Relationship between performance on the progress test and selection for medical residency

Background The Progress Test (PT) is a formative evaluation used to analyze student progress throughout medical undergraduate studies. Further, classificatory summative assessments are carried out by medical graduates worldwide, either to acquire a practicing license or to obtain a vacancy in the Medical Residency (MR) selection processes. We aimed to identify whether performance in the PT is related to the performance in the MR selection process. Methods The physicians who attended and graduated from a public university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, between 2011 and 2014 were assessed on the basis of voluntary participation in the PT throughout their undergraduate program, performance in the PT in their last year, performance in the multiple-choice test of the MR and convocation in the first classificatory list, and approval for the MR selection. Descriptive statistics and comparison of scores were performed using the Student t-test for independent and paired samples and the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results Of the 424 students, 374 had participated in the PTs throughout their undergraduate program and in the MR selection process. These graduates performed better in PT than the 22 who did not go on to MR (p < 0.05). The students who participated in all PT throughout their undergraduate program demonstrated superior performance in MR than those 22 who did not participate regularly (p < 0.0001). Among the 374 trainees, the average performance level for the PT was lower than that for the multiple-choice, both overall (p < 0.05) and separately by year (p < 0.0001); moreover, there was a strong correlation between PT performance and performance on the multiple-choice. There was greater approval in MR among graduates whose mean score on the multiple-choice test was above the mean score in PT (p < 0.0001). Conclusions PT performance was related to performance in the MR selection process for the study period; there was a strong correlation between student performance in the PT and multiple-choice test in MR. Students with multiple-choice test results for MR that were below the average performance level in the PT were less frequently approved in the MR selection process.