Abstract

Background: The cohort of students enrolled in the bio science papers at the Bachelor of Health Science (Oral Health) programme reflects a structural diversity in that it includes students of differing levels of prior education. The purpose of this retrospective quantitative study was to determine if the level of prior education, is a predictor of academic performance in the bio science papers.

Methods: The sample for this study was a purposive sample of all oral health students who had enrolled in the first- and second-year bio science papers at the Auckland University of Technology from 2011 to 2014. The desensitized empirical data of 116 students from the University’s database was subject to independent sample t tests and multivariable regression analysis.

Results: The independent sample t tests with p values of >0.05 indicated that there was no difference in the bio science performance of students with and without prior university qualifications. The multiple variable regression analysis with p values of >0.05 failed to establish the level of prior education as a predictor of academic performance in the bio science papers.

Conclusion: The level of prior education was not predictive of the academic performance in the two bio science papers.

Keywords:Academic performance; Admissions/ Selection; Bioscience performance