Presented at the national conference for AERA (American Educational Research Association) . This study examined whether there are distinct differences in the demographic characteristics, HSGPA, first-year college performance, and second-year college retention rates among students who have discrepant CR-W performance.

Various reasons may be advanced for conducting proficiency tests in academic literacy at higher education institutions. The Standardised Assessment Test for Access and Placement (SATAP) aims at determining the academic literacy skills that entry-level students should demonstrate as a predictor of their preparedness and success in tertiary…

Students identified by talent search programs were studied to determine whether spatial ability could uncover math-science promise. In Phase 1, interests and values of intellectually talented adolescents (617 boys, 443 girls) were compared with those of top math-science graduate students (368 men, 346 women) as a function of their standing on…

Colleges, once seen as beacons of egalitarian hope, are becoming bastions of wealth and privilege that perpetuate inequality. The chance of a low-income child obtaining a bachelor's degree has not budged in three decades: Just 6 percent of students from the lowest-income families earned a bachelor's degree by age 24 in 1970, and in 2002 still only…

There are many students who could profit from increasing their scores by even 50 points. It can mean the difference between getting into a "reach" or a "safety" school. Thus, there are a large number of students who could benefit from a book like this. Most of the books on the market are geared toward the great number of…

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and American College Program (ACT) scores are the main determinants of college entrance in the USA. It is widely assumed that these tests are predictive of success both during college and in later life, but such views are incorrect. Another widely-held view, held by many educators, is that the SAT and ACT are…

The use of standardized examinations as a factor in admission decisions in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs is a customary practice at many universities. Aptitude testing of pre-service, recent baccalaureate recipients is a means of assessing continued academic success in a graduate program. However, we contend, a growing diversity…

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) bibliography provides an exhaustive list of references to studies adding to the understanding of the development, nature, and use of the test, and is divided into two sections: (1) the first section lists 125 annotated citations that contain research studies on the GRE; (2) the second section lists reviews…

Society knows well that males outperform females on mathematics portions of college entrance examinations. In 2003, for example, males scored an average of 537 points on the mathematics section of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), whereas females scored an average of 503 points. Less well known is the fact that males also show a slight…

Although academic ability is the most important explanatory variable in studies of student learning, researchers control for it with a wide array and combinations of proxies. The authors investigated how the proxy choice affects estimates of undergraduate student learning by testing over 150 specifications of a single model, each including a…

Canonical correlation analysis and application of double-cross validation procedures provided evidence of significant shared variance between the Preprofessional Skills Test and the American College Test scores of 537 education majors, questioning the need for students to take both tests. (Author/CB)

Imposing time limits on tests can serve a range of important functions. Time limits are essential, for example, if speed of performance is an integral component of what is being measured, as would be the case when testing such skills as how quickly someone can type. Limiting testing time also helps contain expenses associated with test…

Medicine is a profession with a long history of research and high standards of methodological rigour and evidence-based decision making. These standards are being transferred into medical education. Universities are starting to collect high-quality data on their admissions systems. This has not been a short-term proposition. Medical courses are…

Describes software packages used to help prepare for the Scholastic Aptitude Test, considering features that the packages have in common as well as unique features that each package has. Also lists and ranks the products and their features in a chart (indicating system requirements and current cost). (JN)

Shifting from aptitude to achievement tests for college admissions is discussed with implications toward the positive educational effects of rewarding diligence and serious study in high school. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is compared with other achievement tests reqarding effects on schools and equal opportunity. (CM)