Predictors of Success on the MLT and MLS Board of Certification Exam

Janice Thomas; Jeffrey L. Alexander

doi:10.29074/ascls.2020002683

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Figure 1.
Participant count by program and instruction mode N = 437.

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Table 1.

Participant demographics by program and instruction mode (N = 437)

Program
		MLT (n = 205)		MLS (n = 232)
		Face to Face	Online	Face to Face	Online
Sex	Male	45	23	44	31
	Female	44	93	37	120
Race/ethnicity	White/Caucasian	70	90	66	115
	Black or African American	0	6	1	7
	Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	0	1	0	1
	Asian	3	5	5	14
	Hispanic	6	6	5	6
	American Indian or Alaska native	0	2	0	1
	Unknown	10	6	4	7
Age at graduation	Median	23	31	25	34
	Minimum	19	21	21	22
	Maximum	44	60	39	58

Participants graduated from 1 or both MLS programs, using either face-to-face or online delivery. AAS, Associate of Applied Science; BS, Bachelor of Science; MLS, medical laboratory sciences/scientist; MLT, medical laboratory technician.

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Table 2.

Stepwise linear regression

			Unstandardized Coefficients		Standardized Coefficient
Program	Step	Predictor	B	SE	Beta	R₂	R₂ change	F	p
MLTn = 205	1	(Constant)	127.142			.240	.240	64.244	<.001
		PA-GPA	132.180	16.491	.490
MLSn = 232	1	(Constant)	196.298			.098	.098	24.992	<.001
		PA-GPA	73.986	16.893	.276
	2					.128	.030	16.753	.006
		Sex	34.283	12.293	.176

Dependent variable = BOC score, measured as a continuous, scale variable. SE = standard error of B. 0 = female; 1 = male. PA-GPA = continuous scale variable from 0.0–4.0.

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Table 3.

Pearson correlations between predictor variables and BOC scores

Program	Predictors	Pearson Correlation	BOC Score
MLT n = 205	PA-GPA^*	Pearson correlation	.490
MLT n = 205		p	.000
	Instruction mode	Pearson correlation	.308
		p	.068
	Years to graduation	Pearson correlation	−.172
		p	.181
	Age at graduation	Pearson correlation	−.131
		p	.370
	Sex	Pearson correlation	.165
		p	.086
MLSn = 232	PA-GPA^*	Pearson correlation	.313
MLSn = 232		p	.000
	Instruction mode	Pearson correlation	.181
		p	.362
	Years to graduation	Pearson correlation	−.010
		p	.914
	Age at graduation	Pearson correlation	−.138
		p	.202
	Sex^*	Pearson correlation	.234
		p	.006