Diers DJ; Governors State University, University Park, IL. d-diers@govst.edu.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if there are any differences between the graduates who pass the National Physical Therapy Examination and those graduates who did not, when examining pre-admission and program variables. SUBJECTS: The subjects were 67 graduates from the MPT program at a midwestern university. METHODS: The graduates of the program were divided into three groups. Two of the groups were utilized for this study: group one which has taken the NPTE and is licensed (n = 57) and group two which has taken the NPTE but is not licensed (n = 8). A third group consisted of students who graduated from the program but have not taken the NPTE (n = 2). There were many variables used for this project. The variables are: 1) cumulative undergraduate GPA, 2) prerequisite GPA, 3) total GRE score, 4) essay score, 5) recommendation score, 6) Illinois residency score, 7) a subtotal rubric score which consist of variables 1-5 ( the Illinois residency score was not used as this was a dichotomous variable), 8) the interview score, 9) the total admission score which combines the admission rubric score subtotal and the interview score, 10) the program grade point average, 11) individual GRE section scores, 12) pre and post program California Critical Thinking Skills tests scores and 13) the average of the first 24 criteria on the Clinical Performance Instrument for the final clinical internship. ANALYSIS: Multiple t-tests were used to compare each of the variables for each group: those which passed the NPTE and those who have not. The significance level was placed at p = .05. RESULTS: Statistical significance between groups 1 and 2 was found for the following variables: the total GRE score (p = .00004), the program GPA (p = .00038), GRE subsections verbal (p = .001), quantitative (p = .001), analytical (p = .006), pre-program CCTST (p = .008), post-program CCTST (p = .0001). CONCLUSION: There are many variables used in the admission process and within the program which are significantly different between the students who have passed the NPTE and those who have not. The majority of the significant variables are from standardized tests. These results can be used to determine qualified candidates for the physical therapist program or in the case of the program variables, identify students who may need additional preparation for the NPTE. FUNDING SOURCE: None

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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