Do local curriculum scores correlate with national residency test results? A pluriannual, nationwide survey of Italian Medical Universities

In Italy, to match medical doctors to specialty residencies, the Minister of Education organizes a national multiple choice questions exam composed of 140 items. The curriculum grants additional points based on the candidates' grade average and graduation mark. Both national and international policies assume that curriculum scores can be evaluated in absolute terms, irrespective of the course attended by the candidate or its University of graduation. A fair inquiry over the current criteria of selection is not available to this day. Hence, this study aimed at investigating the degree of association between results in the Italian national residency test and the score given for each candidate's curriculum. We calculated Spearman's correlation coefficients between the score obtained at the 2019 test and curriculum scores. A moderate/high degree of correlation (rho=0.600) was reached. Spearman's rho ranged from 0.447 to 0.788, considering the single Universities. We thus measured a modest but non-negligible between-University variability. As differences between test and curriculum scores across institutions may determine the admission or not to the residency for many candidates, the authors call for broader attention on the topic.