Racial and Gender Influences on Pass Rates for the UK and Ireland Specialty Board Examinations.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Professional Examinations
• Socioeconomic Factors in Medicine

Background:

• Investigated demographic influences on performance in UK and Ireland Intercollegiate Specialty Board examinations.
• Examined computer-marked written and face-to-face oral/clinical sections.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the impact of gender, ethnic origin, first language, and training status on examination scores.
• To assess potential examiner bias in face-to-face examinations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of variance applied to 9987 examination attempts (2009-2013).
• Factors analyzed included training status, gender, ethnic origin, first language, and examination section.

Main Results:

• Training status was the most significant predictor of candidate performance (p < 0.001).
• Candidates in training significantly outperformed non-training candidates.
• Ethnic origin and first language had significant effects within "core candidates" but no interaction with examination section.

Conclusions:

• Training status is the primary determinant of success in specialty board examinations.
• Observed differences in attainment by ethnic origin and first language were not attributable to examiner bias in face-to-face assessments.
• Results suggest examination format does not introduce bias related to these demographic factors.