A derived basic ability criterion for predicting dental students' performance.

This study represents an attempt to develop a valid criterion for predicting students' performance while in dental school. Dental students' overall grade point averages were partitioned into component measures of relevant basic ability clusters in terms of factor scores. The derived indices were used as criterion variables in simple and multiple correlation and regression analyses, with Dental Admission Test (DAT) and predental college scores as predictors. Results showed that basic science abilities were associated with the preprofessional academic predictors, and manual skills with the DAT Perceptual Motor Ability Test (PMAT) scores. None of the presently available preprofessional predictors, taken singly or together, were correlated sufficiently with the factor-associated dental science performance or the nonfactor-associated dental clinical performance for effective prediction. Findings that the development of dental and clinical proficiency at the predoctoral level depends neither on available predictors nor on preprofessional background in the basic sciences have implications for traditional admission policies.