| The research summarized in this dissertation involved 409 graduates of a five-year baccalaureate program in pharmacy. The purpose of the study was to explore the relationships of pre-college and within-college variables to scores on the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Licensure Examination (NABPLEX). Pre-college variables included high school grade point average (GPA), ACT composite and subtest scores, and gender. Within-college variables included number of courses completed at Ockam University, number of courses failed/repeated, college GPA, and GPAs for five subsets of courses (i.e., general education, basic science, pharmacy science, pharmacy practice, pharmacy experience). Grades for 53 individual courses were included in some analyses.;With the exception of the number of course completed at Ockam University, all pre-college and within-college continuous variables were significantly correlated (in the expected directions) with NABPLEX scores. Graduates who passed and graduates who did not pass the NABPLEX differed significantly according to their ACT composite, mathematics, English, science reasoning, and reading scores; number of courses failed/repeated; college GPA; and GPAs in all five subsets of courses. Although mean NABPLEX scores did not differ significantly by gender, a disproportionate number of women did not pass this examination.;Statistical analyses controlling for pre-college variables showed that the number of courses failed/repeated, college GPA, and GPAs in all five subsets of courses were significantly related to NABPLEX scores. However, Pass and Non-Pass NABPLEX groups were found to differ significantly only in their college GPA, pharmacy practice GPA, and pharmacy experience GPA once pre-college variables had been taken into account.;Implications for practice are discussed in relation to admissions criteria; policies for accepting credits for courses completed at other institutions; academic advising and academic enhancement programs; and standards for academic probation, suspension, and dismissal. Recommendations for further research include explorations of demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, age, transfer student status) as they may relate to success in pharmacy programs and performance on pharmacy licensure examinations. |
