Examination of Factors Relating to Student Performance on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment

Objective. To examine relationships between students’ demographic and academic performance factors and their scores on the Pharmacy Curriculum Outcomes Assessment (PCOA).Methods. Students’ PCOA scores and demographics (eg, age, race/ethnicity, sex), preadmission data [eg, cumulative and science grade point average (GPA), Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT)], and academic performance variables (eg, pharmacy GPA, academic standing) were analyzed for one class of third-year pharmacy students (N=159). Independent t-tests and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to compare scores by demographic variables. Pearson’s r correlations were used to assess relationships between PCOA scores and age, PCAT scores, and GPA. Stepwise linear regression was conducted to determine the predictive ability of variables with significant correlations to PCOA performance.Results. Significant correlations were found between sex and PCOA scores with males scoring higher than females. Significant correlations with PCOA scores w...