Aptitude tests are widely used in selection. However, despite certain advantages their use remains controversial. This paper aims to critically appraise five sources of evidence for the construct validity of the Health Professions Admission Test (HPAT)-Ireland, an aptitude test used for selecting undergraduate medical students. The objectives are…

Objectives: To evaluate an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) adapted for social work in a lab course and examine the degree to which it predicts competence in the practicum. Method: 125 Masters students participated in a one-scenario OSCE and wrote responses to standardized reflection questions. OSCE performance and reflections were…

The Air Force has long recognized the importance of selecting the most qualified officers possible. For more than 60 years, it has relied on the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test (AFOQT) as one measure of those qualifications. A variety of concerns have been raised about whether the AFOQT is biased, too expensive, or even valid for predicting…

In a study to identify brief forms of the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB), 30 samples of approximately 250 respondents each were drawn from a population of 4,928 adolescents to evaluate by replicated multivariate regression analyses the best combinations of scales for predicting MAB total scores. MAB subscales measuring Comprehension,…

Results show that the Drake Music Memory Test should be able to discriminate between the poorest and strongest prospects for success in profiting from musical instruction, although it may not be particularly useful in individual counseling. (Authors)

In Fall 1971, three tests were administered to new students at the American University of Beirut. The predictive validity of each of these tests and of weighted combinations of them with GPA and performance in selected courses as criteria are investigated. (RC)

Selection and classification testing throughout the nation has been subject to widespread criticism and legal attack. Tests used by the military service, however, have been largely immune from the criticism. A major reason is that from their inception, military tests have been carefully validated as predictors of successful performance. The…

Intended to determine the validity of the total score on the Graduate Record Examinations Aptitude Test (GRE) and of the score on the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) as predictors of a criterion of completion or noncompletion of the Doctoral Program in Educational Administration at State University of New York at Albany. (Author)

The Beery Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration consists of 24 geometric forms that are to be copied into a test booklet. This study demonstrated the ability of the test to predict academic achievement in preschool children. (Author/JKS)

The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ), a structured job analysis questionnaire that provides for the analysis for individual jobs in terms of 187 job elements, has been found in previous studies to be useful as the basis for predicting the mean test scores of incumbents on a sample of jobs in terms of the nine tests of the General Aptitude…

Double cross-validation of a test battery against multiple criterion variables found the first general factor accounts for most criterion variance in cross-validated regression weights. Small contributions are made by mechanical/technical and psychomotor factors. It appears a common general factor plays the major role in validity for a range of…

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive validity of composite scores on the National Educational Development Tests for College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test total scores. The subjects were 69 students in a private college preparatory school for girls. The correlation of .76 was statistically significant. (Author/CTM)

Of all the areas related to the validity of the Commonwealth Secondary Scholarship Examination (CSSE) tests, that of predictive validity seems to have been studied most intensively. Since the inception of the CSSE scholarship scheme, a series of studies which have either examined the predictive validity of certain aspects of the scholarships, or…

A natural experiment dramatically reveals that scores on a difficult standardized mathematics aptitude test predicts achievement in mathematics over a 2 or 3-year period considerably better than the judgment of the students' present mathematics teacher. (Author/AM)