Improving Certification Examination Pass Rates by Examining NMT Program Admission GPA

Introduction: The NMT program certification board pass rates did not meet JRCNMT 80% standard. The admission GPA was considered as one indicator of student success on the certification examination, and the relationship between the two constructs was examined.

The Admission GPA to the NMT program was based on university’s standard health science program admission GPA of 2.5. The NMT program certification examination pass rate was less than the benchmark 80% for 3 consecutive years.

Methods: The program examined the acceptance GPA and first attempt certification examination scores using linear regression analysis (Figure 1), which indicated a cutoff greater than the GPA of 2.5 would be beneficial to the program outcomes.

Results: Using the regression data, the cutoff GPA was gradually increased whereupon a significantly positive association between GPA of 2.8 and passing the exam was established (X² = 7.652, p = 0.0057). Further examination of the pass rate and the admission GPA indicated that this GPA of 2.8 also resulted in a significantly different proportion in pass/fail rates when compared to 2.5 (p=0.0013).

Conclusions: The program admission GPA was increased from the university undergraduate standard 2.5 to the more successful admission GPA of 2.8. To date, certification examination pass rates have exceeded the 80% benchmark using the 2.8 GPA admission criterion.

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