A new aptitude test, aimed at increasing diversity and fairness in selecting school leaver applicants to UK medical and dental schools, still has inherent gender and socioeconomic bias, according to new research carried out the Medical Education Unit at The University of Nottingham.
Research led by Emeritus Professor David James, Foundation Director of Medical Education at The University of Nottingham Medical School, showed that the new UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) had an inherent favourable bias to male applicants and those from a higher socioeconomic class or from independent or grammar schools, although it is less subject to bias than A-level results alone.
The UKCAT was first used in 2006 as part of the admissions process by a consortium of 23 medical and dental schools. The test is an appraisal of skills such as verbal reasoning and decision analysis, and is designed to ensure that candidates have the most appropriate mental abilities, attitudes and professional behaviours for new doctors and dentists to be successful in their professional careers.
The study involved 9,884 applicants to 23 UK medical and dental schools – just over half the total number of applicants in 2006. Professor David James and colleagues analysed data from the first group of applicants who sat the UKCAT in 2006 and who achieved at least three passes at A-level in their school leaving examinations.
They found a modest correlation between A-level and UKCAT scores, which confirms that the test can be used as a reasonable proxy for A-levels in the selection process. However, this study of a major subgroup of applicants in the first year of operation suggests that the UKCAT has an inherent favourable bias to men and students from a higher socioeconomic class or from independent or grammar schools.
The article was published in the BMJ online at
