Table 2.

 Measures of performance during medical course for students attending medical school who were later found guilty of serious professional misconduct (cases) or not (controls) after qualifying. Figures are numbers (percentages)

Performance measure	Control	Case	Overall
Exams failed in early course:
No	134 (56.8)	20 (33.9)	154 (52.2)
Yes	70 (29.7)	32 (54.2)	102 (34.6)
Not known	32 (13.6)	7 (11.9)	39 (13.2)
Repeated parts of early course:
No	192 (81.4)	40 (67.8)	232 (78.6)
Yes	12 (5.1)	12 (20.3)	24 (8.1)
Not known	32 (13.6)	7 (11.9)	39 (13.2)
Relative performance on early course:
High	22 (9.3)	2 (13.4)	24 (8.1)
Average	143 (60.6)	27 (45.8)	170 (57.6)
Below average	43 (18.2)	23 (39.0)	66 (22.4)
Not known*	28 (11.9)	7 (11.8)	35 (11.8)
Exams failed in later course:
No	176 (74.6)	40 (67.8)	216 (73.2)
Yes	55 (23.3)	19 (32.2)	74 (25.1)
Not known	5 (2.1)	0 (0)	5 (1.7)
Repeated parts of later course:
No	208 (88.1)	48 (81.4)	256 (86.8)
Yes	21 (8.9)	11 (18.6)	32 (10.8)
Not known	7 (3.0)	0 (0)	7 (2.4)
Relative performance on later course:
High	24 (10.2)	7 (11.9)	31 (10.5)
Average	178 (75.4)	37 (62.7)	215 (72.9)
Below average	32 (13.6)	15 (25.4)	47 (15.9)
Not known†	2 (0.9)	0 (0)	2 (0.7)
Intercalated degree:
No	211 (89.4)	52 (88.1)	263 (89.2)
Yes	25 (10.6)	7 (11.9)	32 (10.8)
Slow progress (delayed graduation):
No	214 (90.7)	43 (72.9)	257 (87.1)
Yes	21 (8.9)	16 (27.1)	37 (12.5)
Adverse comments found:
No	208 (88.1)	48 (81.4)	256 (86.8)
Yes	28 (11.9)	11 (18.6)	39 (13.2)

*Three students with no detailed data on early performance had intercalated degrees so were classed as “high performers.” One further student was noted in letter to have “average performance” even though no details were shown, so was classified as average.

†Three of five students with no information on clinical marks were noted from comments to have adequate performance. Two more with a single exam failure noted but no further details of marks were also said to have performed satisfactorily.