The relative significance of measures of mechanical aptitude, intelligence, and previous scholarship for predicting achievement in dental school

Abstract

Five mechanical aptitude tests were administered to a group of 66 dental school freshmen. The results, together with intelligence test scores, pre-dental average grades, and pre-dental science average grades, were correlated with average grade for first year in dental school and average grade for the four-year period. Intelligence and pre-dental scholarship showed substantial relationship with achievement in dental school, and when combined gave a multiple correlation coefficient of .67 with dental school work. Mechanical aptitude tests gave correlations of negligible size with dental school scholarship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)