Effect of Socio-demographic Profile on the Academic Performance of First Year Medical Students in Anatomy

The aim of this study was to find the effect of socio-demographic profile on the academic performance of first year medical students in anatomy. Poor academic achievement could be the result of interplay between student’s factors and their environmental milieu. 361 first year MBBS students of 2009 (175) and 2010 (186) batches were included in the study. A proforma consisting of information about age, sex, place of residence (strata), medium of instruction during schooling and the board of 12 th standard was filled by the students. Performance of these students in the terminal examination was recorded and correlated statistically with their socio-demographic profile. Best performance was reported in the age group of 17-20 years. Females performed better in both theory and practical exams as compared to males. Students from urban background performed better than of rural areas. Students with English medium background performed better than that of Hindi medium. Students of ISC board performed best in terminal exams as compared to those of CBSE followed by UP and other provincial examination boards.