Predictive validity of the National Benchmark Test and National Senior Certificate for the academic success of first-year medical students at one South African university.

The NBT results, when weighted equally to the NSC results, explained more variance than the NSC alone in predicting academic success in the first year of the medical degree. The NBT should not only be used for selecting medical students but should also be used to place students with lower entry-level skills in appropriate foundation programmes and to identify students who are admitted to regular programmes who may need additional support.