Prepharmacy predictors of success in pharmacy school: Grade point averages, Pharmacy College Admissions Test, communication abilities, and critical thinking skills

Good admissions decisions are essential for identifying successful students and good practitioners. Various parameters have been shown to have predict ive power for academic success. Previous academic performance, the Pharmacy College Admissions Test (PCAT), and specific prepharmacy courses have been suggested as academic performance indicators. However, critical thinking a bilities have not been evaluated. We evaluated the connection between acade mic success and each of the following predictive parameters: the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) score, PCAT score, interview score, overall academic performance prior to admission at a pharmacy school, and p erformance in specific prepharmacy courses. We confirmed previous reports b ut demonstrated intriguing results in predicting practice-based skills. Cri tical thinking skills predict practice-based course success. Also, the CCTS T and PCAT scores (Pearson correlation [pc] = 0.448, p < 0.001) were closel y related in our students. The strongest predictors of practice-related cou rses and clerkship success were PCAT (pc = 0.237, p < 0.001) and CCTST (pc = 0.201, p < 0.001). These findings and other analyses suggest that PCAT ma y predict critical thinking skills in pharmacy practice courses and clerksh ips. Further study is needed to confirm this finding and determine which PC AT components predict critical thinking abilities.