Introduction:

In Mexico, most medical students are interested in accessing a specialty training course. The general practitioner must present and pass the National Exam for Medical Residencies (ENARM), which is used annually and whose main objective is to select the best scores that allow doctors to perform a medical specialty in the hospitals available within the Mexican territory. Many circumstances can influence the possibility of being selected for a medical course specialty, such as academic performance, student learning strategies, socio-economic, psychological, and educational aspects, among others.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify and compare academic performance indicators associated with the accreditation of the national exam for the medical residency course between two curricular models.

Method:

This is a comparative cross-sectional study of students of two curricular models in medicine. Variables of academic performance in undergraduate studies and the scores obtained in the national exam for the medical residency course were analyzed.

Results:

329 students included. In general, academic performance up to 5th grade (point grade average ≥ 87.61) was associated with a significantly higher frequency of accredited students (88.8%); the competency-based model had a higher percentage (77.4%) of those accredited in the national exam. The average grades of the bachelor’s degree and ENARM were higher for the traditional curricular model. A significant correlation was observed between the general grade point average and the national medical residency exam (r=585, p=0.000).

Conclusions:

These results suggest that academic performance, such as the bachelor grades and the averages of the disciplinary areas, from the first to the fifth year of the degree, are related to the probability of accrediting and obtaining high scores in the national medical residency exam. The competency based curricular model favors the accreditation of the National Medical Residency Examination.