Pretests and posttests in the field of preventive medicine and public health were administered to third–year medical students of Shinshu University School of Medicine. This study aimed to determine whether pretest scores or posttest scores correlated with the term–end examination scores.
1）Pretests and posttests were administered 7 times to 112 third–year medical students, and the term–end examination was given in the first semester of the 2010 academic year.
2）Correlations were determined between pretest scores, posttest scores, the difference between pretest and posttest scores, and term–end examination scores. In addition, students were divided into quartiles in accordance with the pretest scores, and the posttest and term–end examination scores were compared among these quartiles.
3）The pretest scores significantly correlated with the posttest and term–end examination scores. The posttest and term–end examination scores were significantly higher in the fourth quartile（the highest pretest score quartile）than in the first quartile（the lowest pretest score quartile）.
4）The posttest scores did not correlate with the term–end examination scores.
5）Thus, we concluded that the pretest score rather than the posttest score is a useful predictor of the term–end examination score.