Abstract:
Data were obtained from 309 students enrolled over a 23-year period in Advanced Physiology and Anatomy of Domestic Animals, including a 30-question pretest. There were 184 (59.6%) female and 125 (40.4%) male students. Pretest averaged 60.6 ± 0.76 (± SE) and final score averaged 86.1 ± 0.26. Analyses of variance for pretest score showed that degree sought (P < 0.02), department of study (P < 0.05), BS institution (P < 0.001) and background courses in physiology (P < 0.02) and biochemistry (P < 0.001) affected pretest scores. The pretest score was 59.5 ± 1.8 for incoming MS students, which was lower than scores for incoming PhD students (64.4 ± 2.0). Students from US Land Grant institutions, US non-Land Grant institutions and Virginia Tech scored higher on pretests than students from Chinese institutions. Final score was affected by gender (P < 0.02), previous degree (P < 0.001), pretest score (P < 0.001) and completion of background courses in anatomy (P < 0.05), organic chemistry (P < 0.02), biochemistry (P < 0.001) and statistics (P < 0.02). Pretest score and courses in biochemistry and anatomy were positively related to final score. Final score was 86.2 ± 0.97 for females compared to 84.9 ± 0.97 for males. The MS students had a final score of 85.3 ± 0.63 which was lower than that obtained by P D students (87.9 ± 0.72). Although cause is not always apparent, multiple factors affect performance in graduate physiology and anatomy.
 7 Gwazdauskas NACTA Journal Mar14.pdf | [ ] | 237 kB |
