The Impact of Quantitative Variables Including Community College Education Hours on National Physical Therapy Examination Score.

INTRODUCTION: With rising student debt, identifying ways for students to contain the cost of their education is highly desired. Numerous prerequisite courses are required for admission to a physical therapy program and have been shown to predict success in the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) following graduation. Identifying how pre-admission courses completed at a 2-year vs 4-year institution impacts student success may allow students to be more selective about where they complete courses, thereby decreasing the amount of debt accumulated prior to entering graduate education. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between type of institution where students completed prerequisite coursework and subsequent NPTE scores and the related financial ramifications.

METHODS: Participants (n=309) included students who graduated from two CAPTE-accredited DPT programs at private universities in the U.S. Midwest. This retrospective, correlational quantitative study analyzed independent variables that included GRE scores (verbal and quantitative), DPT GPA at the end of the first year, DPT GPA at graduation, undergraduate overall GPA and science GPA, number of credit hours completed at a 2-year institution, and number of prerequisite credit hours completed at a 2-year institution. Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and stepwise regression were utilized for data analysis.

RESULTS: Multiple stepwise regression found that first-year DPT GPA alone was the most statistically significant predictor (r=0.591, p<0.001) of outcome on the NPTE, while GRE Quantitative improved the significance of the final predictive equation by 2.2%. Number of community college credit hours and prerequisite hours completed at a community college were not identified by multiple regression as predictors of variance in NPTE scores.

CONCLUSION: With the first-year DPT GPA shown to explain 35% of the variance in NPTE scores, with an additional 2% contributed by GRE Quantitative, our findings can be used by faculty to identify students earlier who may need additional guidance and support. For students, taking prerequisite courses at a community college vs a 4-year institution is a cost-saving alternative found to have no impact on NPTE score.