Background:

the identification of factors that influence the academic performance of students constitutes an important pillar for the improvement of the teaching-learning process.

Objective:

to analyze the academic performance of students prior to entering higher education and in their first year of studies.

Methods:

a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with students who enrolled as a new student in the first year of Medicine, during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years. The main variables used were gender, entrance exam results, academic index and ranking. Based on the grades in the subjects of basic biomedical sciences, the classification was made into high, average, low and poor academic performance. A descriptive and association analysis was performed among the study variables.

Results:

it was found that in both males and females the number of students with academic performance in basic sciences is low, with an academic index of less than 90; those who flunked double or triple the number of those who passed. A positive correlation was observed between the ranking index and the average grade in basic sciences at the end of the first year of the degree.

Conclusions:

in the first-year medical students, a low academic level was recognized in the basic sciences, which was influenced by the results of the previous teaching.

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