Clinical experience, performance in final examinations, and learning style in medical students: prospective study

Abstract

The lack of correlation between examination performance and clinical experience calls into question the validity of final examinations. How much knowledge is gained from clinical experience as a student is able to be predicted from measures of study habits made at the time of application to medical school, some six years earlier, although not from results of A level examinations. Medical schools wishing to select students who will gain the most knowledge from clinical experience cannot use the results of A level examinations alone but could assess a student's learning style.