers are not expected to get an “A” (especially on MCAT). Generates anxiety.  Basic familiarity with the testing site and process also can reduce anxiety. Feedback about MCAT from Fisher Students

 Graduate Record Exam (GRE)   Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT)   Dental Admissions Test (DAT)   Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT)  US/site/Community/PostSecondary/Products/pcat/pcathome.htm US/site/Community/PostSecondary/Products/pcat/pcathome.htm  Optometry Admissions Test (OAT)   Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)   Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT)  Online Resources for the Exams

 Anaya G Correlates of performance on the MCAT: an examination of the influence of college environments and experiences on student learning. Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 6(3):  Canaday SD, Lancaster CJ Impact of undergraduate courses on medical student performance in basic sciences. J Med Educ. 60(10):  Griffin B, Harding DW, Wilson IG, Yeomans ND Does practice make perfect? The effect of coaching and retesting on selection tests used for admission to an Australian medical school. Med J Aust. 189(5):270-3  Hall ML, Stocks MT Relationship between quantity of undergraduate science preparation and preclinical performance in medical school. Acad Med. 70(3):  Humphrey SP, Mathews RE, Kaplan AL, Beeman CS Undergraduate basic science preparation for dental school. J Dent Educ. 66(11):  McGaghie WC, Downing SM, Kubilius R What is the impact of commercial test preparation courses on medical examination performance? Teach Learn Med16(2):  Yens DP, Stimmel B Science versus nonscience undergraduate studies for medical school: a study of nine classes. J Med Educ. 57(6): References